Jewish Standard, May 27, 2016

8/16/2019 Jewish Standard, May 27, 2016

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201685NORTH JERSEY

ENGLEWOOD’S SUSAN GOLD’S STORY OF SURVIVAL page 6

BARNERT TEMPLE REIMAGINES RELIGIOUS SCHOOL page 8

SOPHIE HELCMAN OF FAIR LAWN, 94, page 10

FRENCH FILM SHOWS SURVIVORS’ DEDICATION ‘TO LIFE’ page 41

MAY 27, 2016VOL. LXXXV NO. 38 $1.00

THEJEWISHSTANDARD.COM

Kosher barbecue is jus

one of Bergen native

Jeff Aeder’s gifts to his

adopted Chicago

Stepping up

to the plate

page

Our ChildrenAbout

Our ChildrenAbout

Supplement toTheJewishStandard •June2016

EnglewoodIs for KidsSpecialLocalSection

Don’t Worry,Be Happy

KeepingSummertime

Safe

Useful Information forthe NextGeneration ofJewish Families

I N T H I S I S S U

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1 0 8 6 T e a n e c k R o a d

T e a n e c k , N J 0 7 6 6 6

C H A N G E S E R V I C E R E Q U E S T E D


2/522 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 27, 2016

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Page 3

JEWISH STANDARD MAY 27, 2

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NOSHES ...............................................................4

ROCKLAND ...................................................... 18

OPINION ...........................................................22

COVER STORY ............. .............. ............. ........30

GALLERY ..........................................................38

DVAR TORAH............................................40

ARTS & CULTURE ...........................................41

CALENDAR ......................................................42

CROSSWORD PUZZLE ................................43

OBITUARIES ....................................................44

CLASSIFIEDS ..................................................46

REAL ESTATE ............ .............. .............. .......... 48

Meet 113-year-old Goldie Michelson —the oldest person in the USl

After the death this month of116-year-old Susannah Mushatt-Jones, a

113-year-old Jewish lady named Goldie

Corash Michelson became the oldest

living person in the United States.

Goldie, as most people who know

her call her, is in great shape for her

age, but she’s a little hard of hearing

these days. So, Renee Minsky, 84, talked

about her mother’s extraordinary life

— which has involved Jewish volunteer

work, theater, and a lot of chocolate.

Here are some of the aspects that stand

out.

1. She’s lived in Worcester, Massachu-

setts, for more than a century

Born to Reform Jewish parents in

Russia in 1902, Goldie immigrated to

the United States when she was 2.

Apart from her time as an infant inRussia and a stint as an undergrad at

Pembroke College — a women’s col-

lege in Providence, Rhode Island, that

merged into Brown University in 1971 —

Michelson has lived her entire life in her

adopted hometown.

2. There’s a theater named after her

at Clark University

Goldie has a lifelong passion for

theater, which she taught to Hebrew

school students at Worcester’s Temple

Emanuel (now Temple Emanuel Sinai),

Jewish senior citizens, and others for

decades. She still has a small theater in

the basement of her home, complete

with a stage, footlights, and a dress-

ing room, which doubles as a laundry

room. When Clark University learned

that Goldie was leaving generous fund-

ing for future renovations to its theater

in her will, the school renamed it the

Michelson Theater.

3. She wrote a master’s thesis about

Worcester’s Jews

Michelson completed a master’s

degree at Clark University in sociology,

and her thesis focused on a community

that few probably know better than she

does — the Jews of Worcester. In “A

Citizenship Survey of Worcester Jewry,”

Goldie found that many of the cityJewish immigrants were intimidate

the task of learning English and di

pursue American citizenship.

4. She volunteered for Jewish gr

like Hadassah and helped resettle

viet Jewish refugees

After the borders of the Soviet U

opened up for Jews in 1989, a new

wave of Jewish immigrants came

Worcester. Michelson was among

volunteers to help them settle in a

integrate themselves into America

society. Minsky fondly recalled att

ing the first bar mitzvah of a Sovie

migrant — an experience she said

“incredible.”

5. She says the key to her longev

was walking

Goldie doesn’t leave home muc

anymore, but for much of her life,

walked 4 or 5 miles every morning

“One of the great joys of life wa

when I sold my car,” she told Clark

versity’s magazine in 2012.

However, her real secret could b

ing a Jewish lady named Goldie —

until last year, the presumed oldes

in the world was 114-year-old Gold

Steinberg of New York.

GABE FRIEDM

Israeli mom’s pita portraitsare too good to eatl Israeli chocolatier

Gilat Orkin of Tel Mond

has earned another

title: pita artist.

Trying to tempt her

first-grader to actuallyeat the lunches that

she packed for school

each day, Orkin began

fashioning the pita

bread — along with

bits of cheese, halva,

chickpeas, chocolate

and vegetables — into

edible portraits of poli-

ticians and pop stars.

The photos of her

creations proved so

popular that Orkin es-

tablished a brand, Year

of the Sandwich. She

and her daughter have

been appearing in Is-

raeli newspapers and TV talk shows.

A collection of Year of the Sand-wich photos, curated by Karen

Shpilsher and Guy Morag Tzepelewitz,

is on display along Dov Hoz Street

in Holon until August 31. 7 fun facts

about 113-year-old Goldie Michelson

— the oldest person in the US

“I realize that when an object looks

interesting to children, they will be

curious about it,” Orkin said. “I had

the idea to combine the desire to eat

with the desire to learn something

about the world at large.”

Orkin fashions the bread and fill-ings into recognizable, whimsical

portraits of celebs including Benja-

min Netanyahu, David Ben-Gurion,

Golda Meir, Ghandi, Elvis, George

Harrison, Bob Dylan, Lady Gaga, Fred

and Wilma Flintstone, Malcolm X, Al-

bert Einstein, Shoshana Damari, and

many other Israeli and world icons.

She posts a daily food portrait on

her Instagram account, year_of_the_

sandwich ISRAEL21C.ORG

Self portrait of the artist

ON THE COVER: Jeff Aeder, Jennifer Levine, and their children in front of the

Baseball Hall of Fame. COURTESY JEFF AEDER


4/52

Noshes

4 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 27, 2016

“I can’t wait to meet her!”

– TV star Pamela Anderson, about to be introduced to Elie Wiesel at the Wor

Values Network’s recent gala in Manhattan.

Holy Name Hospital Ad 6x2

Want to read more noshes? Visit facebook.com/jewishstandard

house next door. Rogenenlists best friend Jimmy(IKE BARINHOLTZ, 38)to help him, and Jimmy,in turn, enlists former fratleader Teddy (Zac Efron)as their secret anti-soror-ity weapon.

ELISABETH “Beanie”

FELDSTEIN, 23, the sisterof JONAH HILL, 32, playsone of the three principalsorority enemies. Othertribe members: DAVE FRANCO, 30 (Teddy’sbest friend), LISA KUD-ROW, 52 (college dean),and CLARA MAMET, 21,(sorority member). Clarais the daughter of play-wright DAVID MAMET,68, and singer/actressREBECCA PIDGEON,50, a Jew-by-choice.Her half sister, ZOSIA,28, is a “Girls” star. Thisfilm opened last Friday,

but trust me — it’s still intheaters.

MAYA RUDOLPH,43, and Martin Short

are the co-hosts of “Mayaand Marty in Manhattan,”a live variety show, withmusic and sketches, thatpremieres on Tuesday,

May 31, at 10 p.m.Rudolph, a former “SNL”star, made a movingappearance earlier thisyear on the PBS series“Finding Your Roots.”Her father, DICK RU-DOLPH, 69, is Jewish,and her late mother,Minnie Riperton, wasAfrican-American.However, Rudolph knewalmost nothing about herfather’s family becauseher Jewish grandfathercut virtually all ties to hisparents.

