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Reflecting on 100 years—and counting—at Adath Israel By MicheLe ALPeriN
A centennial is more than a milestone; it is a testament to the adaptability and ingenuity needed to survive in a changing world. For Lawrenceville’s Adath Israel Congregation, founded on October 15, 1923, in Trenton, N. J., its 100th anniversary year has been an opportunity to delve into the synagogue’s history, to honor its strengths, and to develop new approaches to
ensure a thriving future. Rabbi Benjamin Adler, celebrating his 10-year anniversary at Adath, used his 2022 Rosh Hashanah sermon to prepare his congregation for its hundredth anniversary, using history to shed light on present challenges and future opportunities. The congregation laid the cornerstone for its first building, at 715 Bellevue Avenue in Trenton, designed by Louis Kaplan, the architect of the Trenton War Memorial. The building was
sold on January 1, 1989. Jews in 1920s Trenton worried about Jewish survival into the next generation, despite their thriving religious and secular Jewish community: with delis, bakeries, kosher butchers, synagogues, funeral homes. The 1920s, Adler says in his 2022 sermon, were a time of “deep anxiety for American Jews.” The explosion of Jewish immigration to the United States in the preceding 40 years meant See ANNIVERSARY, Page 8
Artist John Rounds gives new meaning to creative license By EMMA FerschWeiLer
Lawrence High School girls’ soccer player Slavina Dusichka, a sophomore, is pictued during a 6-0 win against Nottingham at LHS on Oct. 17, 2024. For more on the team, go to page 12. For more photos, see page 14. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
One could scan over John Rounds’ garage and constantly see something new. Directly in front of his make-shift workshop is a collage of descended trees in different seasons, to the left are framed wine boxes, and a cut-out of New Jersey made with license plates takes center stage, reflecting light off its sharp corners. All these pieces in his workshop were recently featured at
two local events last month— Lawrence Township Community Fun Day on Oct. 5, and Lawrenceville Main Street’s Fall Arts Festival on Oct. 19. Rounds is a retired carpenter who dabbles in unique craft art. He got the idea for his first piece in 2013 after having his knee scoped and being put on the carpentry disabled registry. While staring at some old license plates he never turned into NJ Motor Vehicle Commission, he wondered if he could
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make a map of the Garden State with all of its counties. “The next day the sun came up and it’s shown off all those windows, and it reflected over here, and you can see how it catches the aluminum ... And it just exploded with light. And I went, oh gee, that was a good idea,” Rounds said. It took around 80 to 90 hours to make his first piece, including designing, cutting, and assembling the plates. To shape the See ELEctION, Page 4
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