North Jersey Jewish Standard, March 6, 2015

Jewish Standard

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201584NORTH JERSEY

REENACTING A WEDDING pages 6STUDYING TORAH TO BUILD BRIDGES IN TEANECK page 10HOT CLUB OF COWTOWNS JEWISH FIDDLER page 14ISRAELI CREATIVITY COMES TO JERSEY CITY page 18

Born in a D.P. camp, raised in poverty, the story of a self-made American Jewish leader

MARCH 6, 2015VOL. LXXXIV NO. 24 $1.00

page 22

Kleins battles

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NOSHES....................................................4OPINION................................................ 22COVER.STORY..................................... 26KEEPING.KOSHER..............................40DEAR.RABBI........................................44TORAH.COMMENTARY....................45CROSSWORD.PUZZLE.....................46ARTS.&.CULTURE............................... 47CALENDAR...........................................48OBITUARIES......................................... 53CLASSIFIEDS.......................................54REAL.ESTATE....................................... 56

CONTENTS

LETTERS, P. 25

The symbolic foods of the seder are not ends in themselves.

DAVID ZINBERG, TEANECK

Seasons greetingsl We just had to pass along this de-lightful Purim greeting we received from David and Sarina Goldstein, featuring their two youngest daugh-ters, Ayelet and Leora, as well as a seasonal family friend dressed in his finest Purim apparel. We join in hop-ing you had the finest and most joy-ous of Purims.

We would also like to gently remind those in charge of our regional weather that no matter how charming we find Purim snowmen, white stuff falling from the sky is explicitly enumerated among the Passover plagues. Thats one Exodus reenactment we pray we wont be graced with. LARRY YUDELSON

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Candlelighting: Friday, March 6, 5:35 p.m.Shabbat ends: Saturday, March 7, 6:34 p.m.

l In recent years, a small cottage industry of Lego enthusiasts selling custom-ized Lego kits has sprung up. If you want to build a dragon, or a police station, or a Star Wars Death Star, Lego is happy to sell you a kit with hundreds of bricks. But if you want a miniature starship Enterprise or a M26 Persh-ing tank, youll have to go to third party suppliers like Brickmania.com.

Now, theres Jbrick.com, which offers Jewish-themed kits. Their first offering, a menorah-and-dreidel kit, has sold out. Next up: tzedakah boxes, a seder plate, and a miniature IDF soldier.

Jbrick.com is a project of Yitzie Kasowitz, a Lubavitcher who is an expert builder for Brickmania.

My dream is to build the Beis Hamikdash in Lego minifig size, about 1/35 scale, he told Collive.com. It will take many thousands of Lego

bricks, hours and money. Perhaps Ill be commissioned to do that soon enough.

LARRY YUDELSON

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Thank God, Im going for higher education! Chasidic singer Lipa Schmeltzer, speaking at a Queens College Chanukah concert he headlined, as reported in Gothamist.com. According to the article, he continued by saying: Theyre teaching me nice stuff, but Im teaching them nice stuff too. That people with these he flicked one of his side locks can also be normal, and learn English!

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A bricks blessing

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When did CNN start hosting my family seders? Jon Stewart, describing a CNN segment where J Streets Jeremy Ben-Ami and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach loudly talked over each other.

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possible way. DAVE FRANCO, 29, co-stars as a Vaughn associate. Dave, the younger brother of actor JAMES FRANCO, recently said Im proud to be Jewish. He and ALLISON BRIE, 32 (Community), have been dating for two years. Like Dave, shes the child of a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father, and she, too, identifies as Jewish. I will note that there is a rats nest of websites that delight in proclaiming any two-celeb couple together or broken up, and Franco-Brie is just the cheese they feast on. Three months ago, they

were supposedly kaput because Brie wasnt with Franco on an Australian trip. But in late January, an actual just-taken photo of Franco giving Brie flowers appeared on another site, and my reasonable surmise is that they still are okay.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON, 30, always is a class

act, whether it is articu-lately defending her decision to remain a celebrity endorser of the Israeli company Soda Stream, in the face of boycott-Israel fanatics, or defending John Travolta from a claim that he was touching her weirdly on

the Oscars red carpet. A still frame of one mo-ment of them greeting each other on the red carpet was extracted from the much longer encounter to make it seem like Travolta was weird. The photo was posted around the Internet. Johansson told the AP: There is nothing strange, creepy or inappropriate about John Travolta That still photo does not reflect what preceded and

followed if you see the moment live. Yet another way we are misguided, misinformed and sensationalized by the 24-hour news cycle. I havent seen John in some years and it is always a pleasure to be greeted by him. (Travol-ta and Johansson co-starred in the quite good 2004 film, A Love Song for Bobby Long. You should rent that one.)

N.B.

Leonard Nimoy

NIMOY NOT ALONE:

On Star Treks tribe members

William Shatner

Walter Koenig Joan Collins

No doubt you heard that LEON-ARD NIMOY died

last week at 83. His longer obits noted his many Jewish ties, including that he was raised in an Orthodox home, he re-embraced religious Judaism about 25 years ago, he cel-ebrated the feminine aspect of God in a book (Shekhina) that was made up of photos he took and of course theres the Vulcan split-finger salute. Nimoy invented the salute based on the kohanic/rabbinic priestly blessing hand-sign.

Divine intervention, however, probably was not the reason why so many Jewish actors were main cast members or guest stars on the origi-nal Star Trek. My theory is this: big-money movies and TV shows hire classi-cally WASPy good look-ing actors for lead parts. That doesnt include most Jewish actors, who are usually relegated to character parts. But Star Treks creator, Gene Roddenberry, didnt have much of a budget, so he hired good character actors for leads and it worked out. (Yes, WIL-LIAM SHATNER, 83, had leading man looksbut his career was not hot

when Star Trek began.) Beside Shatner and Nimoy, the six-person main cast included tribe member WALTER KOE-NIG, now 78, as Chekov. Notable Jewish guest stars included the late MARK LENARD as Mr. Spocks father; the late ARLENE MARTEL as TPring, Spocks fianc; the late ROGER C. CAR-MEL as Harry Mudd in two episodes; and JOAN COLLINS, now 83. She starred in an episode, City on the Edge of Forever, that is ranked among the series best.

By the way, Collins, whose father was Jew-ish, was recently made a British dame (the equiva-lent of knighthood for a woman) and will co-star as the Queen of Eng-lands mum in a new TV series starting this sum-mer. Joan played a Jew-ish queen once, in the 1960 film, Esther and the King. Even though Purim just ended, dont get all Purim-y and rent it its as bad as month-old hamantaschen.

The comedy Unfinished Business stars

Vince Vaughn as a small business owner who travels to Europe to close an important business deal. Of course, the trip goes awry in every

Giving Jews Every year, the publication Chronicle of Philanthropy issues a top ten list of the U.S.s biggest charitable donors. Three of the ten are Jewish: The number preceding their name is their ranking on the list-(9) SERGEY BRIN, 41, Google co-founder, $383 million; (7) MICHAEL BLOOM-BERG, 73, former NYC mayor and Bloomberg News founder, $462 million; (4) JAN KOUM, 39, co-creator/co-owner of Whats App, a mobile messaging service that Facebook bought for 21.8 billion dollars last March. An immigrant from the Ukraine, Koum grew up poor in Cali-fornia. He gave away $556 million. N.B.

Sergey Brin

California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at [email protected]

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SENIOR PROGRAMS AT THE JCC

Doing it againYoung couple repeats wedding ceremony for seniors at Kaplen JCC

ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN

The joy that Lauren Glubo felt about her daughters impending marriage was diminished only by the realization that the frail seniors in the social daycare program she runs at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly would not be able to join her family for the February 15 wedding on Long Island.

