Jack Rosenfeld and Amram Meir Photos by Jeff Karg

November 2009:

Jack Rosenfeld hasn’t seen or heard from his childhood friend Amram Meir since they arrived together at Mauthausen concentration camp in 1945. He has no idea if he is alive.

August 2010:

The two men reunite in Teaneck.

Rosenfeld and Meir recall their last days together as if they were yesterday.

“The march to Mauthausen started out at about 300 Jews, boys like me, about 15, 16, 17,” Meir said. “It grew. They brought in more [Jews from the Russian front] and at the end we were 6,000.”

As they walked, they passed a stream, which Rosenfeld recalled was filled with tallitot, tefillin, and bodies. Trudging through the rain, Meir fell to the ground, crying to his friends that he cannot go on.

“There was a point I said I can’t take it anymore,” he said. “It was raining, we didn’t get food, the lice…. It was terrible. I decided I’m finished, I don’t mind anymore. (They) were pushing me, supporting me.”

The two brothers — Jack and Marty Rosenfeld — picked up their friend and pushed him forward until they arrived at the camp.

“Once you sat down, they shot you in the head,” Rosenfeld said.

He remembered thinking that if he were to run into Meir’s parents after the war, he couldn’t stand to tell them that their son had died on the march.

“We dragged this boy,” he said. “He must’ve been about 50, 60 pounds, just skin and bone.”

Both agree that Meir would have been left behind to die alone if not for the Rosenfelds, who held him up for three days.

Remembering happier days

It was a far cry from the days of their youth, playing soccer in their Hungarian village of Hajdúdorog, but it was the last memory Rosenfeld had of his childhood friend.

“He disappeared,” Rosenfeld said Monday at his Teaneck home. “I’ve been looking for this guy for 65 years.”

That long search was about to come to an end, thanks to some sleuthing by Rosenfeld’s great-nephew. On Aug. 30, shortly after noon, the doorbell rang, and 81-year-old Amram Meir greeted his old friend.

The two men, who went through unbelievable horror together, stood face to face, reaching out to embrace one another. Tears and laughter filled Rosenfeld’s home that afternoon as he, his younger brother Joe, and other family members shared stories of some of the darkest days in history.

Michael Rosenfeld, center, tracked down his great-uncle Jack Rosenfeld’s old friend, Amran Meir through the Internet.

“It was very emotional, and usually I don’t cry,” said 79-year-old Joe Rosenfeld, one of Jack’s younger brothers, who had also survived Mauthausen. “But when I saw (Meir) I was so overwhelmed I shed tears. I couldn’t believe I was crying.”

Joe Rosenfeld, who lives in Brooklyn, said that the five Rosenfeld children and Meir did almost everything together. When Germany invaded Hungary in 1944, the Rosenfelds and Meir’s family were eventually sent to Auschwitz, where most of Hungary’s Jews ended up.

A twist of fate diverted the two families’ train from the death camp, however, and they ended up in a labor camp in Vienna.

Joe, Max, and Abie Rosenfeld remained in Vienna; Jack, Marty, and Amram, who were older, were sent to the Russian front to dig tank traps. From July 1944 until April 1945, the three stayed at the front, with little to cover themselves and their only nourishment a daily plate of water and bread made from what Rosenfeld called sawdust.

In the spring of 1945, with the Russian army closing in, the death march to Mauthausen began. Shortly after arriving at the camp, the Rosenfelds found Meir’s father, who had been a doctor in Hajdúdorog and had delivered all of the family’s children. When liberation came later that year, the two families were sent to different hospitals.

While — almost miraculously — both families would survive the war intact, Jack and Amram would not see each other again for more than six decades.

The search

Now 82 and a widower with two grown children and a handful of grandchildren, Rosenfeld looks back at the Holocaust scarcely able to believe that humans had been so cruel. The moment Meir walked in on Monday was the culmination of a 65-year-long search that had taken Rosenfeld through the archives of Yad Vashem to a list of phone numbers compiled by a private investigator.

