At 6 a.m. on May 9, 1,000 Jews from New Jersey and New York boarded 24 buses to the nation’s capital as part of the 20th annual Mission to Washington sponsored by NORPAC — America’s largest pro-Israel political action committee.
The bipartisan committee was founded in 1992 by Rabbi Menachem Genack of Englewood and Englewood physician Ben Chouake to strengthen the United States-Israel relationship. NORPAC fundraises for lawmakers who support this relationship, hosts frequent meetings with elected officials, and regularly updates members on the situation in the Middle East.
Three young Bible scholars from Passaic swept top spots in the U.S. Chidon Ha-Tanakh-National Bible Contest for Jewish Youth, May 6 at Yeshiva University.
North Jersey students traditionally make a good showing at the annual competition, but of particular note was Yishai Eisenberg’s perfect score on the junior-high-level Hebrew exam (see sidebar page 41). His older sister, Yael, placed second in the high-school Hebrew exam, while Elisheva Friedman of Passaic took second place on the junior-high level.
Contestants answered 120 or 130 multiple-choice questions, such as “Which king bought Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver — Omri, Zimri, Ahab, or Baasha?” (Answer: Omri.)
A musical pacifier, mittens and gloves with tissue pockets, a cleat guard — all these nifty novelties and more were displayed by their fourth-grade inventors at The Moriah School of Englewood’s Invention Convention on April 24.
Starting just after the January break, teachers guided the 45 pupils, working in pairs or threes, in deciding on their inventions. They brainstormed a need collaboratively, thought of possible solutions, designed the solutions on paper, and then built prototypes, said Robin Wexler, associate principal for general studies in the Lower School.
“Throughout our exciting Invention Unit, we hope to have stimulated the imagination of our children, and provided a channel in which to unleash their creative juices,” Wexler said. “It is our role as educators to show students the importance of integrating reading, writing, math, art, science and technology skills, as well as to emphasize the significance of becoming creative, divergent, and independent thinkers.”
Probably most of the local yeshivah high school participants in two “Poetry Slam” events did not know what it was until a short time ago, either. Now, however, the Urdu word — which describes a short lyric poem composed of a series of five to 15 couplets — is part of their vocabulary, as is “sonnet” and “free verse.”
For Frisch School English teacher Meryl Feldblum, the Poetry Slam serves two purposes: bringing together students from different schools for a literary event; and creating the next generation of writers.
p>JERUSALEM – Arielle Engelmayer wanted to spend her “gap year” in Israel, but not in a yeshivah setting. “I didn’t want to go to a seminary, because it’s too much like high school,” says the former Ramaz Upper School teenager and soon-to-be Teaneck resident (her family is moving to Teaneck from Manhattan before she returns from Israel).
So Arielle chose Aardvark Israel, a pluralistic nine-month program now completing its second year. The program is affiliated with American Jewish University in Los Angeles. It “offers college credits and I get to go on trips,” says Engelmayer, who opted for add-on travels to Kenya, China, and Italy.
Eighty Aardvark participants are divided into two groups, each spending half the program based in the South Tel Aviv neighborhood of Florentine, and the other half of the time in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Katamon. Engelmayer is now in the Tel Aviv half of her stay.
Despite last summer’s “tent protests” against the high cost of food, shelter, and items such as baby formula, Israel is a child-centered culture and it always has been — long before Israeli branches of Toys R Us hit the malls.
According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2010 there were 2.52 million children up to age 17 in Israel, accounting for approximately a third of the state’s population. That year, 166,000 babies were born, 120,700 of them Jewish.
Our adopted hometown of Ma’aleh Adumim, which is roughly the same size as Teaneck, has 22 elementary and secondary schools serving 10,400 kids from kindergarten to 12th grade, plus 77 daycare centers and preschools.
You may not know her name, but you probaby have heard Rosi Golan’s soulful tunes. They have been featured on such TV shows and movies as “One Tree Hill,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice,” and “Dear John.”
This is how that all came about.
It is 2001, a couple of weeks after 9/11. Rosi Golan, just shy of 21 and grieving the recent death of her grandmother, is driving in Los Angeles. A radio commercial hawks a sale at Guitar Center, a national chain selling guitars and other instruments, plus related musical paraphernalia. and she finds herself heading to one of its stores. There, she picks a pretty but pricey instrument, leaves a down payment, and continues on her way.
Like the majority of 75 Israel Teaching Fellows, Samuel Azner of Hackensack discovered the Jewish homeland through a 10-day Birthright trip and wanted to return for a longer stay. Now he is more than halfway through a pilot 10-month service program conceived to provide English teachers in underprivileged communities.
“My background is in criminal justice, and I worked with children in Toledo and Michigan, and then in an adult special-needs program in Wayne, where I grew up,” said the 25-year-old. “Then I found myself out of work, came to Israel, and found out about this program.”
The skin on his feet is fragile as a butterfly’s wings. That, however, will not stop 18-year-old David Beiss from running the 10-kilometer route of the March 16 Jerusalem Marathon.
Beiss has recruited 42 other teenagers spending their post-high-school year in Israel to run together as Team Butterfly (http://bit.ly/js-bfly), including several from Bergen County. Each has committed to raising at least $600 toward researching a cure for epidermolysis bullosa (EB), the rare and serious blistering disorder that keeps Beiss in a wheelchair most of the time.
“I will not be able to walk for two weeks afterward, because the soles of my feet are very sensitive,” Beiss admits. “But I don’t let EB take over what I do.”
This year on Purim, 18-year-old Mallika Viswanath will reprise the role she has been playing for the past six years. She is not dressing up as Queen Esther, but reading a chapter of Esther’s Scroll — M’gillat Esther.
“I read the m’gillah for my bat mitzvah six years ago at the Teaneck Women’s Tefillah [TWT],” the Frisch School senior relates. “My sister had her bat mitzvah there, so it was a natural part of my coming of age.”
This January marked the 30th anniversary of TWT, the ground-breaking area women’s prayer group, which was founded by a task force of about 25 local Orthodox women seeking to re-examine the role of Jewish women in modern society.
