Wilf family gift boosts survivor program

by Elaine Durbach

May 14, 2013

Even when their attention is on a singer or speaker, or they are simply absorbed in conversation with those who share their traumatic history, the Holocaust survivors who attend Cafe Europa gatherings in Elizabeth or South Orange are also the focus of attention themselves. Read More

Preserving memory with new tradition

Holocaust Council creates Shoa seder as model for others

by Robert Wiener

May 14, 2013

Well past the Passover season, the Holocaust Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ is planning a seder on Sunday, May 19, at the Aidekman campus in Whippany. Drawing on some of the rituals associated with the Passover Haggada, the Shoa Seder is being planned to coincide with the month that Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1945. Read More

‘Bring what you learn wherever you are’

An NJJN conversation with six local teens, all leaders-in-training

by Andrew Silow-Carroll

May 14, 2013

In recent years the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ has undertaken a significant commitment to teen leadership. NJJN editor-in-chief Andrew Silow-Carroll sat down with six current participants in three programs— Diller Teen Fellows, Iris Teen Tzedekah Advisors, and Write On For Israel — for a wide-ranging discussion of pro-Israel advocacy, the Jewish future, and what teens know that adults don’t. Read More

Wilfs welcome new Yad Vashem entrance

Special to NJJN

May 14, 2013

Yad Vashem has unveiled the latest contribution by a New Jersey family to the memory of Holocaust victims and for the support of survivors. Read More

A ‘family business’ to serve Jewish families

by Robert Wiener

May 14, 2013

In commemoration of his 18 years with Jewish Family Service of MetroWest NJ, Rothman, its executive director, will be saluted on Wednesday, June 5, at the agency’s gala dinner at Brooklake Country Club in Florham Park. Read More

Girls get DIY approach to bat mitzva prep

by Johanna Ginsberg

May 14, 2013

Megan Glajchen and Irene Billinson, both 11, and Emma Lichtenberg, 12, sat around the dining room table in Ashley Jacob’s West Orange home on a recent Sunday afternoon. They munched on grapes and cookies while considering commentaries on why the biblical patriarch Jacob was angry at his wife Rachel for asking him to give her children. Read More

Bus tour honors supporters of day schools

by NJJN Staff

May 14, 2013

Major donors and leaders of Greater MetroWest Jewish day schools came together on May 3 for a “Day School Showcase” bus tour of three schools, followed by a luncheon featuring Yossi Prager, executive director for North America of the AVI CHAI Foundation. Read More

Day school funders tout long-term giving

by Elaine Durbach

May 14, 2013

Local philanthropists served as role models as day school heads, development officers, community leaders, and fund-raisers gathered in Florham Park in pursuit of the brass ring: how to inspire the community to support endowment funding for Jewish day schools. Read More

‘Stumbling stone’ keeps family’s past alive

by Robert Wiener

May 8, 2013

Small bronze plaques have been embedded in a sidewalk in the village of Binau, Germany. They bear the names of Samuel and Fanny Eiseman and stark inscriptions in German noting that the Eisemans were deported in 1940 and murdered on Aug. 14, 1942, at Auschwitz. Sharon Hammerman was determined to honor her grandparents with these simple six-by-eight-inch plaques after she saw similar ones in 2009 during a visit to Berlin. Read More