Ms. Glubo, a recreational therapist, has headed the Kaplen Adult Reach Center ARC nearly since its inception about 25 years ago, and says she still looks forward to coming to work every day. Her goal is making all the participants feel very spe-cial, like we are their best friends. I love each and every one of them.

So she decided if they couldnt be at the actual wedding, she would bring a reen-acted wedding to them on February 18

A lot of them cant get out to wed-dings very often, and I thought it would make their day special, even if they didnt remember it the next day, she said.

Invitations went out not only to the ros-ter of about 30 registered participants but also to their families and to spouses of past participants who since have died.

Despite the fact that many ARC mem-bers winter in the South, and despite the fact that February 18 turned out to be a snow day on which the usual van transpor-tation to ARC did not run, the affair drew 81 attendees.

I was surprised that some of the people actually took taxis to get here, Ms. Glubo said. Others were driven by volunteers or caregivers.

They didnt want to miss it, said Judith Davidsohn Nahary, the JCCs director of senior adult services. They felt included and needed and wanted. Giving the ARC participants a purpose is something we try to do as an overall goal.

ARC members who have memory impairment and also may be physically infirm and suffer from depression par-ticipated as bridesmaids, singers, chup-pah pole holders, or readers of blessings. One participants granddaughter was the flower girl.

The bride, Heather Glubo, a 32-year-old clinical psychologist, was accompanied by her parents, Les and Lauren Glubo, her sister, Jessica Glubo, and her grandmother, Shelley Wolfe. Both Heather and Jessica Glubo have volunteered at ARC.

The groom, Jesse David, was accompa-nied by his parents, Len and Rochel David, who live on the same block in Teaneck

as the Glubos and attend the same syna-gogue, Congregation Beth Sholom. The congregations rabbi, Joel Pitkowsky, came to the JCC to officiate at the reenactment.

At a luncheon served after the mock nuptials, a hired musician provided the backdrop for ARC members to dance with each other and with the celebrants.

Ms. Nahary explains that ARCs program is inspired by the Montessori educational philosophy, which encourages the pursuit of natural interests and activities within a rich environment.

We try to get our seniors engaged in everything the JCC has to offer, includ-ing the nursery school, camp, and music

school, she said. Over the years, Lau-rens come up with a lot of creative festivi-ties for them to enjoy. We did a real mock wedding many years ago, where two par-ticipants played the bride and groom.

About two-thirds of ARC members are Jewish and almost all are from Bergen County, Ms. Glubo said. She expressed gratitude to her staff, in particular Marie Gonzalez, Robbie Wedeen, and Sal Pinta-valle, for making the program and the reenacted wedding a success.

The bride and her mother, Lauren Glubo, walk down the aisle.

The bride, Heather Glubo, and the groom, Jesse David, kiss under the chuppah.

An ARC participants granddaughter is the flower girl.

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SENIOR PROGRAMS AT THE JCC

How to support aging in placeLavish Lunches support Kaplen JCC senior services

LOIS GOLDRICH

Its a story we hear more and more these days.Someones father, or grand-mother, or friend, who once was so active, is no longer able to participate in the activities that previously sustained them.

Whether they have slipped into demen-tia or simply cannot keep up physically, their lives now must change.

Fortunately, said Susan Marenoff of Tenafly, a sponsor of Lavish Lunches, the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades is tackling this problem, providing a place for seniors to go to get out of their homes and be social with each other.

Ms. Marenoff, who has supported the culinary fundraising event for several

years, said she finds the event which benefits the JCCs Senior Adult Services Department probably one of the most fulfilling days of the entire year.

I have a soft spot for the elderly, she said, and the JCC brings seniors into a vibrant environment, furthering contacts between the centers oldest and youngest

members and stimulating their minds.To be part of it, to play a role, makes

such a difference for so many of us who see what the JCC does every day. Were so lucky in this community to have this agency.

Lavish Lunches, scheduled for March 11, begins with a light breakfast at the home of JCC supporters Lindsay and Josh Epstein and features a guest speaker. This year, its culinary expert and author Franklin Becker, a proponent of healthy eating.

After his presentation, participants may choose among a variety of lunches, served in local homes and venues, each with a theme, speaker, or activity.

The day will include the screening of a video that shows not only how the JCC serves its senior population but how the families of those seniors value the centers work.

I think you guys are angels on earth, says the on-screen daughter of one senior who before a heart attack from which she never fully recovered loved to

An ARC participants granddaughter is the flower girl.

Rabbi Zelick Block and friends on Grandfriends Day at the JCC.

SEE AGING PAGE 55

Where wiiyou be foo Pesach?

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Guest rooms outfitted with Hiltons renownedPillow Top Beds and plush duvet covers.

On premises tennis, volleyball and basketball courtsas well as a walking track and a nearby golf course.

Elegantly designed grand ballroom for your dining pleasure.Elegantly designed grand ballroom for your dining pleasure.

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HUC chancellor remembers southern boyhoodRabbi David Ellenson talks about growing up in the South, social justice, the Pew study, and more at Teanecks Temple Emeth

JOANNE PALMER

Rabbi Dr. David Ellensons trip through the Jewish world has been long and strange, begin-ning in the Orthodox world of Newport News, Virginia; winding through the colonial (for real!) elegance, symmetry, and beauty of the College of William and Mary and the manufactured chaos and real emotion at the Demo-cratic National Convention of 1964, to the presidency of the Reform movements Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Now, as HUCs chancellor, Rabbi Ellenson is looking beyond it to the world of opportunity not-quite-retirement offers.

Rabbi Ellenson will talk about the insights hes gained over the course of this busy life as he comes to Temple Emeth in Teaneck as the Rabbi Louis J. Sigel scholar in residence from March 13 to March 15.

His views on race relations in the South were shaped by his boyhood there. Rabbi Ellenson, who was born in 1947, grew up in a small but still four-shul town, where davening options included Reform, Con-servative, Orthodox-with-mixed-seating (not called Conservadox then and there,

he said), and orthodox Orthodox, with a mechitza. The Ellensons belonged to that last shul.

My family was very traditional Jew-ishly, but also involved in politics on the Virginia peninsula, Rabbi Ellenson said. It therefore was logical that he began as a page in the Virginia State Senate, and then at the Democratic National Conven-tion in 1964.

That Democratic convention, held in Atlantic City, probably has faded a bit in the memories of the vast majority of us, who were not there. In the public mem-ory, it is shaded by the nation-shaking theatrics of the 1968 convention in Chi-cago. But Rabbi Ellenson, then a teen-ager, was in Atlantic City, and that con-vention has shaped his life.

When President Johnson Lyndon Johnson, who had taken over the presi-dency from the assassinated John F. Ken-nedy the year before, was nominated to run for his own full term there and Adlai Stevenson the countrys United Nations ambassador, a failed presiden-tial candidate who introduced a film in memory of Eleanor Roosevelt, who had died recently spoke, there was lots of music, Rabbi Ellenson said. There was a lot of noise, and clearly to some degree it was manufactured.

But when Bobby Ken-nedy who was attorney general then came up to introduce the film about his brother, at a certain point the fanfare stopped, but the applause grew louder and louder. I still think of Sena-tor Kennedy he wasnt a senator yet then with tears in his eyes.

It was an extremely pow-erful moment, one of the most significant moments of my life. Even when I talk about it right now, I am going back to it. It was almost surreal.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given his background, Rabbi Ellenson had assumed that hed become a lawyer, but in college I took a course in contempo-rary Christian thought. I found it compel-ling, and I wondered if Judaism had an equivalent. And those years were among the most significant decades in American history for social justice, and it had been driven by theology Reinhold Niebuhr, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Dr. Mar-tin Luther King, Jr.