–N.B.

Bette Midler

MORLEY AND MIKE:

“60 Minutes” duo

seemed timeless

Jerry Zaks

Ike Barinholtz Elisabeth Feldstein

Every tribute fromhis colleagues for

the late MORLEY SAFER emphasized his talent(both as a writer and asan on-air interviewer), hiskindness, and his humil-ity. Of course, they alsomentioned his remark-able longevity stats. Ifyou watched his 900

stories for “60 Minutes”for eight hours every day,it would take you amonth to see them all.Not oft noted was thefact that Safer and hisformer co-host MIKE WALLACE (1918-2012)worked together on “60Minutes” for almost 40years (1970-2008).LESLEY STAHL, 74, is theremaining Jewish “60Minutes” host. She’s heldthat job since 1991 and 25years is a great number.But she would have toremain a host until she is96 to surpass Safer’stenure. Well, as Wallaceand Safer proved, almostanything is possible.

Safer and Stahlaren’t the only aged

Hebrews with greatcareer longevity. It was just announced thatBETTE MIDLER, 70, willstar in the title role of aBroadway revival of“Hello, Dolly.” It is set toopen on April 20, 2017.David Hyde Pierce(“Fraser”) will co-star.Set to direct is four-timeTony award winnerJERRY ZAKS, 69. His

Polish Jewish parentssurvived the Holocaust(his mother was inAuschwitz; his father hidhis identity). They cameto America in 1948 andhis father opened akosher butcher shop inEast Paterson, NewJersey. There wasnothing in his back-

ground that led him intothe theater. But he wasblown away by a musicalat college and found hiscareer. He’s proven to bea very adept dramaticand musical director(including “Little Shop ofHorrors” and “La CageAux Folles”).

The film version of“Hello, Dolly” (1969)starred BARBRA STREI-SAND, now 74, and thelate WALTER MATTHAU.While it’s been almosta half-century (!) sinceits release, Ms. Streisandis still wowing them. In

August, she’ll tour thecountry playing 10 majorcities (including Brooklynon August 13).

If you like “Neigh-bors,” which starred

SETH ROGEN, 34, andRose Byrne as newparents who go ballisticwhen a noisy frat takesover the house next door,you’ll probably love“Neighbors 2: SororityRising.” Rogen and Byrnehave moved, but theirbad luck holds when asorority worse than thefrat boys takes over the

Lani Hall and Herb Alpert

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Herb Alpert at 81still shows brass●Meanwhile, HERB ALPERT, 81, who also becam

famous in the early 1960s, is still touring because h

just enjoys performing (he is very wealthy and to h

credit, a big philanthropist). Alpert will play the Ca

Hotel in Manhattan from May 31 to June 8. His wife

years, singer LANI HALL, 70, the mother of his dau

ter ARIA, 40, will accompany him. (His irst wife, t

mother of his older two children, also is Jewish.)I just found out that Alpert had an uncredited pa

a drummer on Mount Sinai in the 1956 blockbuster

Ten Commandments.” I thought that all the credite

actors have died, although I knew that Robert “Man

U.N.C.L.E” Vaughn, now 83, appeared as an uncred

Hebrew slave. Well, I checked — there is a credited

still alive, and she’s Jewish. JOANNA MERLIN, 84

played one of Jethro’s daughters (not the one MOS

married). Born Joanne Ratner, she was in the origin

Broadway company of “Fiddler on the Roof”, but le

before the show opened to take care of her two you

children. Happily, she recovered, career-wise, and

appeared in more than 40 ilms and in scores of TV

shots. She guested (20002011) in 43 episodes of “L

and Order: SVU” as Judge Lena Petrovsky.


5/52JEWISH STANDARD MAY 27, 2

Gail White

Paula Shaiman

Barbara Norden

Barbara Moss

Rita Merendino

Lisa Mactas

Joan Krieger

Ruth Kornheiser

Miriam Kassel

Margaret Kaplen

Rani Garfinkle

Merle Fish

Nancy Epstein

Bambi Epstein

Myrna Block

Anita Blatt

Karen Sue Singer

OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEY

Jewish FederationFor more information, please contact

Robin Rochlin at 201-820-3970 | [email protected]

Len Fisher at 201-820-3971 | [email protected]

Zvi S. Marans, MD Joan Krieger Endowment Foundation, Chair LOJE, Chair

This month, Jewish Federation celebrates our

Lion Of Judah Endowment (LOJE) donors. These remarkable women have created lasting

legacies by giving a bequest, life insurance policy, appreciated

stock or other assets which will perpetuate their annual Lion of

Judah gifts to Federation. It is simpler than you might expect.

Call us to learn more.

LOJE is a wonderful thing.

Leadership Israel

Volunteering

Responsibility

Legacy

Tradition

Community

Generations

Jewish values

Giving Back

Your legacy matters.

Star of David Society

Legacy


6/52

Local

6JEWISH STANDARD MAY 27, 2016

Remembering the hidden childrenSusan Gold of Englewood tells her story, edits others, in new anthology

JOANNE PALMER

Imagine, if you can, being a hidden child,

surviving the Holocaust.

You probably can’t imagine it, and don’t

even want to try. How could you? The lucky

ones were taken away from their parents, possi-

bly when they were too young to know what was

going on, or to remember them, and brought up

in Christian families. The luckier ones were treated

with love. Their parents survived and came back to

reclaim the luckiest ones.

And then there are the children who hid with

their parents. Children like Susan Geller, who spent

almost two years of her childhood in a dark bunker

underneath a barn floor with her parents and twoother adults, in a space too small for them all to lie

down in at once, had they ever wanted to sleep.

Children like Susan were ininitely better off

than her little brother, Janek. Their mother was

afraid to bring the 2-year-old to the bunker — he

might have cried, and imperiled all of them. Her

grandmother took the toddler. Both soon were

murdered.

Susan Geller, now Susan Gold of Englewood,

edited “The Hidden Child Book Club Remembers:

An Antholoy of Holocaust Stories,” and her story

is included in the book. Three of the other 13 story-

tellers also are from Bergen County. The book was

launched oficially at the Skirball

Center at Congregation Emanu-El

of New York on Wednesday. (Ms.Gold also has written a full-length

memoir, “The Eyes Are The Same,”

published in 2007.

Ms. Gold was born in Zloczow,

a city in a region of Poland that is

now Ukraine, in 1934. “My father,

Gerson Geller, was an engineer,

and we had a regular central Euro-

pean upper-middle-class life,” she

said. “My mother, Yetta, was a law

student when my parents married.

One of my grandmothers was the

daughter of a rabbi, and of course

we observed the Jewish holidays,

but my family was very assimi-

lated. We spoke Polish at home,

not Yiddish.” In fact, she added,she did learn Yiddish — but not

until she got to the United States.

Ms. Gold does not remember

much about her childhood, just

little flashes, although, she said,

more memories came back when she wrote her memoir.

She was 9 when she went into the bunker, in a town called

Podhirce, “and all I knew was that I had to keep quiet,”

she said. “I lived in a world of my own. I slept a lot. I had

a vivid imagination, and I dreamed a lot, about all sorts

of things, about unreal things, having to do with what life

was like before.”

It was a grim and out-of-time experience, marked with

bursts of kindness. “There was very little light,” she said,

and very little contact with the out-

side world. “There was one bucket

of food a day that came down, and

one bucket of waste that went backup. But occasionally the farmer’s

wife would take me up to the barn,

and I would be able to see daylight

through the cracks in the wall.” She

also remembers the Nazis once com-

ing to the barn but missing the door to the bunker, and she

remembers the time a cow fell through it.

“They put a pillow over my head, so I shouldn’t scream,”

she said. They were almost done in “not by a Nazi, not by

an informer, but by a calf.”

