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Local Z a c h o r . G e d e n k .Remember.a t t e n d t h e

Annual Gathering of Remembrance

In observance of Yom HaShoahHolocaust Remembrance Day

S unday , ap r i l 7 , 2013 at 2 :00 pM

c o n G r e G a t i o n e M a n u- e l o f t h e c i t y o f n ew y o r k

f i f t h av e n u e an d 65 t h S t r e e t

TICKETS MUST BE RESERVED BY MARCH 29.

for More inforMation, pleaSe call 646.437.4227

or e-Mail aGr@MJhnyc.orG

Co-sponsored by

MUSEUM O F JEWISH HER IT AGE

A LIV ING MEMO R IAL T O T HE HO LO CAUST

WARSAW GHETTO RESISTANCE ORGANIZATION (WAGRO)

AMER ICAN GAT HER ING O F JEWISH HO LO CAUST SUR V IV O R S

AND T HEIR D ESCEND ANT S

In association with

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE CONGREGATION EMANU-EL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

CONSULATE GENERAL OF ISRAEL IN NEW YORK COUNCIL OF YOUNG jEWISH pRESIDENTS

jE WI SH COM MU NI TY RE LAT IO NS CO UN CI L OF NE W YOR K

jE WI SH LA BO R CO MM IT TE E TH E NEW YOR K BOA RD OF RA BB IS

UjAFEDERATION OF NEW YORK YOUNG FRIENDS OF THE MUSEUM

WWW. MJ HNYC . OR G/ANNUAL GATHER I NG

Unite4Unity

Local Jewish lay leaders workto overcome denominational differences

Joanne Palmer

There is much that

divides Jews rom each

other. Dierences in

theology and practice

run deep, and sometimes it can be

diicult to see across the chasm.

There is much that connectsJews with each other. Sharedhistory, shared family, sharedcultural assumptions, sharedsensory memories. These thingsmight be emotional rather thanlogical, but they run just as deep.

The Berrie Fellows Leadership

Institute, an initiative o the Jew-ish Federation o Northern New

Jersey, works with a 20-member

cohort o local youn lay lead-

ers over the course o two years,

exposin them to hih-level Jew-

ish learnin as it nurtures and

challenes their leadership ability. The

cohort, equally divided amon men and

women, is diverse, reachin into all parts

o the pluralistic local Jewish community.

This year, two Berrie Fellows, united by

their shared Jewishness, acknowledin but

reusin to be divided by the dierence ways

they express it, have decided to start a new

oranization, Unite4Unity. It will introduce

itsel on Tuesday evenin, March 12, when

three local rabbis Dr. Kenneth Emert, Shm-

uel Goldin, and David-Seth Kirshner meet

to discuss the question Facin the FutureToether: How can we all et alon?

The two ellows, Lee Lasher and Ian Zim-

merman, oer a prime example o how to

et alon. The two have become very ood

riends.

Their backrounds are dissimilar.

Lasher, who is turnin 50, is a member

o Conreation Ahavath Torah in Enle-

wood. He is Orthodox. I did not row up

reliious, he said.

He rew up in Brooklyn. His parents did

not want to send him to public schools there;

had he lived Manhattan, with its wide choice

o secular private schools, most likely he

would have one to one o them, he said.

In Brooklyn the pickins were slimmer, so

his parents sent him to the Yeshiva o Flat-

bush. Later, he went to Ramaz. I had an

interestin journey, he said. I became reli-

ious as a senior. Ater a year in Israel, he

went to McGill University in Montreal.

Zimmerman, 48, rew up in the Bronx

and then in a Conservative but nonreli-

ious household in Fair Lawn, he said. I

was typical o many o my riends. We went

to Hebrew school and ot bar mitzvaed. We

could have one to Hebrew hih school, but

we didnt. I didnt stay involved in Judaism

except or culturally, and o course we went

as a amily to synaoue on the hih holy

days and celebrated Chanukah and Passover.

But I didnt really nd my way back to

real reliion until my dauhter

was born.

Zimmermans wie is not Jew-

ish. They took their dauhter

to the mikvah or conversion

when she was 3 months old.

They tried to join the Fair Lawn

Jewish Center, but Zimmerman

balked at havin to take a sinle-

parent amily membership. Im

not sinle, Im not divorced, Im

not widowed, he said, but the

rabbi was adamant and the rules

were the rules. The amily ound

Temple Beth Rishon in Wycko,an unafliated synaoue whose

rabbi, Kenneth Emert, was

ordained by the Reorm move-

ments Hebrew Union Collee.

Zimmerman is active in the shul.

Both men eel stronly that

their similarities outweih their dierences,

and they quickly decided that the practicum

that the Berrie proram demanded o them

should be devoted to unity. Our idea was

that it should be primarily lay leaders driv-

in it, Lasher said. Sometimes its difcult

or the rabbis, because o their position.

He hopes that eventually Unite4Unity,

or U4U, as they call it, will allow local shuls

to share best practices. On a deeper level,

we are also thinkin lon term, Lasher

said. We would love to see a community

beit midrash proram, somethin like Lim-mud. Were doin research to see what other

communities are doin.

Were workin with Joy Kurland and the

JCRC, he added. Kurland is the director o

the Jewish Community Relations Council,

which is a ederation proram.

Zimmerman hopes that his riendship

with Lasher can be a model or intrareli-

ious cooperation. We both enjoy drink-

in ood wine and ood Scotch, enjoy ood

ood, and ollowin ootball and baseball.

There is nothin dierent about me and Lee

Who: abbi dr. Kenneth mert of emple

Beth ihon, wckoff, abbi shmuel

Golin of Congregation havath ovah,

ngleoo, an abbi davi-seth

Kirhner of emple manu-l, Cloter, are

panelit; Lina scherzer ill moerate the

ebate

What: icuion, Facing the Future

ogether: o can e all get along?

folloe b ine, cheee, an eert

When: uea, March 12, at 8 p.m.

Where: Congregation havath orah, 240

Broa street, ngleoo

Why: Unite4Unit rt event

How: sponore b the Jeih Feeration

of orthern e Jere an it Jeih

Communit elation Council, havath

orah, Beth ihon, an manu-l

For whom and how much: Free an open

to the communit

Lee Lasher

Ian

Zimmerman

U4Uy G40