I went to the University of Virginia and did a masters degree in religious studies, and then I went to Israel and lived there for two years, and I entered HUC. He started his rabbinical studies at the schools Jerusalem campus. Next, he moved to New York, where he was ordained. At the same time, he earned a doctorate in the sociology of religions at Columbia University. I did a study of Rabbi Oswald Esriel Hildesheimer, who started the equivalent of Yeshiva Univer-sity in Germany, Rabbi Ellenson said. That work was published as a book; the rabbis name was the title and the sub-title was Creation of a Modern Jewish Orthodoxy.

One of Rabbi Ellensons teachers at

Columbia was Arthur Hertz-berg, the Conservative rabbi who headed Temple Emanu-El, then in Engle-wood, for many years. He was my professor in Jewish intellectual history, Rabbi Ellenson said of Rabbi Hertzberg. He was iras-cible and brilliant. I dont think I enjoyed anything more than sitting in his class

and listening to him talk. His knowledge was prodigious, and his intellect matched his knowledge. I am smiling now, as I talk about him.

He did not suffer fools he was always certain of his position but the reality is that he put together Jewish thought in a brilliant way.

Not only did Rabbi Hertzberg teach Rabbi Ellenson specifics about Jew-ish thought, he taught him a way of approaching his work. He said, and I never forgot, that if you cannot explain what your thesis is in a sentence, or at most in a paragraph of three sentences, then you dont really have a grip on your subject. On the other hand, once you have established your thesis, you can keep on writing page after page or speak-ing for hours...

I tried to emulate him in my own teaching style and career, he said.

Rabbi Ellensons field of study is the evolution of Judaism in the modern period, he said. My specialty is Ortho-dox rabbinic writings; I also write on lib-eral prayer books and theology.

On Friday and Saturday, Rabbi Ellenson will talk about various minori-ties African Americans in this country, Arabs in Israel. On Sunday, hell tackle the Pew study.

Temple Emeths Rabbi Stephen Sirbu is enthusiastic about Rabbi Ellenson, with

Who: Rabbi David Ellenson, chancellor of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

What: Will be Temple Emeths Rabbi Louis J. Sigel scholar in residence

When: March 13 to March 15

Where: 1666 Windsor Road, Teaneck

How: Friday night, A Southern Jewish Boyhood: Reflections on Race Relations in America, after services at 8; Saturday morning, The Obligations of the Israeli Gov-ernment Toward its Arab Population at Torah study at 9; Just War and Self-Defense in Jewish Tradition at 1 p.m.; Sunday morning, a discussion on the Pew study at 10.

For more information and reservations for Shabbat lunch and Sunday breakfast: 201-833-1322 or www.emeth.org

Rabbi David Ellenson

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whom he studied in rabbinical school.Rabbi Ellenson has been a mentor to me since

my undergraduate days at UCLA, where he was a professor of Jewish studies while also teaching at the Los Angeles campus of HUC-JIR, Rabbi Sirbu said. His unique blend of intelligence and warmth has inspired countless students at every stage of his career.

As president of HUC-JIR for over a decade, Rabbi Ellenson has overseen the training of a generation of Reform rabbis, cantors, educators and other Jewish professionals. He is deeply committed to the future

of Reform Judaism in North America, and I believe his insights on where American Judaism is headed will be of interest to Jews of all perspectives.

While Rabbi Ellenson has spent his career as an academic, he understands Judaisms real-world implications and embraces Reform Judaisms empha-sis on social justice. His gifts as a teacher and a Jew-ish role model will be evident at each of his presen-tations during Temple Emeths scholar-in-residence weekend.

Rabbi Ellenson has used the insights he has gar-nered over his career as he considers the Pew study. I think the study does indicate that denominations, particularly the liberal ones, are not likely to be as strong as they were in the 20th century, he said. Liberal Jews now reflect a great deal of permeabil-ity, and, significantly, a large intermarried popula-tion and also a large population of unaffiliated peo-ple. Having said that, though, people still desire a sense of community and belonging. So the challenge to the Jewish community will be how to provide for those ongoing needs outside the traditional frame-works that have marked Jewish life in this country in the 20th century.

Despite the challenges, Rabbi Ellenson is san-guine about the Jewish future. People make dire predictions, but Jewish history testifies that we have proven to be resilient.

In 1964, Look magazine predicted the death of the American Jew. I know that were still here but I dont know where Look is.

In 1964, Look magazine predicted

the death of the American Jew.

I know that were still here

but I dont know where Look is.

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Bubbles, bridges, and TorahTwo Teaneck shuls join for afternoon of studyJOANNE PALMER

Congregation Rinat Yisrael and Congregation Beth Sholom, both of Teaneck, are hold-ing a joint study program on March 14.

On the one hand, not so groundbreak-ing, right? The shuls are only a few thou-sand feet apart, said Avi Mermelstein, a Rinat member who is on the committee preparing for the day.

On the other hand, as is true for most members of most, if not all, shuls in the shul-rich town, people live in a bubble a shul bubble, that is and they are focused on their own events and their own congregants, he added.

And it is also true that Rinat is Orthodox and Beth Sholom is Conservative. That makes the walls that separate them just a bit thicker.

But there is almost always more than one way of looking at anything. The texts that participants will study are from the Haggadah (yes, Pesach is approaching rapidly), and they focus on the two ways we are told to look at our enemies. Is it about revenge (Pour out Your wrath upon those who do not know You, we implore God at the seder), or is it with forgiveness (Do not abhor the Egyp-tian, the Haggadah also tells us, and God forbade the angels from celebrating the

deaths of the Egyptians, who also are his children, midrash adds).

The study session its to start at 4 p.m., at Rinat, and end early enough to allow Beth Sholom members to make it back for Mincha/Maariv at their shul is a kind of unique special event that brings together people from very different synagogues to sit down and study Jewish texts, David Jacobowitz said. Mr. Jacobowitz is a co-chair of Rinats adult education program, and he is one of the co-chairs of the study day. Rinat is very focused on promot-ing Torah learning. Our rabbi has been incredibly effective he is a wonderful teacher and has always put as the high-est priority everybody learning Torah, at whatever level they can.

We believe that Torah is the founda-tion of everything we believe in as Jews. If you take away Torah, the edifice col-lapses. And if we have a program that pro-moted learning of Torah and brought in people of disparate backgrounds, it could be a real winner.

We love to see more bridges built among different parts of the community. We recognize that this is a little bit out of the box, but we believe that Torah is a common denominator.

There are two main goals to the pro-gram, he said. One is to promote the learning of Torah, and the second is to create feelings of friendship and kinship

Harman Grossman of Beth Sholom and Avi Mermelstein of Rinat Yisrael are working on texts for the study session.

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and amicability between different parts of the community.

Elaine Cohen of Beth Sholom, Mr. Jaco-bowitzs counterpart on the committee, said although there are some places in Teaneck that focus on nondenomina-tional learning, it tends to be segmented. She and Mr. Jacobowitz started talking and realized they both thought it would be a good opportunity to learn with and from each other. So we came up with the idea of doing it beit midrash style. We thought that members of both congrega-tions could come together on a Shabbat afternoon; it was an optimal time because people didnt have to decide between that and taking their kids to soccer or what-ever other commitments people have on Sunday mornings.

There is a habit of looking within our own community, and unfortunately these divisions have become barriers and obsta-cles rather than bridges, she said. I dont think its ideological. I think its habit.

Dr. Mermelstein, working with Beth Sholoms Harman Grossman, was respon-sible for selecting the texts, and he will speak at the beginning, explaining how the day will work.

The issues that participants will consider is what emotion we adopt when we con-sider our enemies, he said. Do we char-acterize it as revenge, forgiveness, com-passion, love, hate? There are a couple of takeaways. One of them is that revenge is an emotion that sometimes can be trou-bling for our modern sensibilities, but on the other hand it can be a moral emotion that emerges from our recognition that a profound wrong has been committed and should not go unpunished. On the other hand, we might decide to embrace love and forgiveness. Many sources suggest doing that, and others suggest that love for ones enemy can be dangerous if ones enemy takes advantage of it.

