Englewood resident Dr. David Arbit has spent much of his adult life hearing about the Shoah.
“My father-in-law is a survivor,” says the physician, who practices in Fair Lawn. “At every bar- or bat mitzvah, he would get up and speak about his experiences.”
Now, however, Arbit can add many more firsthand accounts to those he already knows. As the physician designated by the March of the Living program to accompany this year’s honorees — some 16 former U.S. servicemen who were among the first to arrive at Europe’s many concentration camps during World War II — the doctor says he now has both new information and detailed verification of his father-in-law’s stories.
In the late 1800s, seeking funds to build Alabama’s Tuskegee University — then Tuskegee Normal School — the author and educator Booker T. Washington went up north to solicit help from known philanthropists. Among them was Chicago resident Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck, and Co.
“A lot of northern philanthropists were looking to help out with education in the South,” said Tracy Hayes, field officer and project manager for the Rosenwald Schools Initiative of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
In the end, she said, Rosenwald’s contribution would help not just Tuskegee, but the cause of public education throughout the south — and the nation as a whole. Through his efforts, some 5,000 schools were opened for African American children, some of which still function today.
In the late 1800s, seeking funds to build Alabama’s Tuskegee University — then Tuskegee Normal School — the author and educator Booker T. Washington went up north to solicit help from known philanthropists. Among them was Chicago resident Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck, and Co.
“A lot of northern philanthropists were looking to help out with education in the South,” said Tracy Hayes, field officer and project manager for the Rosenwald Schools Initiative of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
In the end, she said, Rosenwald’s contribution would help not just Tuskegee, but the cause of public education throughout the south — and the nation as a whole. Through his efforts, some 5,000 schools were opened for African American children, some of which still function today.
On April 29, 22-year-old Stephanie Prezant of Haworth lost her life in a rock-climbing accident in upstate New York. While the community, however, is mourning the loss of this beloved young woman — whose safety equipment failed while climbing the Trapps Cliff area of the Mohonk Preserve — they also are remembering the joy she brought to others.
“She was very funny, always trying to make people laugh,” said longtime friend Anna Kaminsky, from Englewood Cliffs. “I’m glad that at the funeral, people were able to capture that.”
Conducted by Rabbi Mordecai Shain, executive director of Lubavitch on the Palisades, the funeral was held on May 1 at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades.
Exploring the Jewish perspective on ethical behavior is always important, says Teaneck resident Harman Grossman. Today, however, when the ongoing presidential campaign throws some of those ethical concerns into sharp focus, that study is more relevant than ever.
“It’s important to teach [Jewish ethics] anytime,” said Grossman, who has addressed that topic for four years as an instructor for the community’s Florence Melton Adult Mini-School. “But today’s headlines make it top of mind.”
On May 16, Grossman — an attorney for Johnson & Johnson — will look more closely at “The Jewish Perspective on Campaign Ethics” as guest speaker for the Melton Alumni Association Evening of Learning.
Although she has been reading talmudic stories since she was in the 11th grade, it was not until she came to the United States that Israeli-born artist Ofri Cnaani was able to incorporate Jewish content into her art. In Israel, Cnaani said, she grew up in a secular household on a secular kibbutz. While she studied the rabbinic texts, it was “from a secular perspective.”
Her solo exhibition is now on view at the Andrea Meislin Gallery in New York City. It is a 20-minute video installation entitled “The Sota Project.”
“For many years, I was fascinated by those kinds of texts,” she said, likening talmudic stories to a kind of mythology.
Being Jewish means having at least two ways to engage with the world, says Nigel Savage, founder of Hazon. Whether engaging with the world through Jewish tradition or through the Jewish people, however, “food is a huge issue,” he said.
Indeed, said Savage, “One of the great successes of Jewish life in last 10 years — to some extent under the radar of the organized Jewish community — is Jewish communal engagement with the land in general and food in particular.”
According to the Hazon founder, who launched his faith-based environmental organization in 1990, “Now’s a really exciting moment to eat Jewishly, and without driving ourselves crazy or banging other people over the head. We can connect Jewish tradition to food and land and contemporary issues, and do it in both a serious and generous way.”
Synagogue libraries face a variety of challenges — from low (or no) funding to increasing competition with would-be patrons’ electronic resources.
Add to that the “standards of excellence” required by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) for accreditation (see box), and it is no wonder that only one local library has sought that distinction.
Indeed, says Kathe Pinchuck — who heads AJL’s school, synagogue, and community center division — “Many places confuse a book room with a library,” especially since accreditation guidelines require that a library have a professional librarian for a certain number of hours a week, and that is extremely rare in local congregations.
Passaic resident Pinchuk, a professional librarian who works at the Montclair public library, recalls that in 2007 she led Teaneck Congregation Beth Sholom’s accreditation efforts.
In April 1966, the Jewish soul of New York — and the entire world — was severely wounded when a devastating fire tore through the stacks of the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS).
“For a century and more, [the library had] one of richest collections of books relating to Jewish subjects, and especially Hebrew manuscripts,” remembers Dr. Menahem Schmelzer, emeritus librarian for JTS, and coordinator of the book and manuscript rescue effort after the fire.
Thousands of books were damaged — or ruined — in the blaze. Of those, some 10 percent “were extremely difficult to replace.”
Schmelzer, who served as librarian from 1961 until 1987, and who teaches medieval Hebrew at JTS, said it was a huge task to salvage whatever was possible.
Closing public schools on the High Holy Days is permissible — but not mandated — by the State of New Jersey. Still, as they plan their calendars for the coming year, the great majority of area schools contacted by The Jewish Standard said they plan to close for Rosh Hashanah (Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 17 and 18) and Yom Kippur (Wednesday, Sept. 26).
While most districts will close their schools for both days of Rosh Hashanah, some — including Ridgewood, Ramsey, Edgewater, Northern Highlands, Upper Saddle River, Dumont, Wyckoff, Mahwah, and Franklin Lakes — will close only on Sept. 17. Midland Park and Waldwick schools will close only for Yom Kippur.
