Corzine signs a proclamation designating May as New Jersey-Israel Sister State Month Israel as state and Jewish leaders look on, from left, Andrea Yonah, Leonard Posnock, and Marlene Herman of the New Jersey-Israel Commission; Sen. Loretta Weinberg; Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells; and Benjamin Krasna, deputy consul general of Israel in NY. Photo by Courtney Burke/Governor’s Office
Sidebar
Corzine to IsraelMay 15, 2008
Just outside the Senate Chamber at the State House in Trenton on May 12, the New Jersey-Israel Commission was unveiling a new exhibit celebrating the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel and the close ties between New Jersey and the Jewish state.
Meanwhile, inside the packed chamber, Gov. Jon Corzine was toasting Israel with an exuberant “Happy birthday!” and the signing of a declaration marking the 20th anniversary of the NJ-Israel sister-state relationship and designating May as New Jersey-Israel Sister State Month.
“We believe in the spirit and achievements of the modern State of Israel, and we are thrilled to be part of the celebration going on across the globe,” the governor told the staffers and lay leaders representing the state’s Jewish federations.
“This exhibit demonstrates the deep roots we have as a state and our commitment to the achievements and hope that Israel represents,” said Corzine. “There is not a place on the globe that is more committed to the vitality and spirit and reality of democracy. New Jersey and America are blessed because of our great relationship with Israel.”
Corzine noted the long tradition of support and exchange between New Jersey and Israel, beginning with Gov. Alfred Driscoll in 1947.
“When I sign this proclamation, it really speaks for the tradition all the way back to Gov. Driscoll,” he said. “It’s a commitment reflected in the spirit of the people of New Jersey and in their attachment to Israel.”
Joining him at the signing table were Andrea Yonah, executive director of the New Jersey-Israel Commission, who coordinated the exhibit; Marlene Herman of Highland Park and Leonard Posnock of Monroe Township, outgoing chairs of the commission; Sen. Loretta Weinberg of Teaneck (D-Dist. 37), a member of the commission; and Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells, who soon added her signature to the proclamation.
Wells, Yonah, and Benjamin Krasna, deputy consul general of Israel in New York, also addressed the gathering.
The exhibit accompanying the program will remain at the State House through May 15, and then will be available for loan to Jewish community centers, public libraries, schools, federation offices, and other venues, Yonah told NJJN.
“I’m really proud that we’ve done something physical that we can look at,” she said. “It truly represents the extraordinary support we’ve seen on behalf of the governors of New Jersey for Israel.”
Wells praised the collaboration between the New Jersey State Archives and the NJIC.
“It’s a wonderful time for the New Jersey-Israel Commission to be under the auspices of” [the Department of] State,” she told NJJN. “The timing couldn’t have been better.”
Weinberg noted a personal connection with the exhibit — her donation of a commemorative plate heralding the “Republic of Israel, May 14, 1948.”
“My mother bought that in 1948,” Weinberg told NJJN. “I’m very proud of that. And it’s with a great deal of pride that we celebrate not only the birth of Israel, but the relationship between the state of New Jersey and the State of Israel.
Sen. Loretta Weinberg was proud to see this commemorative plate included in the exhibit. Photos by Marilyn Silverstein
“As an elected official who also happens to be Jewish,” she said, “it makes me kvell to watch the rest of the state celebrating what those wonderful pioneers did for us 60 years ago.”
In addition to the NJ-Israel Commission, the NJ State Archives, and the NJ Jewish News, organizations contributing to the celebratory exhibit included the NJ Commerce Commission, the Office of Legislative Services, the State of Israel Bonds, the Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest, and The Star-Ledger. NJIC member Jerome Enis of Englishtown headed the seven-member exhibit committee.
For information about borrowing the exhibit, contact Yonah at 609-633-8600.
Corzine to Israel
The May 12 proclamation-signing program at the State House tangentially served as the setting for the revelation of two pieces of news.
Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells expressed appreciation for the work that went into the exhibit.
Gov. Jon Corzine announced that he has rescheduled his trip to Israel for sometime this summer. The trip, which was originally scheduled for last spring, was aborted when the governor suffered severe injuries in an automobile accident on the Garden State Parkway.
In related news, the exhibit accompanying the program made public for the first time the appointment of Daniel Kurtzer as the new chair of the 80-member NJ-Israel Commission. Kurtzer, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt and the S. Daniel Abraham Professor in Middle Eastern Policy Studies at Princeton University, will be formally installed in that role during a May 20 program at Drumthwacket, the governor’s mansion in Princeton.
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