None of his research turned up Meir, though, and Rosenfeld feared he might never see his friend again.

“It’s a good feeling to see the person after so many years,” he said.

The five Rosenfeld brothers and their parents all survived the war, as did Meir’s parents, Morit and Leah, and his sisters, Naomi and Elizabeth.

“It’s one in a million” that everybody survived, Rosenfeld said.

While Meir and his family went to Israel after the war, Rosenfeld and his family came to America.

He and two of his brothers served in the armed forces during the Korean War, after which he received a degree in mechanical engineering. Rosenfeld then spent 30 years working in a factory in the garment center making zippers.

Occasionally, he would think about his friend. Not realizing that he now was called Amram Meir (his childhood name had been Imre Mayer), Rosenfeld checked the survivors’ registry through Yad Vashem for the old name.

Ironically, both Rosenfeld and Meir ended up providing testimony during the 1990s to Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Foundation, now the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation Institute.

Ultimately, it took somebody much younger than the director of “Schindler’s List” to reunite the old friends.

The reunion

Last year, Michael Rosenfeld — Marty Rosenfeld’s grandson — decided to try to find his great-uncle’s old friend, at the behest of his grandmother.

“We never thought he would be able to do something like this,” said his mother, Elizabeth Rosenfeld of Lawrence, N.Y. “Lo and behold, it worked.”

After a week of searching the Internet, the now-15-year-old Michael turned up a family tree that led him to a niece, Ruth Szinai-Witty, whom he looked up on the social-networking site Facebook.

“There’s such a wealth of information on the Internet; that just amazes me,” said Michael, who shares his Hebrew name, Moshe, with his grandfather Marty, the brother who helped Jack Rosenfeld carry Meir through the death march. Marty Rosenfeld died in the early 1990s.

Betting on the uniqueness of Szinai-Witty’s name, Michael sent her a message in November asking if she was the niece of Imre Mayer, son of Morit and Leah Mayer. The next day she replied that yes, that was her family, and she sent Michael a phone number.

“It’s like a dream,” Elizabeth Rosenfeld said.

At the time, Michael did not realize that his grandfather had also had a relationship with Meir. When Michael told his great-uncle that he had tracked down his long-lost friend, his reaction was a mix of shock and euphoria, Michael said.

“I was delirious,” Jack Rosenfeld said. “When I called [Meir], the first thing he asked was, ‘Zelig? That’s you? The goalkeeper?’” (Rosenfeld had changed his name from Zelig to Jack when he arrived in the United States.)

Meir, who lives in Toronto, has a son, Gadi, who lives in Montclair with his wife and two children. They decided that the next time Meir visited them, he and Rosenfeld would have their reunion.

And on Monday, as Michael’s mother stood with her family, beaming with pride, and as Gadi Meir stood with his father, Michael saw the fruits of his labor.

“After all they went through, seeing them back together, I don’t even know the word to describe it,” Michael said. “But I feel very accomplished.”

Michael’s research also turned up a Swiss bank account in Meir’s father’s name, and, if there’s more than $100 in it, he’ll look into claiming it, Meir joked.

“He’s a hell of a kid,” said Jack Rosenfeld.

And there they sat in Jack Rosenfeld’s home, surrounded by children and grandchildren eager to see the people they knew only from stories.

“I put my life on the line for him,” Jack Rosenfeld said. “I wouldn’t have done that for anybody else. For him I did. Thank God he remained alive and brought in another generation.”

That generation grew up on stories of their parents’ experiences, and for them, the reunion was a bridge to their past and future.

“We always talked about the shochet’s son [Rosenfeld],” Gadi Meir said.

“I figured there might be emotion,” he continued. “When my father goes back to his country or to Israel or tells the story of the Holocaust, there’s always emotion. I’m trying to listen to these stories so I can tell my kids about some of the darker history we’ve had.”