We can see that our tradition does not speak with one voice about the emo-tions we are supposed to feel. Our tra-dition prescribes different emotions at different times, from different sources, in different historical contexts. Each has arguments in its favor.

Mr. Grossman is direct about the chal-lenge. Whats novel about this is that it

is a Conservative shul partnering with an Orthodox one, he said. I think its a shame that this is novel. Learning Jewish texts is what Jews do. These texts belong to everybody.

It is a great idea to do it jointly.The subject matter is particularly rel-

evant at this time of year, between Purim and Pesach. And considering what the Jewish stance toward our enemies ought to be is more relevant now than it was in

years past because as people like Yitz Greenberg thats Rabbi Irving Green-berg, the Orthodox rabbi who founded Clal have been saying very articu-lately for a long time now, Jews have power now, so now it matters.

Its been a real pleasure for me to work with the folks at Rinat, he contin-ued. Some of them are old friends of mine, and some of them I hope are new friends. There is quite a bit of crossover between the shuls. There are, in fact, couples who belong to both, Mr. Gross-man said.

The study session will be organized into chevrutas small groups. Partici-pants who need not belong to either Rinat or Beth Sholom are urged to reg-ister. The organizers will put together groups that ideally will include people from both places and will be made up of people at roughly the same educational level. (The registration form, which can be found online, asks registrants for that level.) Texts will be available in both Hebrew and English.

The session will begin with an expla-nation by Dr. Mermelstein and will end with talks by both rabbis, Rinats Yosef Adler and Beth Sholoms Joel Pitkowsky.

Elaine Cohen David Jacobowitz

We love to see more bridges

built among different parts of

the community.DAVID JACOBOWITZ

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Helping parents through tragedyBereaved Haworth mother starts support group to aid othersJOANNE PALMER

Sometimes bad things happen, and they can ruin your life.

Say that your worst nightmare turns real. Say, perhaps, that the worst possible thing that most people can imagine hap-pens to you. Say that one of your children dies.

What do you do? Do you curl up in a hole, or do you try to go on? Do you try to bring something good out of something terrible?

Elana Prezant of Haworth has decided to take what she learned from her fam-ilys tragedy the death of her daughter, Stephanie, in a rock-climbing accident three years ago, at 22 and use that far-too-dear knowledge to help other people.

Working with the Jewish Family Service of Bergen and North Hudson, Ms. Prezant has begun a monthly support group for parents whose children have died. The group is meant to fill a gap that she felt acutely soon after Stephanie died.

After her accident, my son was really looking for other kids in his situation that he could connect with, she said. Jonathan Prezant, then 20, was a college student: her other child, Jacqueline, was 17 and in high school. That led me to look for a support

group for him and for me. We would travel into New York City to a group called Com-passionate Friends, because there wasnt anything for us close by.

We both needed it.Compassionate Friends is an interna-

tional peer-led support group for parents and grandparents who have lost children, she said; some chapters have groups for siblings as well. It is structured so that every month people tell their stories; its led by a group leader who has been through this tragedy and took on a lead-ership role, Ms. Prezant said. It helped me for a little while, but in the end people come and go as they need it. She needed more continuity and structure.

Also, she pointed out, childrens deaths have different causes; she can-not identify as much with a parent who had to deal with the relentless march of

an unstoppable disease as she can with another parent whose child was stolen by sudden accident, as hers was. There are some emotions that we all go through, and some that are very personal, she said she had learned from a grief counselor. There is a whole other layer of feelings when there is also the question of blame in her case, for example, the climbing instructors whose negligence contributed to Stepha-nies death.

The Manhattan Compassionate Friends chapter had more turnover than she wanted, she said, so she found a group in White Plains, N.Y., that was more appro-priate for her. I felt a continuity and connection with them, she said. Still, it was a 45-minute drive, and out of her community.

I have been feeling the void in our com-munity, Ms. Prezant said. And I have become more sensitive to tragedies around me. These are these constant ongoing trag-edies, kids dying, and we are left with fam-ilies with this hole in their lives.

I felt that we needed a local support group in our community. Now that I am almost three years out from our trag-edy, I feel that I am in a position to make something happen, and to help that next family.

Although she could have opened a chap-ter of Compassionate Friends, she decided not to, Ms. Prezant said. There is a strict format, and I almost felt like people were stuck in their grief, not moving forward. So if you walked in feeling that you were in a

better place, you didnt walk out uplifted, or at least I didnt. I wanted our group to be more positive and hopeful.

The group she has formed, called Hold-ing Hands, meets on the second Wednes-day of every month at JFSs office in Teaneck. Like Compassionate Friends, it is a peer-led support group, not a therapy group, Ms. Prezant said. I have person-ally reached out to parents who have lost children.

It has met once so far; its next meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday, March 11, at 7:15 p.m..

I had hoped that there would be more

people than just my husband and me at our first meeting, Ms. Prezant said. She neednt have feared. There were nine of us.

One woman was much further out than the rest of us her child died 15 years ago, and she was there more as a source of strength and support than as a partici-pant and a mom who lost her son eight months ago, and a dad who lost his son six months ago.

There was a structure to the evening, she continued. We went around the room and introduced ourselves there were three couples and three singles, six stories

I feel that I am in a position to

make something happen, and to help that next family.

Elana, Jonathan, Jacqueline, and Stephanie Prezant in London.

Stephanie loved being outdoors.

SEE TRAGEDY PAGE 21

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From the heartThe Hot Club of Cowtowns Jewish rootsJOANNE PALMER

There is some music that comes from a violin music that is sad or yearning or fierce or mournful or forgiving or pleading or frantic that bypasses the brain and goes right to the heart and soul.

Sometimes that music can cross cultural divisions, defy expectations, and mock stereotypes.

That might be why Elana James, a nice Jew-ish girl from the suburbs of Kansas City, is one of the founders of Hot Club of Cowtown, a trio that will bring western swing, jazz, gypsy, and eastern European music to Mexicali Live in Teaneck on March 14 at 8 p.m., as it has brought it to clubs and theaters around the world for nearly 20 years now.

Ive played violin since I was 4, Ms. James said. Ive always felt that it is a very Jewish thing.

I went to the Hebrew Academy in Kan-sas City perhaps this is pedantic, but she is talking about the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy in Overland Park, Kansas from kindergarten until sixth grade. Music is an incredibly central part of Jewish life, and I always felt that being a violin player in that environment was a precious identity.

Gypsy music, eastern European fiddle music happens to be my favorite kind of music, and it seems to me that being a profes-sional fiddle player is the 21st-century version of an ancient Jewish trade.

There is a big Jewish community in the Kansas City area, Ms. James said, and much of it is multigenerational. My sister moved back there, and her kids go to the Hebrew Acad-emy. Its a two-state region; Kansas Citys cul-tural institutions are on the Missouri side, but many Jews live in the suburbs in Kansas. That includes Prairie Village, where Ms. James grew up, as well as Overland Park, where she went to school.

She came by her musicianship naturally. My mom, Susan Kammer, is a violinist, she said. When I was a little person, I heard her playing around the house, and Id see her get all dressed up in black velvet and put on her Chanel Number Five to play in the Kansas City Symphony and then with her own trio. My dad is more like a ham he plays a little piano, but the strict musical stuff comes from my mothers part of the family.

Ms. James grew up playing classical music. She loved it, but she always wanted to play music in a more social way. She longed to move away from Kansas, to follow her music wherever it took her.

She always was a good student, so where it took her was to Morningside Heights in Manhattan. In 1988, she began her fresh-man year at Barnard College. I knew I wanted to play music, and New York was the zenith, she said.

And when I got to Barnard, everybody I met right away were Jews from Ardsley or Montclair, Joanna and Rochelle and Yoch-eved. I hadnt been around so many Jews at once since sixth grade and those are some of my closest friends today.