“The farmer’s family saved us, and they were ‘righ-

teous Christians,’ in quotes,” she said. Her grandfather had

made a deal with them — “that they would hide us for ive

gold pieces” — and they did. At irst, there was a problem.

They lived in a small town, where eve

knew everyone, and they couldn’t spe

gold, whose provenance no doubt wo

traced back to Jews they were hiding.Soon, when the war dragged on pa

few months they thought it would las

farmer’s family’s found itself increasin

danger. The penalty for harboring Jew

death. “It was super dangerous for t

Ms. Gold said. “After the war, when we

out of the bunker, they had a party

in their house, with vodka, and he go

drunk and told us, ‘You know we were

to kill you. This was going on for too l

The farmer told Ms. Gold’s mother and

the plan he’d devised to dispose of e

them, but he told them no such plan fo

“Maybe I was going to be saved,” she said.

The Gellers were liberated by the Russians a

marched through the Ukraine and Poland on the

to Berlin in 1944. “They were very kind,” Ms. GolThose soldiers piqued her interest in Russia, which

a long career many years later. But still the family w

danger. “We still had all these anti-Semites around u

had to leave at night. We went back to Zloczow, to se

was around, if there was anybody left. Some people

nized my mother, and said, ‘Oh! You’re still alive!’” A

no one else was, and the statement was made no

admiration but as a warning. It also was during tha

that the Gellers learned that Janek and his grandm

had been slaughtered.

“We knew we had to go west,” Ms. Gold said. “

thing was arranged, and someone led us to the bor

Czechoslovakia.” By then, in was 1945. The war had e

From there, the family went to a displaced pe

Susan Geller Gold as she is now, and as she

was as a little girl in Poland. The book she

edited is an anthology of hidden children’s

stories, including her own.


7/52

Loc


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camp in Germany, and stayed there for two years. That

was the irst time in a long time that Ms. Gold had gone to

school. “My father had taught me a little, and I was sort of

literate,” she said. “He taught me the alphabet and some

arithmetic. And I did have piano lessons in the camp — my

parents still wanted to be the people they had been.” She

also remembers learning Israeli songs and folk dances.

The family had no idea where they’d go next, but knewthat it might well be Israel.

“It was happenstance that we came here,” Ms. Gold

said. Her mother had a much older brother who had

gone to New York decades earlier. He had searched for

them. “He contacted us through HIAS because he found

our name on a list,” she said. So Susan, Yetta, and Gerson

Geller got on a ship and sailed across the Atlantic. “All I

remember was being seasick all the time,” Ms. Gold said.

“I was really so out of it. So many things had happened

in those few years.” Chief among them was the death of

her brother. “We never talked about it,” she said. “Central

Europeans believed strongly in denial as being not only a

river in Eypt. It was all a matter not necessarily of lies,

but of evasions. So I had no idea what to believe.

“The boat took 10 days. And then we landed, and my

uncle picked us up in his car — and there was New York.”

Yetta Geller’s brother, Isaac Imber, lived in WashingtonHeights, in upper Manhattan, with his wife and children;

for a while, the Gellers slept in his living room. Mr. Imber

made his money in real estate, his niece said, but he was

also a well-known Yiddish poet, and “a big Zionist.”

When the Gellers got to the United States, Ms. Geller,

the one with business acumen, somehow had $500. “My

father was the intellect,” Ms. Gold said. “Somehow or

other, we got a loan from HIAS, and from a relative here,

and we bought a grocery store in Williamsburg, in Brook-

lyn. My mother worked like a horse, lugging cartons, six

and a half days a week. We lived right next to the store.

My father was depressed. He would just sit at the cash

register, reading a dictionary and the English newspaper.”

Although none of them spoke English before they arrivedin New York, they all learned it quickly, and “by the time

they died, they were fluent,” Ms. Gold said. Her own Eng -

lish now is entirely unaccented, although she was 13 by the

time she began to speak it.

Ms. Gold went to junior high in Brooklyn, and then went

across the East River for high school. She and her parents

wanted her to go to college, but “none of us had any idea

of what an out-of-town college might be,” she said. And

then she met the dean of the brand-new Brandeis Univer-

sity, Clarence Berger, who was in town on a recruiting trip.

“It turned out that he had been an oficer liberating a con-

centration camp,” she said. “I had taken some SATs, and

I hadn’t done well on anything except French, but when I

told Dean Berger my story, it was like carte blanche,” she

said. “He didn’t look at my scores. He just admitted me,

and gave me a scholarship.

“This out-of-state thing was like heaven to me,” she said.“My parents had no car, but my roommate’s parents, who

lived in Washington Heights, picked me up, in the fall of

1952, through the burning colors of the fall, after war-torn

Europe, after Williamsburg. We drove right to heaven.”

Ms. Gold majored in intellectual history. “It was the

1950s, and you had to get engaged by your junior year and

married right after your senior year. And I did. And

illed my mother’s mandate that I marry a doctor.”

Gold was a radiologist; he and Susan were married

tually moving irst to Tenafly and then to Englewood

had three children; Peter, the youngest, died of an

rysm in 1979, when he was 13, a death that devastat

whole family and guided his siblings’ career choice

Gold, who lives in Vienna, Virginia, is a forensic pstrist, and Jonathan Gold of Randolph is a camp dir

“because his younger brother went to camp with

Ms. Gold said. Both of Ms. Gold’s surviving children

two children each.

Ms. Gold was a stay-at-home mother at irst, and

became a New York City permanent substitute te

(It’s a Byzantine system; best not to ask for detai

1975, when a money crunch made the city ire all it

tenured employees, Ms. Gold went to work at Chas

hattan as a market researcher, drawing on her know

of Russia and Russian to work on trade with that

country. Her next job often took her to Russia; she

ended her career by retiring from AIG as a vice pre

and chief representative of its trading ofice in Russ

All this equipped her for her writing career; she

a novel, “Norilsk: A Tale of Suspense in the Time

Oligarchs,” soon after she retired.But Ms. Gold’s heart is still with the children who

murdered, or who survived the Holocaust with pa

their hearts or their souls murdered. So are the he

the other one-time hidden children whose stories

the book she just published. Those stories must b

and they must be remembered.


8/52

Local


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Widows and Widowers Support Groups now forming.

For more information please call JFS at 201-837-9090

Out-of-the-classroom thinking Barnert Temple begins a journey to a new Jewish education

LARRY YUDELSON

Looking back, we have to wonder

how much market research was

conducted before the idea of

Hebrew school was invented.

Kids and school, after all, often go

together like felons and jails. Sure, kids

spend lots of time in school. But they’re

often counting the days and hours until they

escape. So who thought it was a wise idea to

turn Jewish religion, culture, and language

into a second shift of school?

No wonder that generations of Ameri-

can Jews don’t have warm nostalgia for

their Hebrew school experience — even if

they sent their children for a similar Jewish

education.

But why does Hebrew school have to beso much like, well, school?

That’s the question that Rabbi Lori For-

man-Jacobi, a former administrator at the

Bergen County High School of Jewish Stud-

ies, asked as she set about transforming

Hebrew school for the Jewish Community

Center of Manhattan and three Upper West

Side synagogues.

And the answer she came up with, as she

put together what became the Jewish Jour-

ney Project, is that it doesn’t have to be.Instead, the Jewish Journey Project envi-

sions afterschool Jewish education as akin

to other afterschool activities, such as

music, drama, and art.

After four years, the Jewish Journey Pro-

gram has 260 students and 40 different

afterschool courses.

“We don’t call it a school. We call it a pro-

gram,” Rabbi Forman-Jacobi said. “We try

to meld in the modalities the students love,

like cooking, arts, and drama.

“The word ‘journey’ conveys a sense of

its ongoing, changing nature,” she said.