“It’s very gratifying to see families reunited,” said Jack Rosenfeld’s daughter, Fern Oppenheim of Scarsdale, N.Y., “to see the generations that were produced, to see that the next generations are flourishing, and the children’s children.”

For decades after survivors arrived in this country, she said, they tried to assimilate because they felt that society viewed them as outsiders. In recent decades, perceptions about survivors have changed, she said.

“It’s gratifying that at this stage in their lives, there’s a recognition that they were heroic,” she said.

As Jack and Joe Rosenfeld enjoyed their reunion with Amram Meir, their children spoke about their responsibilities to their parents and their children.

“That whole shtetl life, that rich Jewish life, is very much lost,” said Gadi Meir. “I’ll be able to share some of the stories with my children.”

“The next generation has a debt to pay,” Oppenheim said. “If [our families] were fortunate enough to survive this, we have to adhere to our heritage and pass it along.”

Fern Oppenheim, her father Jack Rosenfeld, Amram Meir, and his son, Gadi. “We always taked about the shochet’s son,” said Gadi Meir. “It’s very gratifying to see families reunited,” said Fern Oppenheim.

Resources to help trace Holocaust survivors

Red Cross Holocaust and War Victims Tracing Center http://www.redcross.org/services/intl/holotrace/ The University of Southern California Shoah Foundation http://college.usc.edu/vhi/ U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museumhttp://www.ushmm.org/ Yad Vashem http://yadvashem.org/

Sharsheret, the national not-for-profit organization that supports young Jewish women facing breast cancer, kicks off its 10th anniversary by participating in the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s Race For The Cure on Sunday, Sept. 12, at Central Park in New York City. Last year, more than 700 women, men, and children joined Team Sharsheret, making it the largest team in the race for the fourth consecutive year.

Sharsheret Goodwill supporters include Englewood Hospital and Medical Center; Campmor Inc.; Yeshiva University; Stern College for Women Beren Campus; and The Rocking Chair, A Women’s Wellness Center. Team Supporters include Touro College-Lander College for Women. Team Patrons include Best Glatt Kosher; Chopstix USA; Dougie’s BBQ Teaneck; EJ’s Place; Ma’ayanot Yeshiva HS for Girls; Teaneck Dentist; The Frisch School; and Torah Academy of Bergen County.

To join Team Sharsheret, go to www.komennyc.org, click on Race for the Cure, and type Sharsheret. Call (866) 474-2774.

Visiting Dachau last month are Dr. Norbert Wagner, Rabbi Jack Bemporad, Imam Syed Naqvi, Nasreen Bedat, Special Envoy Hannah S. Rosenthal, Sheik Yasir Qadhi, Imam Abdullah Antepli, Imam Suhaib Webb (behind Antepli), Dr. Syed Syeed, Imam Muhammad Maged, Imam Muzammil Siddiqi, Suhail A. Khan, and Prof. Marshall Breger. Photos Courtesy Center for Interreligious Understanding

Rabbi Jack Bemporad wants it known that the visit he organized of eight Muslim-American leaders to concentration camps was a historic success.

Bemporad, director of the Carlstadt-based Center for Interreligious Understanding, called the Aug. 7 to 11 trip to Auschwitz in Germany and Dachau in Poland “a breakthrough in many respects, because … we took imams like [Yasir] Qadhi, for example,” who 10 years ago called the Holocaust a hoax. (Bemporad led the trip, which was sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, with Prof. Marshall Breger of the Catholic University of America.)

“The problem is,” said Bemporad, an Englewood resident, that “many imams came out of Saudi Arabia and Egypt because that’s where they get their education. That’s very unfortunate. The education they get is in many ways based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” he explained. “The single greatest instrument of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in the world today, it gives the erroneous view that the Jews are a devilish group that wants to control the world by dominating the press, economies,” and so forth.

One reason that proven fraud is invoked, he said, “is to diminish the significance of the Holocaust. The whole point is to show that the Holocaust was an invention to take Israel and have a beachhead in the Middle East that should really be Muslim.