I played the whole time I was in college, she continued. I majored in religion, with an emphasis on eastern religion. And then I let my freak flag fly. I stopped trying to judge myself for being attracted to musics that were outside western classical music. I decided

that I would play for the joy of it.Of course, it takes money to play just for

the joy of it, so Ms. James became an intern at the publisher Harper; next, she took a job at a Buddhist magazine, Tricycle. But music was like a wound that just bled through, she said. It was all the way under her skin; if she denied it any logical expression, it would announce itself nonetheless. It would not just dry up and die. It would not leave her.

Soon she met Whit Smith, another third of the trio now called Hot Club of Cowtown, and she gave in to the need to make music. They moved to Austin in 1994, and in 1997 they cre-ated the group.

What kind of music? Fiddle music is just in me, she said. I havent ever been to Hun-gary or Romania, or even to Israel, but there is a way in which this music is totally in me. When you play things like, say, Dark Eyes, and gypsy tunes, things that are cross-polli-nated between eastern European and Jewish and gypsy music

Its funny about Dark Eyes, she added. Sometimes, in Texas, an old-timer will come out from the countryside, to a show, and out of all the music we play, hell say, You know what song I really love? Dark Eyes.

A lot of the people in Texas are from old German families who immigrated there in the early 1900s, she said. It is always sweet and surprising to me how deeply people are affected by the style of music. There is a deep,

mysterious, aching humanity in those kinds of songs. And when the violin plays it, then it is an unknowable mystery.

The violin is a mysterious entity that makes people remember things that theyve never actually experienced.

About 10 years ago, when the group was on an extended hiatus, Ms. James took the name she uses today. Until then, she had been Elana Fremerman. I changed my name because it was a lot easier, she said. Its not really difficult, I know, but so many people couldnt say Fremerman. But my middle name is Jamie So, goodbye Elana Fremer-man, and hello Elana James.

In some ways, it seems, Kansas City is a transitional place. You can go anywhere from there. It sits at the center of the country; it has been a gateway to the west throughout American history. Just as she felt pulled east, to the music and action of New York, Ms. James also always felt pulled to the west, to the dude ranches shed vis-ited as a child, to the campfires and horses and trails that seem as foreign as yurts and water buffalo to most of us here. I started working as a horse wrangler in a dude ranch in Colorado, Ms. James said. At first, she would ricochet from New York to the west every six months or so, as she would yearn for the place she wasnt in and come to despise where she was. More recently, she has learned how to integrate

Whit Smith, Elana James, and Jake Ervin are the Hot Club of Cowtown.

Elana, center, and her sister and friends mimicked her mothers jazz quartet.

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the two, and now she frequently leaves Austin to work on a ranch in Montana, leading groups of vacationers on multiday trails and singing at the campfire after the sun sets.

I had an epiphany when I realized that I could go ride horses and get paid for it, she said. That realization changed my life. It led me to western music.

That itinerant, searching aspect of my life is extremely Jewish.

The fiddle belongs as much by a campfire in the mid-dle of the forest as it does on a stage or in a coffeehouse, she said. A lot of cowboy songs came over with the cow-boys from Ireland and England and wherever else they came from, from their own traditions.

No matter whether you were pushing cattle or catch-ing wild horses or whatever else you were doing, until recently at the end of the day people would entertain themselves by playing music for themselves and one another. Some of the songs that have come out of that tra-dition are incredibly beautiful. They often are mournful songs, about death and loss, about leaving home, she said.

Ms. James, whose music includes the sort of traditional American themes and has worked in the kinds of tradi-tional American settings that most of us know only sec-ond-hand, also has had the experience of working with two great American treasures. About a decade ago, the Hot Club of Cowtown toured with Bob Dylan, and also with Willie Nelson.

Willie Nelson has not only been an inspiration, a genius musician and songwriter, but he also has been so wonderful to us personally, she said. He would come out with us every night and sing the encore with us.

I have never heard a roar like the roar from the crowd every night. It was deafening. That was such a giving, gen-erous, sweet thing to do. He was in his early 70s then. That he did that for us told us everything that I ever need to know about Willie Nelson.

Elana James new album, Black Beauty, was released last month. Its folkier than what the Hot Club of Cow-town does, she said. It is full of my guilty pleasures.

Elana James and the Hot Club of Cowtown will be at Mexicali Live, 1409 Queen Anne Road, on Saturday, March 14, at 8 p.m.

Elana James spends much time in Montana.

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Still your bubbys YiddishJust a bit louderLOIS GOLDRICH

Somehow, it seems a bit incongruous to see the words Yiddish and rock in the same sentence.

Its even more startling to hear the phrase Yiddish rock. Still, says Jeffrey Shandler a professor of Jewish studies at Rutgers and a scholar of contemporary Yiddish culture that genre of music not only exists but is thriving.

Theres a tendency to think of the his-tory of the language as ending, or starting to die out, with the Holocaust, Dr. Shandler said. Thats not the case. What changed was who uses the language, and how.

To demonstrate its use in the musi-cal arena, Rutgers department of Jewish studies has joined with the Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life at Rutgers to bring the rock band Yiddish Princess to campus on March 10 to per-form a free concert.

The concert is being offered in con-junction with Dr. Shandlers undergrad-uate course on the culture of Yiddish, which surveys Yiddish language and cul-ture from the Middle Ages in Europe to the present.

The idea of a hard rock Yiddish band may seem surprising to some people, who think of Yiddish as being tied to the past, but many young musicians are busy creat-ing 21st-century Yiddish culture, Dr. Shan-dler said.

For me, Yiddish Princess exemplifies contemporary Yiddish hipster culture, which draws on the riches of Yiddish going back generations and energizes it with the most up-to-date sounds and sensibilities, he said. Anyone who wants to understand what is happening with Yiddish today should not miss this chance to hear con-temporary Yiddish rock.

The Bildner Center, established in 1996 on the Rutgers New Brunswick campus, is co-sponsoring the event. The center acts as the link between the work that schol-ars do as teachers and researchers and the public sphere, Dr. Shandler said. It spon-sors a variety of public programs, such as lectures and literary readings, and an

annual Jewish film festival.Yiddish Princess mixes power pop

and hard rock with traditional Yiddish music, reflecting the powerful mix of cul-tures found in Brooklyn and other hip-ster outposts around the world today, Dr. Shandler said. The concert, which is open to the public, will be followed by a talk-back with members of the band, which he will moderate, beginning by asking them about their music and their personal journeys as musicians.

The six-member group has been around for several years, Dr. Shandler said, noting that the lead vocalist, Sarah Mina Gordon, is the daughter of the late Adrienne Cooper, a great singer and teacher who played an important role in teaching both traditional Yiddish folk song and theater and art songs and encouraged her students to make this music their own.

Her daughter, he said, has done exactly that, although its not the kind of music her mother would make. Her mother was a trained opera singer and had her own approach to singing. Sarah rocks out.

In fact, he said, She is following a larger lesson that her mother taught. Learn this music and figure out how youre going to find your own voice in it what you want to express and how.

Also in the group is klezmer clarinetist Michael Winograd, now playing keyboard.

One reason were organizing the con-cert is to expand peoples sense of the possible for what can be done and is being done with Yiddish today, Dr. Shandler said. He noted that it is not unusual for people to think of it as a vestigial language, or at least to be surprised by the notion of a Yiddish rock band. It goes against expectations.

He pointed out that although Yiddish Princess is based in Brooklyn, the home of many young millennials who are musi-cians, the musical genre is not limited to that trendy borough.

The kind of music theyre making is part of an international phenomenon, he said. There are other musicians in North and South America, Europe, as well as in Israel, who are looking at Yiddish as a resource for making contemporary music. Theyre looking at traditional Yid-dish music, or poetry that has never been set to music, that speaks to them. Theyre looking to situate it in the kind of music idioms they are familiar with.

