Update from The Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey • March 2019 • Volume 9
Strengthening the Jewish community locally and around the world
It’s About Harry Welcome! And happy Purim! My name is Dale Goldberg. I have been a Jewish Federation supporter since 1993 because it is the one organization that serves every Jew and every Jewish organization — regardless of affiliation — in meeting our community’s most pressing priorities: caring for those in need, investing in a strong Jewish future, and addressing crises that affect us all — from hurricanes to hate crimes. I’m passionate about Jewish Federation because it gives me — and each of us — the power to make Jewish life sweeter, stronger, and more sustainable. And, quite simply, I care about Jewish life. In the pages that follow, you’ll read some recent examples of Federation programs, support, and partnerships impacting the Jewish community. These are just the tip of the iceberg; there are many more. Let me tell you how our donations to Jewish Federation made a difference for one man — Harry*. By his late 80s, a series of losses had left Harry frail, broke, and alone. The first time Steve, a Kosher Meals on Wheels (KMOW) volunteer, walked into Harry’s kitchen to deliver food, he found two places set at the table — one for Harry and one with a handwritten sign that read For My Beloved. Harry’s wife of 60 years had just passed away. Steve came to realize his deliveries were about much more than food. He was often the only person Harry would see all week. In time, Harry began confiding in Steve, especially about his son, who had stopped taking Harry’s calls years earlier. After months of Harry’s asking whether he should try calling his son again, Steve, gently suggested: “Harry, you ought to do what your heart tells you to do.” * Name and likenesses may be changed for privacy continued on page 2
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That night Harry called and his son called him back. Harry told Steve it was wonderful. The next day, Harry died. My friends, hundreds of people just like Harry receive much more than food from the KMOW provided by Federation partners, Jewish Family & Children’s Service in Monmouth and Jewish Family Services in Middlesex. Sure, we’re delivering sustenance, but we’re also delivering an important message: you are not alone. None of us is alone because of Jewish Federation. How wonderful that today, tomorrow, and together, we can count on each other!
Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Monmouth County (JFCS) and Jewish Family Services of Middlesex County (JFS) are partner agencies of Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey. Together, we identify and address the needs of the most vulnerable members of the Jewish community in our area. JFCS and JFS services include Kosher Meals on Wheels, Aging in Place aid for Holocaust survivors, no- or low-cost mental health counseling, senior socialization programs, and drug and alcohol treatment, education, and support programs.
Local Teens to Channel Israeli Entrepreneurs
Addiction Programs Offer Cultural Sensitivity for Jewish Community Coming to terms with addiction is difficult enough and compounded for those in a community that sees itself as culturally immune to it. With a Federation grant and its licensed outpatient program, JFCS launched the Jewish Center for Drug & Alcohol Treatment and Education in Morganville, providing professional help with substance addiction or over-use. Call confidentially 732.774.6886 x16. JFS conducts JRecovery in Milltown, a Jewish self-help group for substance and behavioral addictions. Call 732.777.1940 or email office@jfsmiddlesex.org confidentially.
Entrepreneurship is the national pastime in Israel, known as The Start-Up Nation. To nurture entrepreneurial spirit in area teens, while connecting them to Israel, Jewish Federation in the Heart of NJ has introduced the Israeli-American Council’s (IAC’s) innovative Eitanim program. Groups of Eitanim teens, mentored by a local entrepreneur, compete to develop the best solution to challenges facing Israeli and American Jewish communities. This inaugural group is being mentored by Yair Nezaria, CEO of Shira Esthetics, a skin care company begun by his mother that, under his guidance, has become a powerhouse of environmentally-sensitive product development. The father of four says he decided to become involved in Eitanim because, “As a parent, I’ve seen some families struggle with connecting their children to Israel and Judaism. Eitanim offers a way to have fun and strengthen life skills while building pride in Israel and Jewish heritage.” He added, “The whole program encourages creative thinking,” something he credits with helping him grow what had been a niche-market business into an international phenomenon. Inbar Singal, the Federation’s Community Engagement Manager, said, “Today’s children hold the Jewish future in their hands. That’s why Federation is committed to providing leadership and growth opportunities for them.” Eitanim is funded through donations to Federation. For more information about programs for teens, including J-SERVE day of community service and travel grants for trips to Israel, contact inbars@jewishheartnj.org
S–E–C–U–R-I–T–Y Three phrases, heard more and more throughout the Jewish heart of NJ reflect the seriousness with which the Jewish Federation has taken on its leadership role in helping the Jewish community and its interfaith neighbors with security concerns.
A packed house at a recent Federation briefing on security.