“The best way to convince people of a reality they are not sure of is to expose them to that reality in a way that is undeniable.”

Thus, he said, even “many who accepted the Holocaust never had a sense of the reality and the totality of it. As a result practically all of us were in tears or broke down” at the concentration camps.

“The main point,” said Bemporad, “is that … they are using this experience in their services and talking to their people — that’s talking about tens of thousands of people.”

Also, he said, “They want Jews to speak in mosques about this reality so they can unite with us to condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms.”

Meanwhile, a rumor swirled around the blogosphere, and was discussed at sites like Politico and Salon, that Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, had lobbied against the trip. That, together with the ADL’s recent opposition to the planned mosque at Ground Zero, fueled speculations that he, the defender of bias against Jews, was biased against Muslims.

But Foxman told The Jewish Standard on Tuesday that there had been “a lot of noise and not so much light…. Nobody bothers to check the facts anymore,” he complained. “All of a sudden you will read [an allegation] in God knows how many places as a fact.”

What he did, he told the Standard, was question the participation of Hannah Rosenthal, the State Department’s anti-Semitism envoy. He said he had “shared with her a concern” about the appropriateness of a government representative’s joining a private mission. “Unfortunately,” he said, “it didn’t stay there and took on a life of its own.”

He had “no problem with [the Muslim leaders] going” on the trip, he said, adding, “I welcome the fact that they returned with the statement that they did.”

The delegation kneels in prayer at Auschwitz.

Following is a statement issued by the Muslim leaders who visited Auschwitz and Dachau last month.

“O you who believe, stand up firmly for justice as witnesses to Almighty God.” (Holy Qu’ran, al-Nisa “The Women” 4:135)

On Aug. 7-11, 2010, we the undersigned Muslim American faith and community leaders visited Dachau and Auschwitz concentration camps where we witnessed firsthand the historical injustice of the Holocaust.

We met survivors who, several decades later, vividly and bravely shared their horrific experience of discrimination, suffering, and loss. We saw the many chilling places where men, women, and children were systematically and brutally murdered by the millions because of their faith, race, disability, and political affiliation.

In Islam, the destruction of one innocent life is like the destruction of the whole of humanity and the saving of one life is like the saving of the whole of humanity (Holy Qu’ran, al-Ma’idah “the Tablespread” 5:32). While entire communities perished by the many millions, we know that righteous Muslims from Bosnia, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, and Albania saved many Jews from brutal repression, torture, and senseless destruction.

We bear witness to the absolute horror and tragedy of the Holocaust where over 12 million human souls perished, including 6 million Jews.

We condemn any attempts to deny this historical reality and declare such denials or any justification of this tragedy as against the Islamic code of ethics.

We condemn anti-Semitism in any form. No creation of Almighty God should face discrimination based on his or her faith or religious conviction.

We stand united as Muslim-American faith and community leaders and recognize that we have a shared responsibility to continue to work together with leaders of all faiths and their communities to fight the dehumanization of all peoples based on their religion, race, or ethnicity. With the disturbing rise of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hatred, [hate-filled] rhetoric, and bigotry, now more than ever, people of faith must stand together for truth.

Together, we pledge to make real the commitment of “never again” and to stand united against injustice wherever it may be found in the world today.

•Imam Muzammil Siddiqi, Islamic Society of Orange County, Calif., and chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America

•Imam Muhamad Maged, All-Dulles-Area Muslim Society, Dulles, Va., and Vice President of the Islamic Society of North America

•Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, National Director of the Islamic Society of North America’s Office of Interfaith & Community Services, Washington, D.C.

•Imam Suhaib Webb, Muslim Community Association, Santa Clara, Calif.

•Laila Muhammad, daughter of the late Imam W.D. Muhammad of Chicago, Ill.

•Sheik Yasir Qadhi, Dean of Academics for the Al Maghrib Institute, New Haven, Conn.