This practice is more widespread in Europe, he said. Ethnopop has been around for decades, where popular music idioms are fused with folk music practices. It had a big influence on klezmer musicians in the late 1980s. It inspired their thinking about how to revi-talize traditional Yiddish music.

Now, he said, the next generation of

musicians is asking, Whats the music we like to make? How does that speak to the music we know hard rock?

For most people, he said, the music of Yiddish Princess will be a surprise. Its not what you expect, he said. It shakes up your sense of the possible. Students grandparents, for example, might not have realized that Yiddish could rock and could be loud.

Dr. Shandler said that it will be interest-ing to see his students reactions. They come with different cultural and musical literacy, he said. Im looking forward to hearing what they make of the concert.

What: Rock band Yiddish Princess

Where: Will perform at the Victoria J. Mastrobuono Theater, 85 George St., New Brunswick

When: On March 10 at 7:30 p.m.

How: Free and open to the public. Ad-vance registration is requested. Email [email protected] or call 848-932-2033. For more information, go to BildnerCenter.rutgers.edu.

Find more information about Yiddish Princess at www.yiddishprincess.com.

The Yiddish Princess rock band will perform at Rutgers March 10.

Yiddish Princess exemplifies

contemporary Yiddish hipster culture, which

draws on the riches of Yiddish

going back generations.

DR. JEFFREY SHANDLER

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Beyond Conference offers Jersey City a taste of IsraelIsraeli consulate and Mana Contemporary are cosponsorsLARRY YUDELSON

N imrod Elmish is going back to Jersey City.Twenty years ago, he lived there while he worked as a foreman for Moishes Moving, one of the myriad of Israelis who financed their post-Army world trips in the New York City moving business.

Today Mr. Elmish is a symbol of Israeli innovation. He is CEO of Cardboard Tech-nologies, which uses recycled cardboard, plastic, and tires to create sturdy and cheap bicycles.

On Tuesday, he will be speaking at Mana Contemporary, a million-square-foot arts hub in Jersey City. And as it happens not that Mr. Elmish knew this when he accepted the invitation Mana Contemporary is a brother company to Moishes Moving, named for its founder and owner, Moishe Mana.

Mr. Elmish is a featured speaker at the Beyond Conference, a free event that promises to inspire and engage with speakers at the cutting edge of their fields while creating a unique oppor-tunity to spark and expand the conver-sation about Israel. The conference is a collaboration between the Mana Contem-porary and the Israeli consulate in New York.

Beyond follows the popular model of the TED conferences speakers offering inspirational talks of business successes, presented to a popular audience. This is a popular, not a professional, conference.

Speakers include leaders and innova-tors in business, technology, the arts, and cooking, among them Barry Salzberg, the CEO of Deloitte, the international accounting firm; Miki Haimovich, who launched Israels Meatless Monday move-ment; and Robyn Shapiro from Manhat-tans Lowline project. Lunchtime will fea-ture an Israeli culinary showcase.

The Manas roots are in the moving business, a field Moishe Mana entered with only a borrowed van. His one-man-with-one-van operation grew, thanks to the cheap but reliable labor supplied by

other young Israelis. Undeterred by the threats and bullets of incumbent mov-ing firms with Mafia ties, he continued to grow the business, until it today boasts not only a fleet of red Moishes trucks but storage facilities as well. Expanding into art storage proved the seed for the much more ambitious Mana Contempo-rary, which not only offers art storage and ancillary services for collectors, but studios for artists, exhibition galleries, a Middle Eastern Center for Arts (with an audacious acronymn), and more.

There is another aspect to the Mana Contemporary, one significant for the

future of Jersey City: Its planned role as a hub for gentrification. Mr. Mana has bought up other properties near the for-mer tobacco factory which houses Mana Contemporary. Not only have artists priced out of Manhattan rented studios closer to the Contemporary, they have relocated their homes there as well.

Cardboard Technologies is an example of a company that has the synergies of geography at its core. It is largely a part-nership between Mr. Elmish and inven-tor Izhar Gafni. (Mr. Gafni already had invented a machine to peel pomegran-ates.) The two grew up together at Bror

Hayil, a kibbutz in southern Israel. The companys facilities are further north. It soon will open a factory near Caesarea.

The factory will not itself assemble bicycles (or wheelchairs a product for which the company has found demand in Japan). Instead, said Mr. Elmish, it will produce assembly lines that it will pack up in cargo containers and ship around the world.

Talking about Israeli cooking, music, and cardboard recycling projects reflects a long-time strategy of Ido Aha-roni, Israels consul general in New York. He has long focused on the need to rebrand Israel, and move the conver-sation beyond the conflict. The con-sulate expects hundreds of people to attend. (Transportation is available from Manhattan.)

Not all of the talks will focus on Israel. Robyn Shapiro is the director of commu-nity for the Lowline, an effort to build an underground park in an abandoned trolley station beneath Delancey Street in Manhattan. A fiber optics system will bring light from above ground to grow trees and grass beneath street level. The project has been endorsed by elected officials, and representatives are nego-tiating with the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which owns the site.

The Mana Contemporary sees the Beyond conference as an extension of its own mission.

Its not just painting a painting or dancing a dance. Were interested in cre-ativity, said Eugene Lemay, the Manas director.

What: Beyond Conference

When: Tuesday, March 10, 9:30 a.m.- 4 p.m.

Where: Mana Contemporary, 888 Newark Avenue, Jersey City

Who: Speakers from the worlds of business, technology, and the arts

Admission: Free

Information: beyondatmana.com

The Mana Contemporary is in a former tobacco factory in Jersey City.

Nimrod Elmish, here showing off his cardboard bicycle, will speak at the Beyond Conference.

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upcoming at Kaplen JCC on the Palisades

Come see the Maccabeats live in concert. Buy your tickets now before they are gone! Purchase tickets at jccotp.org/maccabeats or call Judi at 201.408.1450. Limited tickets available at door.Sun, Mar 15, 2 pm, $18/$20Preferred seating: $30/$36

Lavish LunchesJoin us for our not-to-be-missed annual culinary adventure to support Jcc senior adult programs.Meet our guest speaker, Franklin Becker, executive chef, author, and restauranteur, while enjoying a light breakfast at the home Lindsay and Josh Epstein. Then lunch at a home of your choice and enjoy a unique themed luncheon experience. For more info or to make a donation, please contact Sharon Potolsky at 201.408.1405 or email [email protected], Mar 11, starting at $180 per person

JCC U Film School SeriesBecome a movie maven as Dr. Eric Goldman teaches JCC Us signature film appreciation course. Watch foreign films (in English) and engage in academic analysis and appraisal of the movie. For more info, contact Judy Lattif at [email protected] or 201.408.1457Thursdays: Apr 9, 23, & May 7, 21, 10 am, 4 Thursdays $60/$75, 1 Thursday $18/$22

Chaya R. Gorsetman: Educating In The Divine Imagegender issues and the orthodox Jewish day schoolsHow do gender issues influence the education of Jewish children attending day schools? Find out when Gorsetman, Clinical Associate Professor at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University, discusses her book, which examines single-sex verses coed schooling, dress codes, sex education and other topics that shape identities. Co-sponsored with the James H. Grossmann Memorial Jewish Book Month.Wed, Mar 18, 7:30 pm, Free

one booK, one community: The Golem and The Jinni

New York Citys Lower East Side: A Revolving Door for Immigrants with thorin tritter To shed light on the setting of the years book selection, Professor Thorin Tritter will provide an insightful overview of immigrant life on the Lower East Side and its place in American Jewish history. Tritter received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and taught at Princeton University. Wed, Mar 18, 10 am, $8/$10

More Songs That She Lovedthe 3rd annual tribute concert in memory of stephanie prezantThis special musical dedication features performances by our communitys most beloved musicians and vocalists including Jeffrey Prezant, Jonathan Prezant, Musical Director, Victor Lesser of Manhattan City Music, and special guests, Susan Collins Caploe, Diane Honig, Ronen Mikay, and Udy Kashkash. Funds raised will support the Stephanie I. Prezant Maccabi Fund at the JCC. Purchase tickets online at www.jccotp.org or at the door.Sat, Mar 14, Doors open 8:15 pm, Concert 8:45 pm, $36 adults/$18 students

to register or for more info, visit

jccotp.org or call 201.569.7900.