• Facility assessments help •
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organizations understand their vulnerabilities. Active Intruder and Resiliency Trainings help people develop emergency prevention, preparedness, and response strategies. The Federation Security Task Force shares information and resources from law enforcement and public safety authorities with synagogues and other Jewish and interfaith organizations.
For several years, the Federation Security Task Force has offered
funds or going through security training, houses of worship and community organizations must balance security precautions with remaining welcoming to worshipers,
We keep our eyes open and ‘wear our seat belts,’ so to speak. hands-on support to every Jewish organization throughout Monmouth and Greater Middlesex applying for Homeland Security and other government security grants. On behalf of the organizations who took advantage of that help, the Federation has been instrumental in generating more than $3 million in security enhancements to more than 60 Jewish organizations. According to Susan Antman, the Jewish Federation in the Heart of NJ’s Executive Director, “Because the Federation invests in communal security, every synagogue, every Jewish school, cultural institution, and community center has access to resources that would not be available to them on their own.” Whether applying security grant
members, and visitors. Stuart Brown, Executive Director of Manalapan’s Temple Shaari Emeth, says, “We know we must have secure access, so our response is both practical and nuanced. We keep our eyes open and ‘wear our seat belts,’ so to speak. And we have a really good relationship with the Manalapan police.” According to Amy Keller, the Jewish Federation’s Director of Security Initiatives, “The key is understanding how to intelligently achieve that delicate balance between openness and vigilance.” She added, “Going forward, more organizations will think about security as they now think of smoke detectors or fire drills, part of standard operations. As they do,
the Jewish Federation will connect our community with the security resources needed.” For example, recent Federation advocacy efforts resulted in the State of NJ approving and funding new bills doubling security funding for non-public K-12 school students, such as those attending Jewish day school. For more information, contact amyk@jewishheartnj.org
Now it’s your turn. Donate to Federation to make a difference for people in need and for the community as a whole. jewishheartnj.org/give
Dana and Maya’s excellent adventure funder and manager of the Shinshinim program, initiated by overseas partner, the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and supported by local partners, CBT as well as Marlboro Jewish Center, Congregation B’nai Israel, Rumson, and Neve Shalom, Metuchen. Mark Winter, one of the teachers working with Maya Shany at Congregation B’nai Tikvah, North Brunswick (CBT) Hebrew school says, “Maya brings a different voice to the classroom. She’s a bright, engaging, young Jewish woman, months from her Israeli Army service as an air force flight simulator instructor. Each aspect of that is great for the students here to see and get to know.” Maya is one of the Jewish Federation in the Heart of NJ’s two Shinshinim1, teen ambassadors from Israel spending a gap year between high school and military service to introduce people here to the real face of Israel. Federation is the lead
A lasting legacy
In one class discussing Israel’s diversity, Maya played several songs that are “top 10” in Israel. As the students danced to each, they said the songs were nothing like Heyveynu Shalom Alechem and other Hebrew songs they knew. Maya agreed: “People in Israel come from all over. And they bring their music with them.” Maya’s fellow shinshinit2, Dana Zachar, used a similar technique during Shabbat lunch at The Hebrew Academy, showing Israeli cartoon characters dancing to Israeli music and leading the room in mimicking the dance moves.
Dana said, “This is an amazing experience. I’ve never been anywhere before where people loved me just because I’m Israeli.” Maya and Dana also worked closely with local teen leaders producing the Jewish Federation’s recent Teen Israel Summit at which 120 teens from Middlesex and Monmouth counties gathered for “a virtual day in Israel.” It included a Shuk (marketplace) with food, photo ops and free gifts as well as breakout sessions on advocacy, sports, food, innovation, and more. The Summit connected area teens to Israel. It was made possible due to generous support from the Laurence S. Weiss And Edith G. Weiss Foundation Inc. For more information, contact danr@jewishheartnj.org. Notes: 1 - name of the program, also masc. pl. Hebrew; 2 - fem. pl. Hebrew.
School principal, Yoti Golan, said “We all loved Dana’s idea to get everyone dancing. It makes learning about Israel fun.”
Attendees of the recent Teen Israel Summit were toddlers 15 years ago when Edith and Laurence Weiss made a legacy gift to the Jewish Federation. Yet because educating Jewish teens about activism and advocacy was their passion — and remains the Weiss family passion — the 120 summit participants were inspired and empowered by the Federation program. Patricia Weiss Fisher, Laurence and Edith’s daughter, said, “My brother, Steve, and I are honored to continue our parents’ partnership with the Federation through the legacy gift they made. Their gift enables programs such as the Teen Israel Summit and teen travel grants for advocacy-oriented programs in Israel to ensure our community’s Jewish teenagers can learn how to effectively advocate for social justice at home and for a strong State of Israel.” What is your passion that you want to endure after you’re gone? The Jewish Federation’s Life & Legacy program makes it easy and affordable to create your own Jewish legacy, secure the future for programs and organizations YOU care about for generations to come, and you may qualify for tax benefits. Learn more at jewishheartnj.org/legacy or call Paul Rovinsky at 732-588-1800.