•Imam Syed Naqvi, Director of the Islamic Information Center in Washington, D.C.

•Imam Abdullah T. Antepli, Muslim Chaplain, Duke University, Durham, N.C.

Sounding the shofar in the synagogue on Rosh HaShanah is the high point of my year.

How to Blow

No other mitzvah in Judaism is so dependent on a personal skill or entails such high drama. And, at least for me, no other mitzvah renders quite the same sense of achievement and fulfillment.

I often hear people talk about the awakening power of the sound of the shofar — how awesome a moment or how inspiring an experience it is for them to hear it. For me, it is both a very public and an intensely personal experience.

As I approach the bimah, I find myself quite alone, concentrating intently on what I have to do. Yet I am also highly conscious of being surrounded by hundreds of people who are relying on my ability to enable them to fulfill the central observance of the day.

Veteran shofar-blower David Olivestone sounds the shofar. Orthodox Union

In Numbers 29:1, the Torah designates the first day of the seventh month, that is Rosh HaShanah, as “a day of blowing the shofar.” The Oral Law, as interpreted by the rabbis, sets out a number of regulations concerning both the instrument itself and the manner in which it is to be sounded.

The shofar must be fashioned out of a ram’s horn. With the smaller end cut off, the horn is straightened out a little by heating it, so that a hole can be bored through it. A mouthpiece is formed out of the horn itself. No finger holes or reed or valves — such as you would find on other wind or brass instruments — may be added to help vary the notes. Thus, the only control you have over the notes is how you use your lips and your tongue.

How to blow

To produce a note, first use your tongue to moisten the extreme right-hand corner of your lips, and place the shofar firmly against them in that spot. With your lips tightly closed, make a tiny hole in them where the shofar is, and then force air into it as if you were making a Bronx cheer (a rasping sound), but without actually producing such a rude noise.

If you get it right, a bright and powerful note will emerge from the shofar. The tighter you squeeze the shofar against your lips, the higher the note that you will sound. It’s not necessary to puff out your cheeks; breathe in and hold the breath in your chest, letting it out slowly to control the length of the note.

The three mandatory sounds

The sequence and the length of the notes must follow the established pattern with great accuracy. The three mandatory sounds are designed to awaken thoughts of repentance and of subservience to God in the mind of the listener.

First comes the teki’ah, a long, clear note of alarm. This is used to bracket each of the other sounds, which are meant to be evocative of crying. The shevarim, a three-part note, suggests the sound of sighing or moaning. The teru’ah, consisting of nine rapid-fire staccato sounds, dramatically echoes the sobbing of someone in despair.

One hundred notes, in various combinations, are sounded at intervals throughout the Rosh HaShanah service, and each set is capped by a teki’ah gedolah, an extra-long note in which many also hear a sign of strength and hope.

Not too many people persevere enough to become really proficient at blowing the shofar. Many of those who do learned the skill from their fathers at a very young age, as I did. But each year, it takes much practice over a month or so both to perfect the notes once again and to retool the muscles of the lips and the strength of the lungs.

The sound of my thoughts

Since there’s no real way of controlling the quality of the shofar’s sound, you can never be 100 percent confident that the right sound will emerge. So whatever spiritual thoughts I might try to have as I prepare myself to sound the shofar usually evaporate as I begin, and I am left simply hoping that, despite my trepidation, the notes will come out as perfectly as they did when I was practicing.

Yet being in control of the shofar’s power is an extraordinary privilege and responsibility. Sometimes I like to think that the next teki’ah or the next shevarim could be the one that carries the congregation’s prayers soaring to the heavens. Sometimes I pray that this wordless animal sound that I am producing will have the ability to take the place of the prayers that are unspoken — those that words are inadequate to express.

I will not deny that I enjoy the congratulations and the handshakes that are offered to me after I sound the last teki’ah gedolah. And what am I thinking at this point, when it’s all over? That in just one year, with God’s help, I will get to do it again.

