U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg greets supporters Sept. 7 at the inaugural legislative breakfast of Agudath Israel of New Jersey. Standing behind him is Assemblyman and acting Passaic Mayor Gary Schaer.
Photos by Debra Rubin
September 11, 2008
In an effort to build coalitions and demonstrate their growing political muscle, more than 200 leaders of the state’s fervently Orthodox community joined with politicians and other public figures at the inaugural legislative breakfast of Agudath Israel of New Jersey.
The Sept. 7 event at the Regency Heritage Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Somerset was “an effort to thank legislators who have gone beyond the call of duty to assist the Jewish community in New Jersey and in the communities we live in,” according to Agudath Israel director Josh Pruzansky of Highland Park.
While members of the fervently Orthodox communities of Brooklyn and New York’s Rockland County form a potent political force in that state, this week’s event was an unusual show of political unity by their counterparts in New Jersey.
Politicians in attendance were shown, said Pruzansky, “that there is a large community behind our efforts and that we at Agudath Israel are not afraid to go to Trenton or Washington to discuss issues that are vitally important to the community.
“There are 100,000 Orthodox people in the state north to south, east to west, in 25 to 30 communities. We have 30,000 children in [Orthodox] yeshivas and are growing exponentially.”
Dan Gaby of West Orange, left, executive director of E3-Educational Excellence for Everyone, chats with Jacob Toporek, executive director of the NJ Association of Jewish Federations, at the Agudath Israel of New Jersey legislative breakfast.
Those honored were U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ); state senators Jennifer Beck (R-Dist. 12), Barbara Buono (D-Dist. 18), and Raymond Lesniak (D-Dist. 20); and Lakewood Deputy Mayor Meir Lichtenstein.
Dan Gaby of West Orange, executive director of E3-Educational Excellence for Everyone, which supports school vouchers and other means of publicly financing private school education, was given the Educational Leadership Award.
United front
Rabbi Shmuel Bloom, executive vice president of national Agudath Israel of America, noted that New Jersey is playing a key role in bringing together a coalition of forces.
“One of the largest and the fastest-growing Orthodox populations in the nation is in New Jersey,” Blum told attendees. “Under Josh Pruzansky we are bringing together a coalition of Jews and non-Jews for activism and necessary representation of our communities.”
Indeed, attending the breakfast were representatives of Catholic dioceses and their parochial schools, who turned out in support of Gaby and his organization.
E3 supports the Urban Enterprise Zone Jobs Scholarship Act, which would authorize a five-year pilot program allowing the state’s low-income children to receive scholarships to attend participating public and non-public schools. Because 25 percent of the scholarships would be awarded to students currently attending private schools, it would also benefit yeshivas in Elizabeth, Lakewood, and Passaic, which have significant Orthodox populations.
Lesniak, whose district includes Elizabeth, is the primary Senate sponsor of the bill, which would allot a $6,000 scholarship for kindergarten through eighth-grade students and $9,000 for high school students. The money would come from corporations in exchange for a 100 percent tax credit.
The proposed bill, which is currently in committee, has the backing of Agudath Israel and the Orthodox Union, although advocates of church-state separation, including many non-Orthodox Jewish groups, oppose the measure on constitutional grounds.
Jacob Toporek, executive director of the New Jersey State Association of Jewish Federations, said his attendance was part of an ongoing effort that began months ago to build coalitions among Jewish groups and organizations throughout the state.
“We have a number of issues — such as education, energy, tuition tax credits, Israel at 60, and the Iranian threat,” said Toporek. “I think it’s important, and it’s never been done before.”
He cited the recent united front that persuaded the Edison Board of Education to change the date of a school referendum that had been scheduled for Sept. 30, the first day of Rosh Hashana, to Dec. 9.
Program chair Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Dist. 36) — who is also acting mayor of Passaic — listed a number of issues of concern to the Jewish community, many of which were initiated or strongly supported by the honored legislators.
Beck was praised for smoothing the way in Manalapan for an eruv, a symbolic boundary that allows observant Jews to carry objects or push strollers on Shabbat and other holidays.
Lautenberg spoke with pride of his Jewish heritage and praised organizations that seek to preserve Jewish tradition. He stressed the importance of Israel’s security and its value as an ally to the United States.
He said the $3 billion in aid given to Israel by the United States is actually “a good deal” because it frees America from sending troops to that troubled area of the world, “in an area full of despots.”
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