by Debra Rubin
NJJN Bureau Chief/Middlesex

May 26, 2009

The two main slates in Edison’s heavily contested Democratic mayoral and council primary on June 2 are courting Orthodox voters, each claiming they have been more supportive to the community and have more to offer.

Among the issues that have taken center stage are a proposed bike path through an Orthodox neighborhood in south Edison, renovation of a local park, and which slate of candidates shows the most sensitivity on issues affecting the community.

Local Jewish leaders, meanwhile, are divided in their support for the two slates.

The current mayor, Jun Choi, is running for a second four-year term, again without the endorsement of the regular Democratic Party. Joining him on the ticket are Edward Fitzgerald and Meiling Kravarik, and Rachel Callen, who would become the first Orthodox Jew elected to the township council.

Running for mayor with the endorsement of the Edison and Middlesex County Democratic committees is councilwoman Antonia (Toni) Ricigliano, with running mates councilman Robert Diehl, former council president Charles Tomaro, and Thomas Lankey.

(A third candidate, William Araujo, also wants the job as mayor.)

Choi’s slate has been endorsed by the Kehilla of Raritan Valley, an organization that, it says, works through a “common voice” with state and local government leaders to address the needs of the local Orthodox community. It distributed a letter urging the Orthodox community to vote as a bloc for Choi’s team.

The letter was signed by the organization’s president, Moshe Feuer, and its chair, Dr. Israel Rivkin, a rabbi who serves as a gabbai, (one who assists in the running of a synagogue and services) at Congregation Ohr Torah in Edison and oversees the upkeep of the local eruv, the boundary of strings and existing demarcations that enables observant Jews to carry objects and push strollers and wheelchairs on Shabbats.

Among those supporting Ricigliano’s ticket is Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg, who is running for Democratic committeeman in District 27, which has the highest concentration of Orthodox Jews in the township. He and running mate Cheryl Carval are opposing incumbents Callen and Vincent Guarino.

Rosenberg, rabbi at Conservative Congregation Beth-El in Edison, has an Orthodox ordination. He has also been a member of Orthodox Ohr Torah for more than 20 years and taught at the Orthodox Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School in South River for 12 years.

Rosenberg has had a long-running dispute with Choi after the mayor did not reappoint him to his longtime post as police and fire chaplain and as chair of the township human rights commission, where he served for 10 years.

“My issue is personal in that up until Mayor Choi, I was a leader in the Jewish community who always had an excellent relationship with previous administrations, including that of Mayor [George] Spadoro,” who served from 1994 to 2005, said Rosenberg.

A ‘Shabbos goy’

The Kehilla’s letter in support of Choi urged members of the Jewish community to remember “the important trait of hakaras hatov (thankfulness and appreciation) for all the administration has accomplished on our behalf.”

Rivkin said Guarino, a committeeman for about 30 years, falls into this category, having sensitized administration and town officials to the special concerns and needs of the Orthodox community. Rivkin said the incumbent committeeman has often helped out observant community members as a “Shabbos goy,” a gentile neighbor who assists Jews on the Sabbath and holy days by performing tasks prohibited for Jews.

The Kehilla letter also asserts that the Choi administration has gone out of its way to assist the Orthodox community. Organizers say Choi successfully advocated for zoning allowing for enlargement of existing homes to accommodate the larger families of the Orthodox community, supported a recycling program at the town’s Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva, and performed many “individual acts of chesed,” or acts of kindness.

In an interview with NJ Jewish News, Choi pointed to the replacement of aging equipment at Earl Schenck Miers Park at North Eighth Avenue and Celler Road, known as “Shabbos Park” in the heavily Orthodox neighborhood. He said his administration also provided extra police protection at synagogues on holidays, assistance for the eruv, and supervision for burning of leavened food on garbage trucks before Passover.

“I believe my administration has been more sensitive to the Orthodox community,” said Choi.

However, Diehl countered that assertion, noting, “I am on the council, and long before Jun Choi was mayor, these services were there for the Jewish community. They were given without hesitation and they will continue whether or not he is mayor.”

A path for everyone?

The two sides also split on whether a proposed two-mile bike and pedestrian path, for which Edison received a $72,000 county grant, will benefit the Orthodox community. The path runs from North Eighth Avenue near “Shabbos Park” and the tennis courts and ends at the municipal complex. Rosenberg said the path would disrupt the Sabbath for residents by bringing in people who would “play loud music, drink beer, and party” at the park and tennis courts.

However, Callen said, she has heard few such concerns and said those attending a May 7 municipal meeting from the neighborhood were “very enthusiastic.”

The proposed path “will connect one side of our township to another,” she said. “As a mother, I’d rather have this path for my children and everyone to use the park rather than have them sit in front of a TV or using the X-Box. The park is for everyone to use and I think people coming in on bikes is better than cars. It’s less dangerous for children and those walking.”

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