Wondering where the lions are? They're at the West Orange JCC
On June 10, visitors gathered at the Leon & Toby Cooperman JCC, Ross Family Campus, West Orange, for a formal dedication of the Lions of Jerusalem project and Yom Yerushalayim celebration. Photos by Johanna Ginsberg
Sidebar: Lion sponsors
After a triumphant "march" up Fifth Avenue with a MetroWest delegation in the Salute to Israel Parade, a pride of lions — 23 strong — has gathered at the Leon & Toby Cooperman JCC, Ross Family Campus, in West Orange.
The lions, sponsored and decorated by 30 area Jewish institutions in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, stand six feet tall and five feet wide.
Designed by local artist 
Rachel Klinghoffer and cast by project sponsor Robert ben Rimon, the lions were formally welcomed to the JCC in a ceremony June 10.
On hand for the gathering were representatives of the project's sponsors, the Legow Family Israel Program Center, JCC MetroWest, and the Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life, all affiliated with United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.
About 40 people attended the event, at which children participated in a scavenger hunt, and all had the opportunity to sing "Jerusalem of Gold" accompanied by Esti Monka, Naomi Zahavi, and Lonnie Monka.
Yoel Nesson, a resident of Jerusalem and brother of local Rabbi David Nesson of Morristown Jewish Center Beit Yisrael, spoke about Jerusalem's history and its current state.
Twenty-three lions from community organizations were on display.
The lion pride was originally inspired by the "cow parade," a civic art project conceived in Zurich in 1998 and which later spread to Chicago and other cities. Jerusalem sponsored its own lions project in 2002.
Institutions paid $1,800 each for the privilege of decorating and keeping a lion. After their display at the JCC, some lions will end up back with their sponsoring organizations, while others will be lent temporarily to public institutions and municipalities for indoor exhibition, said Orli Dudaie, executive shliha, or emissary, at the IPC.
"Organizations now feel a sense of ownership and protectiveness around their lions," she said.
Klinghoffer said she was thrilled with the varying interpretations the lions received: musical lions, lions adorned with words of peace in different languages, lions covered with first fruits or the symbols of the sponsoring congregations, others studded with gems and flags.
"I love how the lions are all unique and look very different from each other. That's what I wanted," she said.
Donna Gross, the artist behind the lion of Morristown Jewish Center Beit Yisrael, was also taken with the variety. "There's decoupage and beading. They're all so creative and colorful. I love all the color."
At some sponsoring institutions, like Congregation Beth El in South Orange, decorating fell to a group of teens.
At Etz Chaim in Livingston, the project was undertaken by the entire congregation, which participated over a number of days,
including Yom Yerushalayim, May 16, when the lion decorating coincided with a synagogue-wide barbecue.
"A lot of people showed up; kids as little as two helped put beads on our lion," said Dr. Barbara Minkowitz, who came to Sunday's event with two of her children and their friend.
Asked what he learned from the project, her son Joseph Israeli, 10, said, 
"I learned to value teamwork." He was excited to show off the section of the lion he beaded.
"This is the best project we have done, other than the Israel Emergency Fund," said IPC chair David Dranikoff. "It's the first that has incorporated the entire area of MetroWest, from congregations to day schools to agencies. This is a true partnership."
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