Cantor Steven Stern, left, of Temple Beth O’r/Beth Torah in Clark will speak about the love for the Land of Israel at this year’s Leil Iyun. Photos by Elaine Durbach
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Program lineupJanuary 03, 2008
Triangulation, as political pundits use the word, indicates three opposing positions. The triangulation offered by the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey this month is more of the complementary type, with three major events at the Wilf Jewish Community Campus in Scotch Plains, each enhancing the others.
They are: on Jan. 12, Leil Iyun, the wide-ranging Evening of Jewish Learning; on Jan. 17, a two-part program on the complex story of Jewish refugees from Arab countries; and on Jan. 27, the call-to-action of the 2008 Super Sunday all-day fund-raiser.
The first event, the eighth annual Leil Iyun, starts things off on a Saturday night with an umbrella of topics covering the enormous subject of what Israel — celebrating its 60th anniversary this year — means for Jews today.
Linda Poleyeff, the new director of Jewish education at the federation, has engaged a broad spectrum of rabbis, educators, and community leaders to deliver Leil Iyun talks. The resulting two-session program offers 22 different topics, possibly more to be added.
The subjects cover Israel from every aspect — from its fundamental relevance to Jewish life, to its treatment of women, its impact on students from abroad, the love it inspires in hasidic rebbes, and as expressed in song, the Hebrew language, the implications of military might, Hasidism, Zionism, and the much-debated relationship between Jewish identity and Israel’s identity.
Poleyeff has asked that people register in advance for the event and indicate their course preferences to ensure they get into the ones that interest them most, but there will also be registration that evening, beginning at 7:15. The first session will start at 8.
The cost, which includes a dessert reception following the sessions, is $15. For more information, call Poleyeff at 908-889-5335. To register, go to www.jewishjerseycentral.org or return the form in this newspaper.
The second event, on Thursday, Jan. 17, turns a spotlight on the hundreds of thousands of Jews uprooted by war and oppression from their homes in Arab countries, a topic some would like to see at the center of any Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, and others want kept on ice until much later in the process.
The evening will feature two very different speakers. Stanley Urman, the executive director of Justice for Jews from Arab Countries, will provide an expert overview of the history and current political implications of the subject. Miri Hasson, the Israeli shliha, or emissary, currently working with the federation, will provide a deeply personal insight, with a description of her own family’s flight from Tunisia.
The evening is the first of four lectures on contemporary Israel cosponsored by the federation, the Israel Support Committee of Congregation Beth Israel, Temple Emanu-El, Temple Beth-El Mekor Chayim, and the JEC/Elmora Shul and JEC/Adath Israel Shul.
The program will begin at 7, and the fee is $10 for each lecture in the series or $36 for all four. For more information on the evening, call Felice Maranz, director of the federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council, at 908-889-5335, or visit jewishjerseycentral.org.
The theme for this year’s Super Sunday is “Be a light among the generations,” and the organizers are hoping for an outpouring of the kind of generosity that lights up the lives of both the givers and the recipients.
Super Sunday 2008 cochairs are Amy Kasson of Warren and Scott Spector of Scotch Plains. The vice chairs are Suzanne and Rob Tucker of Westfield.
The event on Jan. 27 will run from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. In those 11 hours, scores of volunteers will set the phone lines buzzing, reaching out to the community to gather funds for all the programs, projects, facilities, and events supported by the federation to help people locally, in Israel, and in Jewish communities in places like Argentina and the Former Soviet Union.
As in previous years, in addition to the phonathon, there will be all sorts of other ways to lend a hand and rub shoulders with fellow community members of all ages. They include musical entertainment by the Shabbattones, teen programs, showcases of youth programs and social action projects, a blood drive, and children’s arts and crafts. Child care will be available all day. Those attending are asked to donate nonprescription multivitamins, aspirin and non-aspirin products, and non-perishable kosher foods (not in glass containers) which will benefit the local food pantry at the Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey.
For more information or to sign up as a volunteer, contact Debbie Rosenwein or Lillah Nussbaum at 908-889-5335, or go to the web site.
Program lineup
Cantor Steven Stern, left, of Temple Beth O’r/Beth Torah in Clark will speak about the love for the Land of Israel at this year’s Leil Iyun.
Saturday, Jan. 12
Leil Iyun: An Evening of Jewish Learning
Thursday, Jan. 17
Jewish Refugees from Arab countries
Sunday, Jan. 27
Super Sunday 2008
All programs take place at the Wilf Jewish Community Campus in Scotch Plains.