Budding journalists at Kushner score first interview

by Ron Kaplan
NJJN Staff Writer

More like Jimmy Olsen, cub reporter, than Woodward and Bernstein, a group of serious young writers at the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in Livingston took their first steps toward a possible career in the newspaper business.

Fourteen fifth-graders in a voluntary writers’ workshop interviewed members of the popular Jewish rock group Blue Fringe following a Dec. 29 concert held in the school’s auditorium.

The band — Dov Rosenblatt, Avi Hoffman, Hayyim Danzig, and Danny Zwillenberg — gave separate performances for the lower, middle, and high schools. The workshop students attended the middle school gig, a raucous affair that not only had about 200 kids jumping in the aisles, but several teachers dancing on stage.

The writing class began early in the school year under advisers Jacki Routhenstein and Barbara Hollander. The students spend one lunch hour a week brainstorming and discussing how best to write about their ideas. They keep their thoughts — almost in a stream-of-consciousness manner — in old-fashioned marble composition books.

In one exercise, Hollander had the students write biographies of their workshop compatriots. “Some who didn’t really know each other that well came to see they had things in common,” she said. Dany Cohen, 10, originally thought the program was “a big waste of time because I couldn’t write well.” Now, however, the Israeli-born Springfield resident is as enthusiastic as the rest of the group members.

So far the class has “published” two editions of The Fifth Grader: A Literary Magazine! Although the issues have been given only to parents and a few school board members, Routhenstein did not rule out the possibility of distributing future copies to a larger audience.

She credited Josh Greenfield, a 10-year-old from West Orange, with the idea for interviewing Blue Fringe during the musicians’ visit to Kushner. The kids prepared dozens of questions before whittling them down to a manageable number, ranging from the usual — “Where was your first concert?” “Who thought of the name for your band?” — to the more thought-provoking.

After the performance, the kids honed their questions over lunch back in their classroom. They returned to the auditorium for a private audience with the band members, who sat on the stage as the youngsters asked their queries with a shyness reserved for the awe-inspiring.

“Why do you think we need more Jewish music in the world?” asked Gedalya Gerstle, a 10-year-old from Livingston. Max Kirshblum, 10, from West Orange, wanted to know if the band found performing a scary proposition.

With the last question answered, the writers reverted to being fans, clamoring for autographs. Zwillenberg, Blue Fringe’s percussionist, invited them to take a closer look at his drum kit.

“This was definitely one of the more interesting [interviews],” said Danzig, the bass player. “Generally there’s a disconnect between our fans and the people who interview us.” He was impressed with the research the Kushner students had done and how much they knew about the band.

Other members of the workshop include Edyt Dickstein, Sivan Fraiman, Deena Goldman, Elizabeth Kessel, Leeshy Lichtman, Avram Levitt, David Moradi, Abraham Paniri, Ben Rosenwein, and Hayden Sahl.

The result of their hard-hitting interview will be published in a future edition of NJ Jewish News’ Real Life section.

Ron Kaplan can be reached at RKaplan@njjewishnews.com.

Print this story