Born and raised in New Jersey, Alan Sweifach — co-managing director of community planning for the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey (JFNNJ) — had four grandparents born in this country. It is the music of European Jews, however, that fired his imagination.
The Teaneck resident has been playing klezmer music since age 14. Clarinetist for the Hester Street Troupe — which includes his brother, Jay, on keyboard, and drummer Jim Bazewicz — Sweifach said the music brings back memories for older adults and “allows them to see their traditions and music still being carried on.”
With much of its publicity centering in recent years on the issue of hunger in the community, it makes sense that Jewish Family Service of Bergen and North Hudson is using food to help attract attention to this growing problem.
Yet organizers of the group’s 10th annual “Night of 100 Dinners” are hopeful that the evening resonates on another level, as well.
“It’s about family,” said Jeff Nadler, JFS director of development. “There’s something different about this kind of event, where people who support [JFS] are welcoming people into their homes.”
Book month presentation to stress positive aspects of growing old
Dr. Marc Agronin has learned a good deal from his elderly patients as medical director for mental health and clinical research at Miami Jewish Health Systems. Most important, said the geriatric psychiatrist, he has learned that the “true scales of aging are not one-sided. You can’t list the problems and complications of aging without also tallying the possibilities and memories.”
Agronin’s book, “How We Age: A Doctor’s Journey into the Heart of Growing Old,” draws on his experience counseling the residents of the Miami facility, showing how his own views on aging were transformed by these encounters.
The author will speak about his book on Nov. 29 at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades as part of the center’s program, James H. Grossmann Memorial Jewish Book Month, which this year is spread out over several months.
Cantor to speak on childhood experiences in Iraq and Jerusalem
It is not often that one gets to meet the characters in a beloved story, but on Dec. 17, hundreds of Bergen County readers will have that opportunity.
Cantor Shlomo Bar-Nissim — who not only appears in Ariel Sabar's "My Father's Paradise," but whose stories and memories are reflected throughout its pages — will visit Temple Avodat Shalom to share stories about his early experiences in Iraq and Jerusalem.
"My Father's Paradise" tells the story of Sabar's father, Yona, who emigrated with his family from the Kurdish region of Iraq in the late 1940s, during the waning years of Jewish life in that region. Now cantor emeritus of Temple Beth-El in Closter, Bar-Nissim, a resident of Demarest, was a longtime friend of Yona Sabar.
The Rev. Robert Smith believes he has a message that needs to be heard.
Smith — rector of St. Mark’s Church in Perryville, Md., and author of what he calls “a Passion play from a different perspective” — contends that it “was never the intent of Jewish leaders to see Jesus of Nazareth crucified. “ Indeed, Smith says, “They tried to prevent it.”
The minister, who was born in Englewood and ordained in 1976 at Christ Church in Teaneck, said that growing up with many Jewish friends taught him a great deal about Judaism and about the effects of Christian teachings on his friends’ families.
The loss of Harold Shorr in September, just before the High Holy Days, was extremely hard on his family, said son Glen, still mourning the death of his father, the owner of Harold’s Kosher Superette in Paramus.
It was also hard on his customers, many of whom still come in to reminisce about the neighborhood vendor who played so large a role in their lives.
“The holidays were pretty tough,” said Shorr. “Our customers were extremely upset. Some were just hysterical. Some knew, and some didn’t. We hung up the [notice] from The Jewish Standard. But some are still asking.”
Last month, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) New Jersey Chapter sponsored three “Fun Days” at Hof Dor beach for 2,200 lone soldiers. The events — geared to soldiers who serve in combat and combat-support units — were targeted both to new immigrants and to those not in touch with their Israeli families.
The events included games, food, music, and massages — with each soldier receiving a beach towel and breakfast buffet on arrival. Orange, the Israeli telephone company, sponsored free calls to soldier’s homes, and Greet TV provided digital movies. Mizrachi singer Kobi Peretz performed during each of the three outings, and other celebrities attended to show their support and talk with the soldiers. Avi Oren and Mike Gross, representing New Jersey FIDF, were also on hand.
While intended to provide much-needed respite to soldiers who are far from their families, the “Fun Days” also gave the soldiers a chance to meet with their IDF social workers.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Ezra Fineman loves the alphabet and his tricycle.
He also desperately needs a bone marrow transplant.
Reconciling the two realities is not an easy thing for his mother.
Sadly, said Fair Lawn resident Robin Fineman, the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation — with whom she has been working closely — has 14,000 cheek swabs from potential donors sitting on a wait list, “but there’s no money to process them. I was devastated when I found out. If this is the most likely [place] to find a match, Ezra’s may be sitting in a box.”
Harry Harcsztark — who has twice participated in U.S. Navy humanitarian missions to third-world countries — says he has come full circle. “I was in the Navy during the 1970s,” said the Teaneck resident. “It feels good to be there again.”
This summer marked the third time Harcsztark traveled abroad as a volunteer dentist. Three years ago, he went to Ghana with The Health & Humanitarian Aid Foundation, recruited by fellow Teaneck resident Mendel Markowitz, medical director of the organization. Last year, Harcsztark worked in Cambodia, under the auspices of the Navy.
When she commissioned a survey of agunot in North America, Barbara Zakheim was not certain what to expect. “I didn’t have a feel for the number,” she said. “I thought it was about 300, but it’s closer to 500, and those are just the ones we’ve identified.”
Agunot, or “chained women,” are stuck in unwanted marriages because their husbands refuse to provide them with a get, or document of Jewish divorce.
Zakheim, founder of the Jewish Coalition against Domestic Abuse of Greater Washington, noted that the study of agunot was not a “primary survey. [Due to] the nature of who they are, we don’t know how to find them.”