JTA

A new ambulance will be joining the fleet of Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical service, thanks to the generosity of the Brenner and Edwards families.

Siblings Robert Brenner, James Brenner, and Susan (Brenner) Edwards, together with Susan’s husband, Michael, donated the ambulance through American Friends of Magen David Adom. The gift was in honor of the 60th wedding anniversary of their parents, Jewel and Walter Brenner, members of the Jewish Center of Teaneck for 44 years.

The honorees, their children, and grandchildren — Amanda, a junior at The Frisch High School; and Byron and Jamie, both Frisch alumni — attended the dedication ceremony in Teaneck on Aug. 25.

The ambulance will be on call 24 hours a day/ seven days a week to respond to emergencies. Through AFMDA donors, more than 800 ambulances and mobile intensive care units are stationed throughout Israel, logging nearly 10 million miles and taking care of 550,000 patients annually.

MDA, Israel’s only government-mandated ambulance service, receives no government funding and depends on the support of AFMDA. For information, contact Gary Perl, Northeast regional director, at (212) 757-1627 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

The pairing of Jewish calendars with striking images of Judaica makes for an exciting combination.

With each calendar page we encounter an illustration of a historical, or contemporary, precious Judaic object that can brighten our surroundings, lift our spirits, and enlighten us about some aspect of our rich traditions.

All the calendars reviewed below give candlelighting times, Torah readings, and the dates for major and minor holidays.

The Jewish Calendar 2011, from Universe Publishing, is decorated with art treasures from the collection of the Jewish Historical Museum of Amsterdam.

The first page of this wall calendar has an illustration of a stunning silver etrog basket dating from 1851 to 1878 (Amsterdam).

Among the textile works illustrated, there is a beautifully embroidered tallit from 1923-24 (Amsterdam). A page of the De Leipnik Haggadah, on lambskin parchment and leather, comes from Darmstadt, Germany, 1734.

An oil painting by Isidor Kaufman depicts a touching “Portrait of a Jewish Little Boy,” 1900. A Torah shield by Piet Isak Cohen, of silver and rubber (Amsterdam, 2001) is a fine example of an ultra-modern ceremonial object.

The Universe desk calendar comes with illustrations of objects from the collection of the Jewish Museum of New York.

The large, diverse selection of works spans many centuries, mediums and themes.

It will make a most welcome gift for the busy household because of the excellent guide it contains to all the holiday dates on the Jewish calendar.

This guide, in the form of a chart, lists every major, and minor, holiday and fast day, along with such observances as Rosh Chodesh (the new month), Israel Independence Day, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and others.

The Pomegranate Jewish Calendar for 2011 features paintings by Malcah Zeldis. This one is called Rosh Hashanah.

The chart provides information such as the biblical/historical significance of the holiday listed, its seasonal significance, its theme, its mood, and its selected customs, along with the appropriate biblical readings.

Leafing through this calendar is like taking a walk through a great museum exhibit because of the large number of illustrations and their astonishing variety.

Most striking are some of the contemporary silver pieces, such as the Mezuzah (2004) by Israeli artist Adam Tihany, produced by Orfevrerie Christofle.

Two silver works by Ludwig Yehuda Wolpert, a menorah and Torah finials, date from several decades before the Christofle mezuzah, but foreshadow the modern style.

Another magnificent ultra-modern silver work is Moshe Zabari’s Torah Crown (l969).

Other Judaica illustrations in this calendar are a Limoges coffee pot with Hebrew writing on it; a multicolored ketubah with relief print letters by Gregg A. Handorff (l989); and paintings by Shahn, Oppenheim, Szyk, and others.

Among this year’s calendars from Pomegranate publishers, The Jewish Museum Calendar 2011, for the wall, features Raphael Soyer’s oil on canvas “Dancing Lesson” (l926) on its cover.

The painting is so vibrant it begs to be framed after the calendar year is over.

Another charming oil on canvas, from the late l920s, is “Flowers on Table,” by Israeli artist Reuven Rubin.