LavishLunches

march 11, 2015

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Rabbi Genack receives award from RIETSRabbi Menachem Genack of Englewood, chief execu-tive officer of the Orthodox Unions Kosher Division, will be honored at the annual gala of the Yeshiva University affiliate Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary on Sun-day, March 8, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. He will receive the Harav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik zl Aluf Torah award in rec-ognition for his global influence on Torah Judaism.

Rabbi Genack, who received his rab-binic ordination from RIETS, is also an alumnus of Yeshiva University High School and Yeshiva College. He was a student of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, who deeply influenced his outlook on Torah. As CEO of OU Kosher, he oversees the kosher

certification of more than 900,000 products and ingre-dients in 10,540 facilities in more than 90 countries.

As founder and general editor of OU Press, he has published many volumes on Jewish topics, including his own Letters to President Clinton: Biblical Lessons on Faith and Leadership, in which Clinton referred to Rabbi Genack in the fore-

word as his rabbi. His Washington D.C. connections include former U.S. Sena-tor Joseph Lieberman, who is his weekly chavruta (Torah study partner). In 2008, The Forward listed Rabbi Genack as one of the Forward 50, the 50 most influen-tial Jews in the U.S. He served as rabbi of Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Engle-wood for nearly 30 years.

Ben Porat Yosef dinner this weekBen Porat Yosef in Paramus will hold its 13th annual dinner on Tuesday, March 10, at 7 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El of Closter.

Jennifer and Shmuel Bieler, Tzivia Bieler, and Joan and Dr. Warren Enker will be rec-ognized for their multigenerational com-mitment to BPY. Other honorees are Erica and Arnaud Bensoussan, Kara and Oren Epstein, and Samantha Katz and Lawrence Koutcher. Teacher recognition awards will be presented to Yocheved Rappaport and Robin Yucht.

Jennifer and Shmuel Bieler of Teaneck have three children and are active mem-bers of Congregation Shaare Tefillah. Ms. Bieler spends a week each summer as part of the medical staff at Chai Lifelines Camp Simcha. At BPY, she volunteers in her daughters early childhood classrooms, for Discovery Learning Days, and at PTO events. She also co-chaired BPYs annual Reading Rocks book fair at Barnes and Noble. Joan and Dr. Warren Enker of Teaneck, Ms. Bielers grandparents, have 10 grandchildren. Ms. Enker is involved in BPYs grandparents association and vol-unteers in the schools fourth-grade writ-ing program. She and her husband are members of Congregation Rinat Yisrael. Tzivia Bieler, Mr. Bielers mother, moved to Teaneck with her late husband, Bruno, in 1974. She was a part of the Parents

Association of Yavneh Academy, including serving as president.

Erica and Arnaud Bensoussan of Engle-wood have four children and are members of Congregation Ahavath Torahs Benaroya Sephardic Center. They are supporters of BPY, helping to recruit new families, and volunteering to assist at events. Kara and Oren Epstein of Englewood have four chil-dren and are members of Kehilat Kesher of Englewood/Tenafly. Ms. Epstein volun-teers at Camp Dream Street at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades. Samantha Katz and Dr. Lawrence Koutcher have four children and are members of Congregation Rinat Yisrael. Ms. Katz has been an active mem-ber of BPYs parent body, served on the PTO and chesed committees, and was a PTO co-chair.

Yocheved Rappaport of Fair Lawn has been an early childhood teacher at BPY since 2001, its founding year, in Leonia. She is active at Congregation Shomrei Torah and has chaired its chesed commit-tee since 1999. Robin Yucht joined BPY in 2008 and lives in Teaneck, where she is a member of Congregation Beth Aaron.

The buffet dinner and dessert will be glatt kosher-under Beit Yosef certification. For information, call the school at (201) 845-5007.

SSDS to honor community leadersThe Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County will honor out-standing champions of Jewish edu-cation at its 41st annual Commu-nity Celebration on Thursday, May 7, at the Hilton Pearl River, begin-ning at 6 p.m. Proceeds will sup-port Schechters cutting-edge cur-riculum and tuition assistance for students in need.

Honorees Renah and Rabbi Mayer Rabinowitz, and their son and daughter-in-law, Adi and Heather Rabinowitz, embody Schech-ters mission of educating children to be independent thinkers and compassion-ate adults who will contribute to the Jew-ish and greater global communities. The entire family, including daughters and sons-in-law Dalya and Jonathan and Ayelet and Jeff, exemplify Jewish values, giving of themselves to their communities, and to Klal Yisrael.

The Rabinowitz family will receive the Shirley and Harris zl Shapiro Community award.

Renah and Rabbi Mayer Rabinowitz spearhead many Jewish learning and holi-day programs in their synagogue, Congre-gation Beth Sholom, and volunteer their time for organizations locally and in Israel. Rabbi Rabinowitz received his rabbinic ordination and Ph.D. from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he served as dean of the graduate school, associate professor of Talmud and rabbinics, and seminary librarian for more than 45 years.

Ms. Rabinowitz spent more than a decade as northern New Jersey coordi-nator of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, and she was instrumental in

establishing Congregation Beth Sholoms first chesed committee.

Adi and Heather Rabinowitz have taken active roles in many aspects of Schechter life. Mr. Rabinowitz has been vice presi-dent and treasurer of the SSDS board of trustees and Ms. Rabinowitz has been on the board of the AHAVA parents asso-ciation. She also is a parent ambassador for Schechters Bruhim Team, and con-tinues to chair many community events. Heather and Adi Rabinowitz live in Closter and have three children, Maya, Coby, and Liana all students at SSDS. The couple serves on the boards of Camp Ramah in the Berkshires and Ramah Nyack Day Camp, as committee chairs for Temple Emanu-El in Closter, and at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades.

Tickets for the evening are $180 per person; alumni and under 30 discounts are available. They are available online at www.ssdsbergen.org. For information, email Amy Glazer, SSDSs director of insti-tutional advancement, at [email protected], or call her at (201) 262-9898, ext. 277.

Rabbi Mayer and Renah Rabinowitz, left, with

Heather and Adi Rabinowitz. COURTESY SSDS

Rabbi Menachem Genack

Caregiver support groups at the JCCThe Alzheimers Association offers care-giver support groups at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly on the second Monday of the month at 7 p.m., and the fourth Tuesday of the month at 10:30 a.m.

The groups offer emotional and educa-tional support for caregivers. For informa-tion, call Judi Davidsohn Nahary at (201) 408-1450 or email her at [email protected].

Project S.A.R.A.H. breakfastProject S.A.R.A.H.s (Stop Abu-sive Relationships At Home) ninth annual breakfast will be on Sunday, March 15, at 9:30 a.m., at Congregation Keter Torah in Teaneck. This year marks 18 years of serving vic-tims and survivors of domes-tic violence and sexual abuse in New Jersey.

The keynote speaker is Jill Starishevsky, an assistant dis-trict attorney in New York, where she has prosecuted sex offenders, and author of My Body Belongs To Me.

Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, senior rabbi at Congregation Ahavath Torah in Engle-wood, will receive the Rabbinical Sup-port award for his dedication to the orga-nizations community based-work. Rabbi Jonathan Knapp, Yavneh Academys head of school and Yavneh Academy are the Aleinu Hero award-recipients.

Rabbi Knapp invited Project S.A.R.A.H. into his school to train faculty, students, and parents on child safety through the Aleinu Safety Kid program.