“We want the kids to know they can con-

nect based on their passions. We involve

the parents and child in making a choice”

of which courses to take. “It’s very signii-cant. I have classes of children who want to

be there because they’ve chosen the class.”

Now, that model of Jewish education is

coming to Bergen County.

This fall, Barnert Temple in Franklin

Lakes is launching its own Jewish Journey

program for its students — you should par-

don the term — in grades 3 to 6, in conjunc-

tion with the New York program

“They will be able to engage in Judaism in

away that will excite them,” said Sara Losch,

director of lifelong learning at Barnert

Temple.

The Barnert religious school’s new con-

iguration is designed around flexibility.

Students still will be required to take a

Hebrew class — but now they can choose

which night to take it. Other options include

a course with the synagogue’s Rabbi ElyseFrishman that combines photography and

theoloy, a cooking course focusing on hol-

iday rituals, and a yoga course that prom-

ises to “explore Jewish values and teaching

of the weekly Torah program as well as …

prayer and kavanah (internal intention).”

The model of a journey, rather than a

school, makes it easier to involve parents

in the process. Ms. Losch meets with small

groups of students and their parents to dis-

cuss their interests. During the year, there

will be three three-hour classes for parents

and children, focusing on Torah, avodah

(spirituality and ritual), and gemilut chasa-

dim (acts of kindness). “It’s the heart and

core of what we’re learning,” she said.

The renovation of Barnert’s religious

school comes in response to a cha

recent years in how families were re

to the synagogue’s educational prog

“In the past, when children didn’t co

school because they had sports or

thing else taking priority, parents

apologize,” Ms. Losch said. “All of a s

we weren’t getting the sorries.

“We were getting maybe 45 percen

dance on any given Sunday,” given other sports and family activities t

happen on Sunday. “On the weekd

were getting 95 percent.”

This led Barnert to begin evaluat

religious school program. It hired

sultant and set up a committee of re

school parents. It discovered that p

really did want to be part of a Jewish

munity. They wanted their children

Jewishly educated and to learn Hebre

But they also wanted flexibility.

This made the Jewish Journey pr

the perfect template for Barnert to ad

“A student who is now coming on S

and during the week can get course

in one day with the new program

Losch said. “On the other hand, stuSara Losch with students at Barnert Temple.

Barnert Temple students receive awards from the Kathie F. Williams TAG

Scholarship Challenge. Back row: John and Samantha Williams; middle, left

right: Gabe P., Jacob M., Ben G., Ella S., Mollie G.; front: Emma G., Rebecca P

Noah F., and Gabby and Thalia R.


9/52

Local


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will be able to take as many courses as they want.”

The change is deeper than more flexible schedul-

ing, however. It’s not just about letting children choose

which hours they will come to religious school and

which classes they will take. It’s about changing the

focus from a speciic curriculum to a broad exploration

of Judaism.

And it’s about moving Judaism beyond the classroom.

Barnert began that shift this year with its TAG pro-

gram. TAG stands for Torah, avodah, and gemilut

chasadim.Students are given a booklet listing Jewish things they

can do, from taking part in their family seder to kissing

a mezuzah to feeding their pets. When they do them,

they write a short reflection — and they earn charms

(called TAGlettes) they can wear on their wrists or hang

on their walls.

“It’s an incentivization program,” Ms. Losch said.

“The students are getting into it.

“We said to the children, ‘Did you know that feeding

your dog in the evening is a Jewish commandment, a

Jewish mitzvah? You’re doing a mitzvah at home. Put-

ting up a mezuza or calling Grandma every week — we

labeled them as Jewish and called them a mitzvah.

“We did a vacation package,” giving a charm for being

Jewish on vacation.

“Families are surprised their children are really doing

it,” she said.Ms. Losch particularly liked a comment from one of

her students: “I didn’t realize how many things I do are

Jewish.”

The TAG program has an added bonus that encour-

ages kids to take it seriously: It’s backed by prizes,

offered by the family of Kathie Williams, a past presi-

dent of the synagogue and chair of its Lifelong Learning

Committee, who died of cancer in 2013. .

Students in third, fourth, and ifth grades can earn

$360 for a Jewish experiential program. Ten students

earned that this year. Sixth-graders can earn $3,600

toward a trip to Israel.

“The TAG program was the perfect transition into the

Jewish Journey Program,” Ms. Losch said.

Barnert students earn charms and scholarships

for being Jewish outside the classroom.


10/52

Local

10 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 27, 2016

Taking care of SolSophie Helcman of Fair Lawn, 94, dies; waited for little brother

ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN

Shlomo David (Sol) Adler was 13

and his sister Sophie was 17 when

they found themselves on their

own in the Polish city of Radom

in 1939.

Sophie had promised her well-to-do

parents, who later were murdered along

with another daughter, that she would

take good care of Sol. Their older brother

already had fled to Russia.

For the next six years, until the end of

World War II, the siblings and a 26-year-

old neighbor, Eliezer Helcman, kept each

other one step ahead of certain death.

After the war, Sophie and Eliezer wed.

Though the promise wasn’t necessarilyin force after the Nazi nightmare was over,

Sophie never stopped watching out for Sol

during the many years they lived in Amer-

ica — he in Manhattan and she in Fair Lawn

— and even after she moved to Israel, at 89,

to be near her daughter, Felicia Mizrachi.

“Sol would call her after 9 p.m. on his

rotary phone, because that’s when the

rates went down,” Sophie’s son, Andre

Helcman of Fair Lawn, said. Sometimes

Andre would conference-call his mother

and uncle and put his phone on speaker

so the siblings could talk to each other

across 7,000 miles without worrying

about rates.

On the week of April 10, 94-year-oldSophie valiantly fended off the Angel of

Death in Jerusalem, inally succumbing

on April 17, two days after Sol died of lung

cancer in New York. Nobody told Sophie

her brother was dying. No one had to.

“She knew a thousand percent,” Andresaid.

“All week, my sister kept texting me that

mom’s not doing well. At 7 that Friday

morning, I got a call that Sol had died.”

Four years earlier, at Sol’s request,

Andre and Felicia had arranged to buy

him a burial plot next to Eliezer’s grave at

Har Hamenuchot Cemetery in Jerusalem.

The Sunday after Sol died, Andre accom-

panied the cofin to Israel, hoping at the

same time to see his mother one last time.

“I was traveling with my uncle’s body

and praying for my mother to hold on,” he

recalled. But it was not to be. His mother

died just before he boarded the afternoon

flight, though he did not know it until he

landed and saw the looks on the faces ofhis sister and nephew at the airport.

“Basically she was waiting for her

kid brother to show up, so they could

be buried together on Monday,” Andre

said, explaining that in Israel the newly

deceased are interred as quickly as

possible.

“If she would have passed on Friday, she

would have been buried before Shabbos,

and if on Saturday she would have been

buried Sunday. She held out till Sunday

at 10 p.m., waiting for her brother. Thank

God she was able to do that for him.”

Felicia told a reporter from the Jerusa-

lem Post: “Her mission was to take her

brother up to heaven and watch over him.”According to Andre, that mission began

when the Nazi occupiers seized the Adler

house in Radom in 1939.

“My mother and my uncle came from a

Gerer chasidic family. When the war broke

out, my mother’s father told them that if,

God forbid, they were ever split up, they

should know that in the basement under a

certain brick there was a fake wall. Inside

was gold or money,” Andre said.“Unfortunately, that time came to pass.

The Nazis took over the house, and some-

how they got back and were able to open

the fake wall and take what was left. But

now what to do? They needed help because

they were only teenagers and the streets

were crawling with SS and Gestapo men.

My uncle said, ‘There’s an older man down

the block, and I think he can be trusted

because I see him go to shul every morning.’

“This was my father,” said Andre. “He

was going to shul every morning because

his mother had died in 1938 and he was

saying kaddish that year.”