A Rosh HaShanah card from early 20th-century Germany, on embossed paper surrounded by white doves, recalls a more gentle era in that part of the world.

An elaborate cast-silver menorah takes us back to l860s Lemberg, to a city that once was the “Paris” of Ukraine.

Among the contemporary works is American artist Toby Kahn’s “Omer Calendar” (Saphyr, 2002) of acrylic and wood.

Bursting with color, Malcah Zeldis’ wall calendar, “Jewish Celebrations,” also by Pomegranate, contains a joyous series of images drawn in the folk-art style.

Looking at these detailed portraits of a family observing various traditions throughout the year, we are drawn into the pictures, and made to feel like participants.

Zeldis portrays such rituals as the seder, havdalah and benchen licht (lighting Shabbat or holiday candles), along with such holidays as Purim, Shavuot, and Rosh HaShanah.

Each illustration comes with an explanation of the ritual’s meaning and significance.

It is always a delight, for adults as well as youngsters, to see what “My Very Own Jewish Calendar” contains.

This wall calendar is always filled with facts, customs, anecdotes, trivia, and activities. Its monthly recipes are always healthful, simple, easy to make and delicious.

This year there is a fine, concise description of the shofar, its origin, significance, and how it is produced and used by both Ashkenazim and Sephardim.

An overview of the history of Jewish calendars in the past 200 years notes that a Jewish calendar in Germany used to list market and fair days, and one printed in London included the times of high water at London Bridge.

Keeping up with modern technology the calendar informs us that wherever we live we now can “twitter” our prayers to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Closer to home, we are reminded that National Jewish Art Week, to encourage the creation of Jewish artwork, takes place in February and is connected to the Torah portion read on Shabbat Vayakhel.

The artists celebrated in this Torah portion were jewelers, weavers, sculptors, and engravers.

We are informed that the Houston Holocaust Museum is collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies, in memory of the l.5 million children lost in the Shoah. The deadline for submissions is June 2011. Butterflies can be no larger than 8”x10”. They will go on exhibit next year.

On the subject of blessings we are told that the great scholar Maimonides divided them into three types — those of enjoyment, those recited before doing a mitzvah, and those of praise and gratitude, like wearing new clothes, seeing a rainbow, or being in the presence of a king.

The latter blessing was recited by Israeli author S.Y. Agnon when he received the Nobel Prize for literature, in l966, and found himself in the presence of the king of Sweden.

What do Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson, Corey Booker and Dr. Phil have in common? Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a Jewish Standard columnist. On Monday, Sept. 13, 7 p.m., at the first annual Now Generation BBQ, hosted by Dana and Jim Adler and sponsored by UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey, Boteach, author of “Kosher Sex” and “Shalom in the Home,” will lead a discussion entitled “Let’s Talk about Sex.”

Dietary laws will be observed. Billed as an event for couples under 50, general admission is $180 a couple, $90 per person. For information, call Allison Halpern, 201-820-3955, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or go to www.ujannj.org/shmuleybbq.

Local cantors who participated in the mission featured in the film include, from left, Cantors David Perper, Faith Steinsnyder, Ilan Mamber, and Sam Weiss.

NCM Fathom and Mod Three Productions present “100 Voices: A Journey Home,” on Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m., in 500 select movie theaters nationwide. Locally the film will be screened at the AMC Garden State 16 in Paramus and the AMC Clifton Commons 16. The two-hour musical documentary highlights “Poland to Israel: A Journey Through Time,” the Cantors Assembly Foundation’s historic mission to Poland and Israel last summer with 70 cantors including local Cantors Sam Weiss of the Jewish Community Center of Paramus, Faith Steinsnyder of The Village Temple in Manhattan and her husband, David Perper of Beth Haverim-Shir Shalom in Mahwah, and Ilan Mamber of Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff. Tickets at participating box offices or www.FathomEvents.com. Trailer at www.100voicesmovie.com.