Aliza Schachter, Rachel Wertentheil, and Rivka Zaud-erer, former breakfast chairs, will get Volunteer Recognition awards. They have also helped expand the services the orga-

nization offers the community by hosting fireside chats in homes throughout Ber-gen County before the summer camping season. Project S.A.R.A.H.s trained staff met with small groups of parents to offer guidance on how to discuss personal safety with their children at camp.

The shul is at 600 Roemer Ave. For information, visit www.projectsarah.org, email [email protected], or call (973) 777-7638.

Jill Starishevsky

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and I started it and then it came back to me. I opened the conversation, and every-one talked and shared and opened up.

People didnt know each other just two people sort of did because their chil-dren had had the same disease, many years apart and I was the common denominator, Ms. Prezant continued.

Everyone opened up and shared and trusted their feelings with each other. Its personal. Its confidential. It was an inspir-ing evening. Everyone clearly needed this.

One important kind of identity that had been missing at the other groups to which she had gone but was purposely present in this one was Jewishness, Ms. Prezant said. That common thread meant that some things could be said and under-stood without having to be explained. For example, somebody talked about her parents being Holocaust survivors, and everyone knew what that meant. In that room, you knew.

The doors opened at 7 and the group began formally at 7:15. It was to have ended after an hour and a half, but I gave them another 10 minutes because they wanted to keep going. It kept going informally even after it ended.

Ms. Prezant wants each evening to end on a positive note, so she has found quotes to give people as they head out. The first meetings thought came from an Eskimo legend explaining the lights of the night sky Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love

of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.

My next goal is to put together a sup-port group for siblings in their teens and 20s, Ms. Prezant said; after all, her sons need for such a group was why she started going to Compassionate Friends in the first place.

Stephanies death has given her a mis-sion and a direction, she said. Stephanie motivates me to do things in her memory, and sometimes just to do something good or right that I am able to do. That way, in my own private way, I honor her, too.

This is my way of keeping her present.Susan Greenbaum is JFSs executive

director, and she has been a strong sup-porter of Holding Hands. Bereavement for the loss of a child is an unspeakable concept for an unspeakable sort of loss, she said. At JFS, we are privileged to offer the space for parents to support one another and to seek comfort and healing together in a Jewish setting. We are truly honored to work with Elana Prezant to create Helping Hands.

Holding Hands is not the Prezant fam-ilys only way of holding onto Stephanie. On Sunday, March 14, the family will offer the third annual tribute concert in her

Stephanie Prezant

Who: Holding Hands

What: Support group for parents who have lost children

When: 2nd Wednesday of each month; next one is March 11. Doors open at 7, meeting begins 7:15

Where: Jewish Family Service of Ber-gen and North Hudson, 1485 Teaneck Road, Teaneck

For more information: Call 201-837-9090 or email [email protected].

Tragedy FROM PAGE 12

Local

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Refreshments will be served

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memory at the Kaplen JCC on the Pali-sades in Tenafly; her father, Jeffrey, and her brother will play, joined by other com-munity musicians. (For information about that performance, call Robyn Rosenfeld at the JCC at 201-408-1429 or email her at [email protected].)

And Holding Hands logo is yet another way of honoring Stephanie Iris Prezant. An iris stands tall, protected in the two clasped hands it shows.

Stephanie absolutely motivates me, her mother said. Its therapeutic for me, and its inspiring for other people to see someone doing something in the light of the tragedy. And in the darkness of the tragedy.

Editorial

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What really matters

I ts finally over.Prime Minister Benja-min Netanyuhu gave his speech to Congress. (It was his third such speech; he now ties the record for foreign leaders giving a speech to Con-gress with Winston Churchill.)

Mr. Netanyahu obviously is a good speaker, charismatic and charming, of course thor-oughly at home in English. (Although it must be said that he is no Churchill. Of course, since Churchill died there has been no Churchill. Its the sharp, irrever-ent, disarming wit thats miss-ing. Alliteration and snark dont necessarly count. But I digress.)

My digression is almost the point, though. As I write these words, the dust has not yet begun to settle; it is still fly-ing around with wild abandon, landing on faces and gritting up computers. By the time you read it, the speech will have faded

into the past a bit, and with any luck the passions it dredged up will go with it.

Iran poses a huge threat to Israel. An existential one. Like many of the countries in the Middle East, both in the Arab world and beyond it, it seems to be run by crazy people, driven by hatred, illogic, and fear.

Bibi Netanyahu is a bone-deep politician. He appears to be a complicated man, driven by a complex mixture of real belief (as, primarily, in the truth of Irans desire to annihilate Israel) and blatant political expedience. He has been prime minister for a very long time, rising to the top in a political environment that in its insanely grassroots-level democ-racy seems to encourage pander-ing to lunatics with swing votes rather than trying to make sane, stable alliances.

His timing could not have been worse, both because it brought

him here too close to the Israeli election and because he rap-pelled himself into a standoff between the Republicans and Democrats, where he does not belong. He seems to have accom-plished the neat trick of making the political situation both in Israel and here worse.

We hope that by Friday, when you read this, some of the acri-mony over the speech, the breach with President Obama, the dilemma into which Netan-yahu plunged so many of the politicians who are his natural allies but could not and did not want to side with him against their own president, will have died down.

Our most fervent hope is that somehow once this circus is over we once again will be able to concentrate on what matters keeping Iran from manufactur-ing nuclear bombs that will be able to destroy Israel. JP

TRUTH REGARDLESS OF CONSEQUENCES

Elie Wiesel, Bibi Netanyahu, and me

Elie Wiesel and I took out ads in Americas major news-papers supporting Prime Minister Netanyahus right to speak to the American congress about the Iranian nuclear threat.The ads were beautiful and biblical, retelling the story of Esther

and the choice she was given between alienating her king by speaking up for her people or remaining silent. She chose to save her people from annihilation.

This week, I traveled with Professor Wiesel and his wife Marion and my wife Debbie to the prime ministers speech as guests of Speaker John Boehner. The speech was magnificent and did much

to vindicate those who put their reputa-tions on the line to support it.

The day before Prime Minister Netan-yahus masterful oration to Congress, our organization, This World: The Val-ues Network, held one of its most mov-ing events yet, The Meaning of Never Again: Guarding Against a Nuclear Iran. Elie Wiesel joined me, along with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, to discuss the genocidal threats from Iran and the rise of global anti-Semitism.

While the event sought to lend sup-port to his campaign for a tougher stance against the Iranian nuclear

program, particularly in light of its genocidal threats against the Jewish State, it was Elie Wiesel at his most eloquent. We had scheduled the event to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the murder of Anne Frank, who died in the first week of March, 1945, in Bergen-Belsen. The exact date is not known.

The most famous survivor of the Holocaust would commemo-rate its most famous victim. And what better way to respect her memory than in protecting her people from the threat of yet another genocidal regime, yet again from Persia?

The event got off to a heated start as protesters from Code Pink stormed the floor, trying to disrupt the procession with banners and screams. From the time the event began, though, and from the time Elie Wiesel began to speak there was barely a sound. All were entranced by his soft-spoken, yet all so powerful, words of wisdom.

Elie Wiesel spoke of the differences between today and his years in the Nazi death camps. Today, we have friends who will

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Englewood has written 30 books. His most recent is The Fed-up Man of Faith: Challenging G-d in the Face of Tragedy and Suffering. His website is www.shmuley.com. Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.


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Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

A word about Rabbi Boteach

Rabbi Shmuley Bote-ach of Englewood, who is a biweekly contributor to these pages and in fact has a column today right next to this one, was in the headlines at the beginning of the week. On Shabbat, his This World: Values Network put a full-page ad in the New York Times that showed Susan Rice stand

North Jersey Jewish Standard, March 6, 2015

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Transcript of North Jersey Jewish Standard, March 6, 2015