UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey is working in partnership with the Jewish Family Service of North Jersey and the Jewish Family Service of Bergen County & North Hudson to help people in our community deal with the impact of the devastating storm last weekend.

If you or anyone you know was severely affected by last weekend’s storm, please get in touch with the following:
Jewish Family Service of Bergen County & North Hudson
1485 Teaneck Rd, Teaneck (201) 837-9090
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Jewish Family Service of North Jersey
One Pike Dr., Wayne (973) 595-0111 or 17-10 River Road, Fair Lawn (201) 796-5151
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

We stand ready to help our community in any way we can. We are living through a series of crises — here in northern New Jersey, in Haiti and in Chile—that test us and call upon us to find the ways and means to help people rebuild and rebound.

If you are in need of assistance , please be in touch with the agencies above or with us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). If you are able to reach out and help your neighbors, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to volunteer.

Please share this email with neighbors who might not have access to their computers.

With thanks,
Alan Scharfstein

Howard E. Charish
Executive Vice President

www.uja.org

50 Eisenhower Drive, Paramus, NJ 07652

Saturday’s storm took the lives of two Teaneck men, killed by a falling tree on their way home from synagogue.

According to town officials, 49-year-old Ovadia Mussaffi and 54-year-old Lawrence Krause were hit by the tree on Saturday evening after leaving the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck.

Mussaffi was president of the shul; Krause was the managing partner of Krause & Associates law firm in New York City.

Arnold and Sandra Gold

Temple Emanu-El in Closter will host its 82nd annual dinner dance on Saturday, March 13, at 7 p.m. Sandra and Dr. Arnold Gold will receive the Community Leaders’ Award and Shari and Dr. Kenneth Citak will receive the Founder’s Award.

The Golds, members of Temple Emanu-El for more than a decade, founded the Arnold P. Gold Foundation in 1988 with a mission to perpetuate the tradition of the caring doctor. Sandra Gold is the CEO of the foundation, which sponsors programs at many U.S. schools of medicine and osteopathy and many schools abroad. She is also active with many facilities including the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, and is a board member of the Jewish Community Association of North America and the UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey.

Arnold Gold, a professor of clinical neurology and pediatrics at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, has written chapters in many major textbooks on pediatrics and neurology. His honors include the National Brennerman Award in Pediatrics, Practitioner of the Year and Distinguished Service Award at Columbia University, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Child Neurology Society, and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. The Golds have been married for more than 40 years and have five children and 12 grandchildren.

For information, call Carol at (201) 750-9997 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Kenneth and Shari Citak

Shari and Dr. Kenneth Citak joined the shul in 1993 and have been leaders and supporters since. They have served on the executive committee, board of directors, as chair of the high holy day and youth committees, and many search committees. Dr. Citak is a senior partner at the Neurology Group of Bergen County and the co-founder of the Valley Institute for Pain. He was previously an assistant professor of neurology at Mt. Sinai Hospital. A strong supporter of Israel, he has visited seven times and is active with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Shari Citak has been involved in sisterhood, the fashion show, religious school, and the nominating and rabbinic search committees. She also is involved with many local institutions including the Jewish Guild for the Blind, Youth Consultation Services, and the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades. The couple has two children, Jennifer and Matthew.

The New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of Architects is encouraging its approximately 2,000 members to participate in an international competition to design an Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust memorial. The competition is sponsored by the Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial Corp., a private, non-profit foundation chartered for building the memorial, in conjunction with the City of Atlantic City.

The city has donated a site on the ocean side of the boardwalk between New York and Kentucky avenues, now occupied by a seaside pavilion. First-stage submissions are due April 1 and final selections will be displayed in various Atlantic City locations during the summer. For information, visit www.acbhm.org.

Dr. Bethany Fishbein

The Jewish Community Housing Corporation will continue its “Lunch with an Expert” series with low vision specialist Dr. Bethany Fishbein speaking about technologies to help seniors with low vision due to macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and other conditions. The free event is Wednesday, March 24, beginning at noon, at Lester Senior Housing in Whippany.

Fishbein is the clinical director of the Low Vision Center at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital. She also runs Somerset Eye Care with her husband, Dr. Jonathan Fishbein. “Lunch with an Expert” is a monthly series that provides area residents with a chance to hear and question leading experts on a range of topics. The presentations are limited to 30 guests, who will receive lunch and a tour of the Heller Senior Living Apartments and Weston Assisted Living Residence at Lester.

The Jewish Community Housing Corporation owns and manages Lester Senior Housing, as well as the Village Apartments of the Jewish Federation in South Orange, Jewish Federation Plaza in West Orange, Jewish Federation Towers in Irvington, and the South Orange B’nai Brith Federation House.

To register, call Joel Goldin at (973) 929-2725 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

The annual “OU Guide to Passover,” a special issue of Jewish Action, the family magazine of the Orthodox Union, is available to help facilitate Passover preparation and observance. The guide lists food and other products certified kosher for Passover by the OU and includes two basic lists: one with items that must have an OU-P appear on the label, such as baking mixes, baked products, beverages, candy, condiments, dairy products, matzoh products, meat and poultry, olive oil, snack food, wine and liqueurs; and one with items that do not need a special Passover certification, such as aluminum foil, candles, cleansers, and paper goods, where the regular OU symbol is sufficient for year-round use.

It is available at ShopRite’s customer service desks and at many smaller kosher supermarkets. Yeshiva/day schools and OU synagogues have also received copies. To order copies for $3 each, call (212) 613-8125 or contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Volunteers are needed for English as a Second Language classes for adults sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey and Bergen County chapter of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey. The first joint JCRC/LLANJ-ESL initiative took place in 2008.

No experience is necessary and tutors will be oriented in advance by the Latino Leadership Alliance. Classes will start the week of March 22 or March 29 and continue through the last week in June. Volunteers are asked to commit for the entire three months. All classes will take place in Hackensack High School. Call (201) 838-0941, or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).