Andre does not know all the details

about how the threesome managed to sur-

vive against seemingly impossible odds.“When we were growing up, they didn’t

relate very much,” he said. “But other sur-

vivors living in Paterson, Fair Lawn, and

Glen Rock used to come for Sunday dinner

at our house sometimes, and I’d sit at the

table and hear everyone’s stories.”

He and Felicia learned that Sophie, who

did not look typically Jewish and spoke

fluent German, obtained false papers

through an SS oficer who was in love

with a gentile friend of hers. The papers

allowed Sophie to leave the Radom ghetto

to buy necessities for Sol and Eliezer and

to pay for hiding them.

“It’s amazing that this very chasid

morphed into this other person,”

said. “My mother, despite being sm

stature, was not bashful. She stood

what she believed in and had great

That’s what got her through the Sho

Over the course of their six years

run in Radom, Danzig, and the co

side in between the two cities, theoften got separated but worked out

tem of secret signals and whistles t

one another. They took shelter wh

they could, including in ditches, t

and barns. One bitter winter, Elieze

in a cemetery and suffered frostbi

never again regained feeling in the

one leg.

Sophie spent some time in a labor

“Once every week or two, the Red

sent nurses to check on prisoners

camp, and this one Polish nurse w

over to my mother and said, ‘You s

Sophie Helcman, center is surrounded by her family; from left, her daughter

and son-in-law, Felicia and Rony Mizrachi, and her son and daughter-in-law,

Andre and Arlene Rubin Helcman. COURTESY ANDRE HELCMAN

The bodies of Sol Adler and Sophie

Adler Helcman lie together in Israel; they

were buried together, next to her hus-

band, Eliezer Helcman. Inset; Sol Adler.

TOP PHOTO BY ELI MIZRACHI;INSET COURTESY ANDRE HELCMAN

SEE TAKING CARE PA


12/52

Local


Elijah in VilnaClassic Yiddish film to be screened

in Franklin Lakes

JOANNE PALMER

The last thing you might

expect of a Yiddish ilm

made in Poland in 1924,

a ilm based on the same

story as the classic Yiddish melo-

drama “The Dybbuk,” probably is

a happy ending.

But somehow “A Vilna Legend”

has one.

“It’s a simple story,” Charles

Sokol of Wayne, the ilm buff who

collects such ilms and shows them

at his synagogue, Temple Emanuel

of North Jersey in Franklin Lakes,

said. He doesn’t want to give away

the entire plot, which, he said, isnot complicated — it’s a short ilm

— but it’s about two dear friends,

at irst married but childless, who

pledge their irstborns to each

other, should one be a girl and the

other a boy.

Needless to say, the friends

have a girl and a boy, and they

are pledged to each other — but it

doesn’t go well. “It’s a very deep

ilm,” Mr. Sokol said. “A very super-

natural ilm. But everything comes

together in the end, because of the

intervention of Eliyahu haNavi” —

the prophet Elijah — “who appears

in the ilm in human form, in sev-eral different guises, depending on

who he’s interacting with.”

“A Vilna Legend” stars the Yid-

dish movie star Ester Rokhl Kamin-

ska and her daughter, the Yid-

dish movie star Ida Kaminska, as

mother and daughter. As far as he

knows, Mr. Sokol said, it is the only

ilm in which they played together;“at a minimum, it surely is the only

surviving ilm.”

The ilm is unusual because of

its Jewish theme, Mr. Sokol said.

“Because of the anti-Semitism in

Poland, the major ilm companies

there — even the Jewish ones —

did not produce movies with Jew-

ish themes. They did not want to

upset the general population.” The

few eastern European ilms that did

have Jewish themes came from the

Ukraine, he added; the government

there tried to ight anti-Semitism,

and sponsored and encouraged

such ilms. But, Mr. Sokol said, that

didn’t work.Of course, ilms then were

silent. It was the intertitles (not

subtitles, which came later, and

were for translation) that were or

were not in Yiddish. When sound

came in, things changed. “In 1933,

a couple of people in the Yiddish

entertainment industry decided

to add Yiddish sound and then

English subtitles were added,” Mr.

Sokol said. “That’s the version of

the ilm we’ll be showing.” There

is no attempt at lip-syncing, he

added — as is clear when you see

the movie — and the voices were

not the actors’ own.“A Vilna Legend,” like many

other ilms in his collection, is avail-

able through the National Center

for Jewish Film at Brandeis Univer-

sity, which restored it. Mr. Sokol

has shown many of these ilms at

Temple Emanuel, and plans to

show more of them.

Information

Who: Film buff and collector Charles Sokol

What: Will screen “A Vilna Legend”; the hour-long film will be followed

by a sing-along.

Where: At Temple Emanuel of North Jersey at 558 High Mountain

Road in Franklin Lakes

When: On Sunday, June 5, at 2 o’clock

How much: It’s free and open to the public. (Of course, donations are

always welcome.)

What else: Ice cream and popcorn!

Stills from “A Vilna Legend.” The 1924 movie had Yiddish sound and

English subtitles added in 1933.



KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades TAUB CAMPUS | 411 E CLINTON AVE, TENAFLY, NJ 07670 |201.569.7900 | jccotp.org

UPCOMING AT KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades

TO REGISTER OR FOR MORE INFO, VISIT

jccotp.org OR CALL 201.569.7900.

CHILDREN

Community SupportedAgriculture (CSA)It’s not too late to buy a share and enjoy fresh,

organic, local produce while supporting area

farmers. Runs 22 weeks from June-Nov. A full share

of vegetables will average 7-10 varieties each week.

Fruit, free-range eggs, European-style butter and

maple syrup shares also available.

Visit us online for details and registration form.

Registration deadline is June 1.

ADULTS COMMUNITY

Tikkun ShavuotA unique experiential evening in preparation forShavuot. Get in the Shavuot spirit with a fun-

filled evening featuring a lecture on Megillat Ruth,workshops related to Shavuot (offered in Hebrewand English), wine & cheese, music, and a light fare.

Sat, Jun 4, 9:15 pm-12:30 am, $20/$25

Play Fore! the Kids GolfClassic & Play Games for

the KidsCome play with us and join the fun and enrich the

lives of hundreds of children with special needs.Enjoy a day of golf or one of our exciting women’s

events including your choice of Tennis, Mah Jongg,

Bridge, Canasta or Rummi-Q, a delicious brunch,

cocktail dinner reception, and sensational online

and live auctions. For more information, please contact Michal

Kleiman at 201.408.1412 or [email protected] Mon, Aug 1, Alpine Country Club, Demarest, NJ

Therapeutic NurseryProgram

Monday-Friday, July 11-August 19, 9-11:30 amor 12:30-3 pm, ages 3-6.

Developmental language-based parent/childprogram for bright preschool children with avariety of developmental difficulties, includinglanguage disorders, ADHD, high-functioningautism, social and emotional challenges aswell as selective mutism.

For more information contact Lois Mendelson,PhD, Director at 201.408.1497 or [email protected].

JCCUKeep Learning

JCC U Spring TermProfessors and experts lecture on a variety of subjects.

Morning presenter is Emmy award winning film critic

and celebrity interviewer JEFFREY LYONS and the

afternoon speaker is PROFESSOR RONALD BROWN

who will discuss God in the 21st Century.For more info call Kathy Graff at 201.408.1454.

Thur, June 2, 10:30-2 pm, $32/$40

Incredible Camp+Summer SwimClub & Gym For Your WholeFamily=Win Win!Sign up for 1 week or more of our incredible summer

camps and be eligible for a Camp Family Membership

with full use of the JCC for only $750, or just $250 for

those new to the JCC!

Visit jccotp.org/camps for all of our camp offerings for

children 2-18 years. Camps run 9 am-4 pm and are

ALL-INCLUSIVE! Transportation and extended care

options available.