The Union for Traditional Judaism’s Teaneck headquarters sold at auction early last month, but a motion filed last week in U.S. bankruptcy court last week cast doubt on the transaction.

UTJ’s attorney, Janice Grubin, filed a motion on Aug. 27 requesting an extension for her client to file a Chapter 11 plan. Extending this period of exclusivity, during which the debtor can create a plan to pull itself out of bankruptcy without imposed outside solutions, is not atypical in bankruptcy cases, she said. The property went to auction on Aug. 4, which was won by 333 Realty for $1.45 million.

“In the normal course of Chapter 11 cases, debtors often move for extension of their exclusive period to file a plan and solicit acceptances thereto,” she said. “This is a very common motion filed by Chapter 11 debtors.”

Within the motion, however, is language that puts the sale into doubt. A section listing cause to extend the exclusive period references “a significant unresolved contingency still exists — namely, the Sale with an approved buyer, 333 Realty LLC, who, it now appears, may not close.”

Grubin based that concern on communication with 333 Realty.

According to the motion, UTJ intends to address the issue soon, which may include canceling the sale and going to a new auction in mid-October.

Jack Zakim, 333 Realty’s attorney, told The Jewish Standard on Monday that his client has no plans to break its contract with UTJ. Nor, he said, has a decision been made as to how his client plans to develop the property.

The real estate company is, however, engaged in discussions with a group of Teaneck conservationists who want to save the massive oak tree on the property.

“There’s a lot of moving parts here and it keeps changing every day,” he said.

The motion has raised hopes at Netivot Shalom, the modern Orthodox synagogue that has met in UTJ for more than 10 years, that 333 Realty would not purchase the building and the synagogue would have another chance to buy it.

“Our preference far and away would be to stay in the present location,” the shul’s president, Pamela Scheininger said. “We’d like to speak to UTJ again about acquiring the property. It’s always been our objective.”

Netivot Shalom began a capital campaign earlier this week to raise funds to buy the building. A goal has been set, but Scheininger would not comment on it since it had not yet been revealed to the membership.

“We are confident we will be able to raise the funds necessary to secure Netivot Shalom’s future,” she said.

Netivot Shalom filed paperwork to make a bid during last month’s bankruptcy auction, but did not bid in the Aug. 4 auction.

“We have looked at everything that has been suggested to us,” Scheininger said. “We have not ruled out anything at this point.”

UTJ declared bankruptcy in May and its leaders decided to sell its headquarters to cover its debts. Controversy erupted in July when the union began work to remove a large oak tree that towers over the property. Union leaders argued that safety concerns prompted them to seek the tree’s removal, while the tree’s supporters argued that the removal was a ploy to get more money for the property. The tree, estimated to be between 200 and 300 years old, is considered the oldest in Teaneck.

Spurred by protests and petitions by eco-activists, the Teaneck township council took up the issue at its July meeting and considered bidding on the property to save the tree. The council ultimately decided not to intervene, but UTJ left the tree up through the auction. UTJ has asked for written proposals from whoever is interested in preserving the tree but has not received any, Grubin said.

“We’re doing our best to maximize the debtors’ assets,” she said. “Whether that is with or without the tree is still an open issue.”

Until a closing date is decided upon, UTJ finds itself unable to make other housing arrangements.

“We’ve shopped for a number of different sites that look very appealing to us,” said Rabbi Ronald Price, UTJ’s executive vice president, “but until the building closes we really can’t take a chance on signing a lease with somebody else.”

When it entered bankruptcy, UTJ secured financing that will keep it “in reasonably healthy shape” for six to 12 months, Price said. A planning committee to examine a post-Chapter 11 future for the union gave its first report at a board meeting Monday night, but the board decided against making the report public.

“We see the current situation as something that will eventually pass, God willing,” Price said.

Judge Robert Drain is expected to hear UTJ’s motion in U.S. bankruptcy court in White Plains, N.Y., on Sept. 13.