Interfaith Israel Missions Spawn More Local Cooperation
That’s why he chairs the Jewish Federation in the Heart on NJ’s interfaith initiatives and chaired the Federation-funded interfaith clergy missions to Israel in 2016 and 2018. He says, “These missions have created invaluable connections and a community of common vision. We may not always
agree but we appreciate each other’s perspective.” The Christian, Jewish, and Muslim clergy participants of the 2018 mission became so close they continue to chat, informally offering one another a special support group. Rabbi Kline said, “We are friends.” The benefits have been wide ranging. Following the horrific attack on Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, Rabbi Robert Pilavin, spiritual leader of Manalapan’s Congregation Sons of Israel, says because of his interfaith mission experience, he found it natural to reach out to neighboring interfaith clergy to participate in his synagogue’s vigil. “More than 200 people of many faiths came,” he said, “including clergy from our neighbors, St. Thomas Moore Church and two monks from the America Burma Buddhist Association. They all helped light the 14 memorial candles.”
Rabbi Philip Bazeley, spiritual leader of Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple, the oldest synagogue in Middlesex County, was Assistant Rabbi in 2016, when the congregation’s rabbi, Bennett Miller, went on the first Federation Interfaith Clergy Mission. “Being part of Jewish Federation’s interfaith mission was natural for us,” Bazeley says. “The synagogue has been involved with neighboring clergy for virtually all of its 160-year history.”
mission participants to join in an interfaith panel discussion titled, “It’s complicated: Israel, Christianity, and Islam and Building Bridges to Peace.” Susan Antman, Executive Director of the Jewish Federation in the Heart of NJ, echoes the value of building interfaith connections as an outgrowth of Federation-funded interfaith clergy missions to Israel, saying, “We will continue to convene a coalition of clergy and people of
According to Dan Rozett, Federation’s Manager of
Community and Israel Engagement, who staffed the 2018 mission, “Each of the participants came with an eagerness to learn. Everyone asked questions, and genuine conversations about a complicated situation replaced the kinds of biased, oversimplified conclusions we hear a lot.” A month after the 2018 mission, the prominent “Muslim Journal” posted a front-page article by mission participant Imam Mustafa El-Amin in which the Imam thanked Jewish Federation. “It was an educational and thoughtprovoking experience I will never forget,” the Imam wrote, “We have laid the foundation to enable us to work together for a better community and maybe even a better world. I could not have asked for a better outcome!” Two months after that, the Archdiocese of Metuchen invited
Photo Credit: Alan S. Brooker
Rabbi Mark Kline of Monmouth Reform Temple wanted, “real conversations between colleagues from different religions, begun without presumptions.”
faith to build relationships, foster trust, and create a strong interfaith community that will support each other in both good times and challenging times ahead.” She noted Jewish Federation is partnering with the ADL and Rutgers University on a program addressing hate on college campuses and beyond, featuring author, and real life subject of the movie DENIAL, Deborah Lipstadt, on March 31. To register, go to jewishheartnj.org/Lipstadt. For more information contact stacyf@jewishheartnj.org.
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Ed Guttenplan 2ND VICE PRESIDENT Murray Katz TREASURER Sheryl Grutman SECRETARY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Elise Feldman Alex Kemeny Naomi Lasky Jeffrey Schwartz Stuart Abraham Mitch Frumkin Susan Antman EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Parents and Grandparents: PJ Families Have 100 More Reasons to Get Together Your children enjoy PJ Library books. They sing along with PJ music. You’ve met other PJ parents. Now PJ is offering $100 to Jewish families just for getting together with others to do something Jewish. No strings attached. There is still time, if you do it before April 30, 2019. According to Inbar Singal, the Jewish Federation in the Heart of NJ’s Community Engagement Manager, “This program encourages families to connect to the Jewish community in their own way. One couple hosted an interfaith holiday celebration during winter break. The husband enjoyed it because he said he got to know people his wife knew well but he didn’t.” She added, “Families have had really creative events, from building a seder plate from Legos to volunteering at local Jewish agencies.” Get Together grants are available to PJ Library families with 6-month- to 8-year-olds and PJ Our Way families with 9- to 11-year-olds. The Federation co-sponsors PJ Library and PJ Our Way with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. Get Together program information, and access to a treasure-trove of ideas, and the application are at jewishheartnj.org/kids. For more information, contact inbars@jewishheartnj.org