Hurry – camps are filling up. Call 201.408.1448 for

membership details.


14/52

Local


Having the ‘money talk’Local financial planner Lori Sackler tries to destigmatize the taboo

LOIS GOLDRICH

Why does a young woman

planning to become a

pianist suddenly change

her major to business

and inance?

For Lori Sackler of Tenafly, who holds

a master’s degree in music, the decision

simply made sense.

“I lost my mother when I was in grad-

uate school,” Ms. Sackler said. “It was a

deining moment for me. I needed to be

inancially independent and create a new

path for myself.”

Ms. Sackler irst earned a master’s

degree in business, became a CPA and

a CFP, and then earned a CIMA designa-

tion at the Wharton School. (CIMA is theCertiied Investment Management Ana-

lyst certiication program.) She said that

in addition to her own need for inancial

security, she saw a bigger need for sound

inancial advice and guidance.

She decided to do something about it.

Now a inancial adviser and senior vice

president and senior investment man-

agement consultant at Morgan Stanley

Wealth Management, where she leads the

Sackler Group, Ms. Sackler — who is also

a longtime board member at the Kaplen

JCC on the Pa lisades in Tenafly — noted

that women comprise less than 20 per-

cent of the practitioners in her ield.

“It’s been that way for some time, but we’re trying to change it,” she said. “Mor-

gan Stanley understands that they’ll have

better success in transitioning wealth and

retaining assets after the death of the tra-

ditional male client if they can relate bet-

ter to women, who not only inherit the

assets but now already control 40 per-

cent of the U.S.’s wealth — and women

inancial advisers are well-suited to relate

to the female client.”

There are, she said, “fairly big gender

differences” in dealing with the issue of

money, which research links to differ-

ences in brain physioloy. “There are

differences in how women plan, in risk

tolerance, and in personal communica-

tion styles,” she said. Women “want totalk things through and be listened to.”

Ms. Sackler, author of “The M Word: The

Money Talk Every Family Needs to Have

About Wealth and Their Financial Future”

and now “The M Word Journal,” said thatstatistics show that people who engage

in inancial planning — especially those

working with a trained professional — “are

more optimistic and conident and have

less anxiety and fear.” Quoting John Len-

non, “Life is what happens while you’re

busy maki ng other plans ,” she stressed

that the planning process is not static.

Times have changed, and we must

change as well, she said. For example, as

responsibility for retirement falls increas-

ingly on individuals and employees rather

than on companies, “the onus is on the

individual to save more.” Some clients

have sought help in managing their sav-

ings right out of college or on getting their

irst job. “It’s the power of compounding,”she said. “The longer the interest is com-

pounded, the greater the nest egg.” But,

she added, for many it’s more common

to seek advice “when faced with big deci-

sions or life events.” These may include

changes in inancial circumstances, retire-

ment, marriage, remarriage and merging

families, caring for an older loved one, or

estate transfers.

Not all the news Ms. Sackler delivers to

her clients is good, and not all clients take

her advice. “I’ve seen people make emo-

tional rather than rational decisions,” she

said. “They make mistakes,” like the cli-

ents who used their savings to help buy

homes for their children and then, whenthey suffered a inancial reversal, were in

a bind. Still, she said, “for the most part,

I work with those looking for third-party

advice and for whom I and my team can

have a meaningful impact. Working with

good advisers can help avoid problems.”

Ms. Sackler — who with husband

Michael has two grown sons, Henry and

Eliot — is the creator and former host of

the radio show “The M Word” on WOR.

Her goal, she said, is to “destigmatize the

most taboo of topics, and provide guid-

ance for the discussions that will pre-

serve family inances and relationships

and serve as the basis for better commu-

nication and closer connection. “

In her new book, she provides fami-lies and their advisers with the tools they

need to conduct the money talk success-

fully. Using a step-by-step decision tree,

she presents a detailed road map based

on a ive-step plan.

“The ‘M Word Journal’ presents a road

map,” Ms. Sackler said. “It deconstructs

the process to guide the reader through

life’s transitions while focusing on three

takeaways: Identifying the informa-

tion they will need, deining the ‘how

to,’ including determining the obstacles

keeping their families from having pro-

ductive conversations and planning, and

providing guidelines to pick the right

third-party professionals to help while

creating a process that is repeatable.”Ms. Sackler said that having enough

money for retirement seems to be people’s

major concern, even when they have suf-

icient resources to carry them through.

“It’s based on consumption patterns,” she

said, calling it “a humbling experience”

to inform a family of limitations on future

spending. Factors such as inflation, partic-

ularly in health care, are also of concern,

“though this is a bigger issue for those on

a ixed unearned income. Inflation over

time can become a big obstacle.”

One problem in our society, she said,

“is that we don’t discuss the importance

of inancial literacy. Kids are pretty smart.

They see how we spend, how we use our

money, and how we save it, but we don’talways talk to them about the topic. If

there’s a disconnect, they see that too.”

“Millennials are more informed,” she

continued. “They’ve lived through 9/11

and two economic downturns; they’ve

seen their families struggle; they have

unprecedented debt. They’re more like

their grandparents than their parents.

They’re very cautious and they’re not

particularly trusting of institutions.”

In general, though, “there’s a prob-

lem talking about money,” which often is

rooted in issues of control and trust. But

the reasons are varied and can be hidden

below the surface. “First, it may b

tural — it’s impolite to talk about it

said, a taboo dating back to our f

ing fathers, reflected in our languag

national character, which is both ma

istic and democratic at the same tim

ond, there may be an evolutionary c

nent where it’s perceived as a threat

“Third, there are gender differe

cited above. And fourth, every fam

a money history with deined pers

ties that can be charted across ge

tions. They’re deeply embedded.”

While inancial planners must ha

requisite inancial skill set, it doesnif they’re also adept as “psycholo

and you need to understand your c

and their psycholoy,” Ms. Sackle

“It’s very personal. You have to dig

“In both my work as an advise

my personal life, I’ve seen family

around money decisions, tearing

both a fami ly’s inances and per

relationships because there wa

adequate planning and commu

tion. There’s a 70 percent failure r

transferring wealth across generat

With $59 trillion to be distributed

the next 50 years, that’s a large pro

And, she said, breakdown in comm

tion is the biggest reason.

Ms. Sackler’s books have beenten to provide guidelines for overco

obstacles in communication, wh

due to gender, generational differ

or other issues. On Wednesday, J

the JCC in Tenafly will host an in

tive dialogue featuring Ms. Sackle

WNBCTV reporter Jen Maxield. Th

will explore the issues involved i

ing successful family conversation

affect major life transitions.

Ms. Sackler said she wants thos

attend the June 1 meeting to “walk

with the initial tools they need to

forward.”

Lori Sackler

Who: Financial planner Lori Sackler and WNBC-TV reporter Jen Maxfield

What: Will lead an interactive dialogue

When: On June 1, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Where: At the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, 411 East Clinton Ave. in Tenafly

Cost: $7 for members, $10 for everyone else

For more information, or to register: Call (201) 408-1457

Also: Light refreshments

In both my woas an adviser amy personal liI’ve seen fam

stress arou money decision

tearing apboth a family

finances a person

relationship


16/52

Local


‘Fiddler’ rings out at Five StarThe Senior Chorus at Five Star Pre-mier Residences of Teaneck per-

formed selections from “Fiddler

on the Roof” for community mem-

bers, friends, family, and residents.

Its executive director, Robin Granat,

conducts the chorus with Five Star

residents. Cecilia Brower, a for-

mer pianist with the Metropolitan

Opera Company, is a pianist with the

chorus. Area musician/keyboard-ist George Tuzzeo and violist Arlene

Locola of Oradell also accompanied

the group.

Encore performances will be held

at several skilled nursing facilities

and senior groups in Bergen County.

