New Jersey Jewish News
MetroWest New Jersey Feature Story
Breakfast and a movie screening honor veteran campaign givers
Veteran supporters of the UJA Campaign at United Jewish
Communities of MetroWest New Jersey were saluted with breakfast and a movie March 10 at the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in Livingston.
More than 125 of the 1,200 Ner Tamid Achievers — donors who have been giving to the campaign for 25 years or more — ate fruit salad, pastries, and smoked fish before attending a screening of Everything Is Illuminated, the 2005 film adapted from the Jonathan Safran Foer novel.
Before the screening and a panel featuring two of its actors, Laryssa Lauret and Boris Leskin, guests in the school’s spacious auditorium received the generous thanks of UJC MetroWest officials.
“‘Ner tamid’ means ‘eternal light,’ and these people are the eternal light of our community,” said Marsha Atkind, manager of philanthropic initiatives at UJC MetroWest. “They give consistently — some in smaller amounts and some in very large amounts. But today they are all being equally honored.”
Bob Max of Summit, president of the Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest, described the event as a tribute to “longevity. It means these people feel a great sense of responsibility to the Jewish community, and I feel very privileged to be a part of it,” he told NJ Jewish News.
Arthur Brody of Short Hills, who told NJJN he became active in the Jewish community in 1948, called the event “a salute to our bedrock. These are the people who make our community hum. That is the way we have been able to deliver our goods and services. I have a philosophy that the more I give, the more I get.”
Addressing the audience a few moments later, Brody urged them to establish charitable trusts or otherwise make provisions for perpetual gifts to MetroWest.
“We know that the future is so, so important,” he said. “Nobody asks you to do more than you are financially capable of doing, but at least, do what you can.”
Max Kleinman, UJC MetroWest executive vice president, praised the audience members for “supporting our Jewish community and the work we do throughout the world. Through your efforts, the eternal flame will burn forever.”
Kleinman singled out a father and son, Jed and Ken Feibish of Watchung, to receive a special award on behalf of their late cousins, Alan and Bea Turtletaub. The Turtletaubs endowed their large gifts to the campaign, entitling them to membership in the Lester Society as Benefactors of Our Future and she as a Lion of Judah endower.
Marc Turtletaub, their son, who now lives in Hawaii and was unable to attend, was one of the producers of Everything is Illuminated, the story of an American Jew who travels to Ukraine in search of the woman who saved his grandfather from execution by the Nazis.
“The Turtletaubs ensured that their six-figure annual gift was perpetuated,” said Kleinman. “That means that Alan and Bea Turtletaub will always be there as major supporters of our campaign.”
Accepting an engraved plaque, Jed Feibush told the audience that “Bea and Al were generally private people, but in their quiet and generous way, they helped many people throughout their lives.”
Feibush said he expected that his cousin Marc will someday win an Academy Award and will include his parents in an acceptance speech.
But in a post-film panel discussion moderated by Myrna Wertheimer, a Ner Tamid Achiever who resides in Livingston, both actors expressed regret that neither they nor their film were nominated.
“It was a work of passion,” said the Polish-born Lauret, who plays an elderly survivor and the savior of the main character’s grandfather. “That is why I am so upset that we were not considered to be a contender for the Oscars.”
Comment | |
All rights reserved