Rabbi Eli Ciner teaches a group of students in one of the brand-new classrooms.
PARAMUS – The first day of school is fraught with anticipation and excitement for most students, but especially for the more than 600 who entered the new campus of The Frisch School last Thursday, Sept. 6, its opening day. The private, co-ed, Orthodox high school moved from its old building off Route 4 at Forest Ave. to a 13-acre facility at 1'0 W. Century Road last month. The facility is named the Henry and Esther Swieca Family Campus, after donors who gave $1.5 million and are parents of a current sophomore. The more than 140,000-square-foot academic building houses 34 classrooms, six state-of-the-art science labs, a two-floor library, an 800-seat beit knesset/auditorium, a '0,000-square-foot double-court gymnasium, and a student activities center. The new site also includes a softball field, running track, two tennis courts, and an outdoor basketball court.
Avi Naiman, center, stands with the fathers of two soldiers captured by Hezbollah: Tzvi Regev, left, father of Eldad, and Shlomo Goldwasser, father of Udi.
Avi Naiman of Tenafly wants to show Israel to the world.
Specifically, he wants to show what it was like for a million and a half Israeli civilians when they were under attack during last summer's Hezbollah rocket attacks. That's why he spent eight months and $1'5,000 to make a documentary called "Scorched Summer," which features the stories of several people, including Karnit Goldwasser, whose soldier husband, Udi, was kidnapped by Hezbollah.
This is part of an occasional series that takes a look at how people live. The Jewish Standard spoke with Elaine Adler of Franklin Lakes about a life-changing event that led to a new philanthropic path.
Q. You had a full life as a philanthropist, supporter of Jewish causes, businesswoman, wife, and mother. Then your husband, Mike, had a stroke and developed problems speaking and communicating. How did this change your life?
A. Mike had a bypass operation and five days later he had a blood clot in his brain that caused a stroke. The left side of his brain, which controls language and speech, was affected. He had a lot of trouble communicating, which is a condition called aphasia. He was embarrassed and really stopped trying to speak. He became depressed and withdrawn.
Meri Pollock and a representative of a floral wholesaler prepare bouquets for J-ADD employees to deliver.
J-ADD, a Hackensack-based organization that offers support to people with developmental disabilities and their families, has begun an employment program for people living in their group homes. "Flowers by J-ADD" aims to provide jobs, experience, and crucial business training to J-ADD's residents.
According to Meri Pollock, a vice president of J-ADD's board of trustees and the program's coordinator, the idea is to give jobs to those who use J-ADD's services. "This gives jobs to people who need them at J-ADD, and it generates income at the same time," she says. The program was developed with guidance from the Entrepreneurial Training Institute of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, a state agency that encourages non-profit agencies to start small businesses.
As of Sept. 1, the JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly will formally become the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in honor of Maggie and Bill Kaplen, who committed $5 million through their family foundation to help the JCC launch a capital campaign to support major facility improvements and renovations. The Kaplen gift is the single largest donation the JCC has ever received.
Fort Lee Mayor Jack Alter was remembered at his funeral on Tuesday as a smart businessman, an honest public servant, a proud Jewish veteran, and someone who was very proud of his heritage.
Alter, 79, who had been mayor since 199', died Monday in Englewood Hospital, where he had been admitted last week for cardiovascular procedures. He was in the middle of running for his fifth term in November against Republican Judith Fisher. He had previously served as a Fort Lee Borough Council member, a Bergen County freeholder, and a member of the state's Board of Public Utilities, which he joined at the request of former Gov. James E. McGreevey. Retired as the chief executive officer of Jack Alter Associates Inc., in Roseland, he was a member of the board of directors of the Bank of New Jersey, established in Fort Lee in May '006.
Michael Reingold of the Jewish Home at Rockleigh, left, is pictured with Michael Reingold of the JCC Thurnauer School of Music. Photos by Jerry Szubin
When Michael Reingold started his new job in New Jersey last July, a friend e-mailed him after getting his new address via Google. When he ran into her months later, she mentioned her surprise that he hadn't responded. It turned out that she had e-mailed another Michael Reingold (we'll call him Michael II) in Bergen County, whom Michael I didn't even know existed.
Michael I, who is 47, is assistant administrator of the Jewish Home at Rockleigh, Russ Berrie Home for Jewish Living. Michael II, who is 40, has been assistant director of the JCC Thurnauer School of Music for 14 years. People involved in both organizations, including board members, overlap. There had been a number of mix-ups because of their identical names.
This is the first column in an occasional series that takes a look at how people live.
Frieda Birnbaum shows off her twin babies, Josh and Jaret, with husband Ken and son Ari looking on. Photo by Jerry Szubin
Frieda Birnbaum of Saddle River gave birth to twin boys at Hackensack University Medical Center on May ''. At 60, she was reportedly the oldest woman in the United States to have twins. Birnbaum, a psychologist, underwent in vitro fertilization at a clinic in South Africa that specializes in helping older women have children. She and her husband, Kenneth, an attorney, 63, also have three other children: a son, 33, a daughter, '9, and a 7-year-old boy. The Standard sat down with Birnbaum last week to learn more about her experience and what led her there.
Jeremy Feigenbaum greets Holocaust survivor Alice Masters during his visit to Washington.
Last summer, high school student Jeremy Feigenbaum of Teaneck went on a life-changing trip when he joined the United Synagogue Youth Poland and Israel "From Darkness to Light" Pilgrimage. One of the sites he visited was the notorious Majdanek death camp in Poland. "But was this concentration camp, this camp of horrors, hidden from the public eye? No, unlike many other camps, Majdanek was not hidden in a remote area," he later wrote in an essay. "[The] death camp was right off a highway connecting Lublin, Zamosc, and Chelm. And, equally disturbing, Majdanek bordered a Polish town — only one fence lay between extermination and everyday life."
Participants in last year's JCC Jazz Camp at the JCC Thurnauer School gather with their instruments. PHOTO BY MICHAEL C. Reingold
This camp is really for students who love music. The faculty wants to show them music; we're not trying to get them to do anything but have fun playing," says Brian Drye, director of the JCC Jazz Camp at the JCC Thurnauer School of Music at the JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly. The JCC Jazz Camp, along with the FluteStars camp, also at the JCC Thurnauer School, offers small-group lessons for students of various skill levels plus intensive opportunity to practice, play, and perform.