For information, call Ms. Granat at

(201) 8363634.

Celebrate Na’amat’s 90th anniversaryNa’amat USA will mark its 90th anniver-

sary and install its new national board on

July 2930 at the JW Marriot Resort andSpa in Las Vegas.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to

the United Nations, and Professor Shula

Reinharz of Brandeis University will be

the keynote speakers. Other speakers

include Judy Telman of Na’amat Israel,

Linda Meisel of Jewish Family and Chil-dren’s Service of Greater Mercer County,

and Dr. Nick Spirtos of the Women’s Can-

cer Center of Las Vegas. For more infor-

mation, go to www.naamat.org.

Migdal Ohr plans NYC dinnerMigdal Ohr, which works with under-

privileged, orphaned, and abused Israelichildren, as well as with the children of

new immigrants to Israel, will hold its

annual gala dinner on Monday, June 6,

at Tribeca 360 in Manhattan. This year’s

dinner will honor distinguished support-

ers who have contributed to the organi-

zation’s success over its 43-year history.

Honorees include Dr. Arthur Henry

and Adina Gerber of Lawrence, N.Y., and

Louis and Anat Menaged of New York

City. Rabbi Allen and Alisa Schwartz,

also of New York City, will receive theRabbinic Partnership award. The eve-

ning will include a program featuring

Migdal Ohr’s founder and dean, Rabbi

Yitzchak Dovid Grossman, who won the

Israel Prize in 2004. Prominent criminal

defense attorney Benjamin Brafman is

the master of ceremonies. For informa-

tion, call (212) 3973700 or go to www.

migdalohrusa.org.

Event bolsters One Israel Fund

Mindy and Mutty Stein of Teaneck

recently hosted an event with represen-

tatives of One Israel Fund. Marc Provi-

sor, its director of security projects, and

Natalie Sopinsky, its director of commu-

nity development, talked about what life

is like on the front lines of terror in the

West Bank.

Natalie Sopinsky lives in Susya, 12 kilo-

meters from Otniel, where Daphna Meir was recently murdered.

Marc Provisor is also a counterter-

rorism expert who works with the IDF,

which rec ent ly adopted his spe cia lly

designed anti-ballistic vest. To date,

more than 300 vests have been do

at a cost of $1,450 each. Mr. Proviso

ducts security assessments throu

the West Bank, recommends techn

cal security upgrades, and raises

to get needed equipment, includin

veillance and thermal cameras, bur

and emergency medical equipme

intensive-care ambulances.

The One Israel Fund also raises tions for playgrounds and comm

centers for the Jewish residents

West Bank. For information, ca

Sopinsky at (516) 2399202, ext.

email her at Natalie@oneisraelfund

From left, Mutty Stein, Dr. Reuben Gross, Marc Provisor,

and Mindy Stein. PHOTOS COURTESY ONE ISRAEL FUND

Evy Stein and N

Sopinsky

Members of the Senior Chorus at Five Star Premier Residences.

Keep us informedWe welcome photos of community events. Photos must be high resolution jpg files. Please include a detailed cap-tion and a daytime telephone. Mailed photos will only be returned with a self-addressed stamped envelope. Notevery photo will be published.

[email protected] NJ Jewish Media Group1086 Teaneck Rd., Teaneck, NJ 07666(201) 837-8818 x 110

Paramus shul to honorRosmans and SturmsThe JCC of Paramus/Congregation Beth

Tikvah will hold its annual journal dinner

dance on Sunday, June 26, at 4:30 p.m.

Two couples will be recognized for theiryears of service to the congregation. The

dinner dance honors congregants and a

commemorative journal is published in

conjunction with it.

This year’s honorees are longtime

members Laurie and Larry Rosman and

Olinda and Larry Sturm. Both couples

and their families have contributed in

many ways to the growth of the JCCP/CBT.

Along with being a sisterhood co-

dent and former board member, L

Rosman has been involved with

committees, including Shabbat dihouse, and dinner dance. Larry Ro

has been a men’s club co-preside

a longtime board member. Olinda

helped run early childhood and rel

school fundraisers, and Larry Stur

the shul’s inancial secretary for

years. For information or to place

nal ad, call (201) 2627691 or go to

jccparamus.org.

Laurie and Larry Rosman Olinda and Larry Sturm

Like us on Facebook facebook.com/jewishstandard

More than 346,000 likes


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Sinai Schools’ art show set for June 1Art is a powerful tool for self-expression,

especially for children who have special

needs that involve dificulty with lan-

guage and communication, or emotional

challenges. In the four years since Sinai

Schools established its art program, art

therapist Sarah Tarzik has facilitated

signiicant breakthroughs with her stu-

dents, and has helped them create aston-

ishing, beautiful artwork.

The community is invited to Unique

Inspirations, a free student art show.

There, the school will auction some of the

works Sinai students made over the course

of this year through its groundbreaking

art therapy program. The show is spon-

sored by Bear Givers, a non-proit organi-

zation dedicated to empowering children

who have special needs.

Sinai Schools encourages the com-

munity to meet the young artists, and

to support Sinai by buying artwork or

commissioning a canvas. The show

provides visitors the unique opportu-

nity to gain insight into how children

with a wide range of special needs see

the world and express their feelings

through art. One hundred percent of

the proceeds will beneit Sinai Schools’

scholarship fund.

These three

pieces of art

were created by

Sinai students.They are among

the work for

sale next

Wednesday

night.


18/52

Rockland


‘A dream come true’

Daughter of Orangetown Jewish Center rabbitalks about making aliyah, working with lone soldiers

JOANNE PALMER

Sarah Drill knew she wanted to

make aliyah, and she knew that

she would be a lone soldier, but

she never thought that her IDF

career would include a stint as a sniper

instructor.

The IDF, though, tests both its recruits

and its draftees thoroughly. It igures out

new soldiers’ talents, asks them their inter-

ests, and does its best to match them. Ms.

Drill, it turns out, can combine intense

focus and extreme coordination with theability to pass that skill on to others.

Who could have known?

Ms. Drill was able to parlay that expe-

rience, along with the rest of her knowl-

edge, talents, and worldview, into a job

that uses her talents, in Israel, through a

program called Wings.

Last month, Ms. Drill, the daughter of

the Orangetown Jewish Center’s Rabbi

Paula Mack Drill, came to Rockland

County and talked to an audience of about

80 people about that 10-year-old but still

inadequately known program.

“Wings helps young people from before

they arrive in Israel through two years

after they are released from the IDF,” Ms.Drill said. “That’s what makes it unique.

“About three months before they are

released, we put them in a ive-day work-

shop — run, of course, in coordination with

the IDF — and the workshop starts prepar-

ing them for what it means to become a

civilian in Israel.”

Part of the workshop’s function is to talk

to the group about the beneits to whichthey are entitled as former soldiers, as new

immigrants, and as lone soldiers, including

scholarships, and the tax implications of

any decisions they make, Ms. Drill said.

Also, “each lone soldier is matched with a

professional career counselor, who is also

a psychologist. You, as the lone soldier,

meet with the career counselor as many

times as you want to, for up to two years.”The career counselors also help the lone

soldiers write resumes; even before that,

Sarah Drill and her youngest brother, Josh, stand together at Josh’s swearing-in

ceremony at the Kotel in Jerusalem. SARAH DRILL

they help sharpen their charges’

about what they’d like to do once t

out of the army. It’s entirely indiv

ized. “You can’t make one plan and e

it to work for everyone,” Ms. Drill saThe career counselors are not v

teers. “Wings pays for the professi

the lone soldiers get all these servic

free,” Ms. Drill said.

