Cantor Bruce Rockman of Congregation B’nai Tikvah, backed by the Sons of Tikvah Band, sings to his daughter, Bashe, five, during a concert to raise awareness about the need to send children in the Sderot area out of the region “for a day of play.”
Photos by Debra Rubin
Board member Mitch Frumkin talked about what it’s like for children in southern Israel living with the threat of constant missile attacks from Gaza during a concert sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County. Behind him is the junior choir of Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple.
Cantor Sheldon Levin of Congregation Neve Shalom in Metuchen not only performed and helped lead the Makhelat Hamercaz choir, but also joined in some Israeli dancing during a concert to benefit the children of southern Israel.
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March 3, 2009
In a musical show of support for children in shell-shocked southern Israel, about 200 people gathered in North Brunswick for an evening of song, dance, and fund-raising.
Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County, the Feb. 22 concert at Congregation B’nai Tikvah raised awareness about the federation’s drive to raise $53,000 to send 1,000 youngsters from the Sderot area out of the region for a day.
The respite trips are being run through the Jewish Agency for Israel.
Local choirs, cantors, and Jewish groups performed as many in the crowd joined hands and danced around the sanctuary.
During a break from the entertainment, federation board member Mitch Frumkin asked audience members to put themselves in the place of parents in Sderot. Some parents, he said, only drive with one child in the car because of the constant fear of missiles from Gaza.
“They know if the sirens go off, they only have 15 seconds to get to a bomb shelter and don’t want to have to make the decision about which [child] to take to the bomb shelter,” he said. “Imagine if you’re a parent or grandparent and you have to worry every time you hear a siren whether in that 15 seconds your grandchild or child made it to a bomb shelter.”
The federation was more than halfway to its $53,000 goal even before the concert, said Frumkin. Additional money came in as audience members placed envelopes in baskets held by volunteers.
Calling the affected Israelis “our extended family,” Frumkin added that on his many trips to Israel those same people “get to see the support of their families over here.”
The message was not lost even on the youngest audience members.
Shea Krane of North Brunswick, five, said he came to the event “to help children be happy and to be able to play with toys.”
The day featured performances by Cantors Bruce Rockman of B’nai Tikvah and the Sons of Tikvah Band, and Anna West Ott of Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick and Sheldon Levin of Congregation Neve Shalom in Metuchen singing and leading Makhelat Hamercaz, the Jewish Choir of Central New Jersey.
Also performing were the junior choir of Anshe Emeth and Aliyah, which entertained guests in the lobby before the start of the program.
Donations to the Freedom to Play campaign can be made on-line at www.jewishmiddlesex.org, by calling 732-432-7711, or by sending a check to the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County, with Freedom to Play in memo line, at 230 Old Bridge Turnpike, South River, NJ 08882.
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