“Overall, in both the before and

programs, we have helped over 6,00

soldiers up to this point,” Ms. Drill sai

usually about 800 lone soldiers a yea

Wings is a program of the Jewish A

for Israel and the David and Laura M

Foundation, Ms. Drill said. The Me

both Iranian Jews, came to the U

States separately, when they were y

almost half a century ago. “They

understand and feel for lone sol

what it feels like to come to a new co

when it’s not your language and iyour culture,” she said. “He loves

and wants to be part of having these

people stay in Israel.

“The Jewish Agency recognized th

potential in the young people com

Israel and serving as lone soldiers

continued. “They looked at statistic

saw that about 95 percent of them

potential for higher academic stud

you compare them to the regular

population, that is a very high perce

“But the Jewish Agency — and pa

larly Mira Kedar, who worked th

noticed a pattern, with people goin

to where they had come from, be

they weren’t able to ind their wpotential in Israel. They wanted help

Kedar recognized the issue, and sh

ated the Wings pilot program, alon

the Merage Foundation.”

Lone soldiers come from all ov

world; most right out of high schoo

or 19, Ms. Drill said. When they irst

in Israel, most do not speak fluent He

so the services Wings offers them

their native tongues. The most freq

offered languages are English, Sp

French, and Russian. By the time th

ready to write their resumes, though

are ready to undertake that task in H

Her own story is somewhat anom

she added, because she joined th

after she graduated from Muhlenber versity. “I majored in English, with m

in Jewish studies and photography

said. “I had a really great experie

Muhlenberg. I knew even before I s

college that I wanted to make aliyah

was something that came to me afte

accepted there, so I decided to con

on my path. I said that if after four

I still wanted to make aliyah, I woul

then.” She still wanted it. She made

right after college, in 2012.

Once she and the IDF agreed that

become a sniper instructor, she had

more months of sniper training.On International Women’s Day, Wings had a program for female lone soldiers. Sarah Drill is in the front row. SARAH DRILL


19/52

Rockland


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have to be certiied as a sniper before

you can be certiied as a sniper instruc-tor,” she said. “It is intense. It takes a

lot of focus. A lot of patience.” And, of

course, a good eye and a steady hand.

It was a shock. She’d come from a gun-

free environment. “My mother joked

that she’d always coniscated water guns

after birthday parties,” Ms. Drill said. “I

loved it. I found it to be really meaning-

ful service.”

Ms. Drill was in the IDF in the summer

of 2014, when Operation Protective Edge

took soldiers into Gaza. She worked on

Tze’elim, the Israeli training base in

the Negev that is the country’s largest.

“Essentially, every soldier who went

into Gaza came through there,” she said.“We were able to give them that last les-

son before they went into Gaza. We gave

them everything we had.”

Her IDF service ended just as Protec-

tive Edge did. “I had about a month left,

and I panicked,” she said. “I wondered,

what am I going to do? I realized that

there were people who wanted to make

sure that I would stay in Israel, so I went

to the Wings workshop, and I came out

with a resume.

“I had a resume from college, a good

one, in English, so I thought I could

just translate it into Hebrew, but it’s not

entirely the same thing. My Hebrew one

is deinitely shorter, and a very impor-

tant piece of the workshop was havingthem show me how to use my army ser-

vice on the resume.”

Ms. Drill moved to Budapest with her

iancé, an Israeli whom she met while

they were both in the army. “He’s a stu-

dent, studying electrical engineering in

Tel Aviv,” she said. When they returned,

she applied for jobs, using the resume

she’d worked on with Wings. She knew

she wanted to “have a job that made me

feel good at the end of the day,” she said.

Coincidentally, that job ended up being

with Wings. “What’s really kind of cool is

that I am about to look out for the future

of lone soldiers — and my youngest

brother, Josh, is a lone soldier right now.“That’s a big motivation for me.”

Ms. Drill came home in April, and there-

fore was able to talk about Wings at the

Orangetown Jewish Center, because she

was celebrating the irst of two wedding

ceremonies. She and her now-husband,

Sagi Fainshtain, got married last month,

and will remarry in Israel next week.

Her parents, Richard and Rabbi Paula

Mack Drill, are in Israel for the wedding

— and also to celebrate their own 31st

anniversary.

“Two things were very clear to us

from the time Sarah was in high school,”

Rabbi Drill said. “Her Zionism was so

powerful that she was likely to end upliving in Israel, and her sense of purpose

and drive was so strong that she would

one day be doing something important

for Israel. All of that has come true in her

work for Wings for Lone Soldiers.

“We have been proud of Sarah

throughout her many trips to Israel:

her high school trip, three different JNF

alternative spring breaks, her semester

abroad at Haifa University, and her ulti-

mate aliyah. Throughout it all, the com-

mon thread has been that she wanted

to become part of Israeli society in a

meaningful way. This goal was clear in

her choice of army service as a sniper

instructor. And now it is clear in her cho-

sen work for Wings.“During her most recent trip back to

the States — so that Rabbi Scheff could

oficiate at her marriage to Sagi Fain-

shtain — Sarah spent a morning speak-

ing at our synagogue, Orangetown Jew-

ish Center.” (That’s Rabbi Craig Scheff,

Orangetown’s senior rabbi.)

“In that amazing hour, I saw my daugh-

ter as a professional woman, speaking

with passion and clarity about her work

on behalf of lone soldiers, including her

brother Joshua.

“For me, it was pretty much a dream

come true!”

The Orangetown Jewish Center’s senior rabbi, Craig Scheff, performed the

wedding ceremony for Sarah Drill and Sagi Fainshtain, shown here. This

week, they will have another wedding ceremony in Israel. SARAH DRILL


20/52

Rockland


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Spring Valley manarrested as peeping tomin Fort LeeNachman Breier of Spring Valley was arrested

stared through the window of the Skyview Mo

Fort Lee, Police Captain Patrick Kissane said. was charged with invasion of privacy; his peepi

caught on a security camera.

Breier, 54, is reported not only to have peere

also to have taken pictures. A man staying at th

view reported that someone “had opened the w

of his room and took photos with a cell phone wh

and his wife were naked inside the room,” accord

NorthJersey.com

Breier, a beverage deliveryman, had been seen

ing through motel windows at least twice in th

week, and had been reported to have taken pi

then too, Kissane said. The police believe that

had committed similar crimes elsewhere in Berge

Rockland counties.

Holocaust museumis renovating The Holocaust Museum & Center for Toleranc

Education Museum in Suffern is under renovatio

June 1, more demolition of the old building an

struction of the new museum and educational ex

will begin. The new museum is designed to be a

dable educational institution for students of al

at all levels of Holocaust and human rights educ

Fall programs include “How Trauma and Res

Cross Generations” on Tuesday, September 20, West Clarkstown Jewish Center in New City, at

The museum’s annual beneit brunch is plann

Sunday, November 6, at 10 a.m., at the Cultura

Center at Rockland Community College in Suff

community-wide Kristallnacht commemoration

held on Wednesday, November 9, at Temple Bet

lom in New City at 7 p.m.

RJS plans annual galaRockland Jewish Family Service will hold its annual

gala, this year honoring Lyn and Hank Meyers, Dr. Joan

Black, and Lauren Lipoff, at Congregation Shaarey

Israel in Montebello on Sunday, June 5, at 6 p.m

evening will include a glatt kosher buffet dinner

silent auction. For information, call (845) 354212

177, or email [email protected].

Celebrate Israel paradeBuses will leave from the Rockland Jewish CommunityCampus on Sunday, June 5, for this year’s Celebrate

Israel parade. Meet at the campus at 8 a.m.; the p

step-off time is 11:15. For information, call commshaliach Liraz Levi at (845) 3624200, ext. 115.

Lyn and Hank Meyers

Dr. Joan Black

Lauren Lipoff


21/52

Rockland/ Commun


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Jewish Standard, May 27, 2016

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Transcript of Jewish Standard, May 27, 2016