Monmouth youth float down Fifth Ave. in annual parade saluting Israel at 58

by Jill Huber
NJJN Bureau Chief/Monmouth

More than 450 students from Hillel Yeshiva in Ocean Township were among the thousands of marchers in the Salute to Israel Parade on Sunday, June 4. The parade celebrated the 58th anniversary of the State of Israel.

The annual event featured costumed marchers from public and private schools and groups from Jewish organizations and community centers.

Eight buses were needed to transport the yeshiva students to the Fifth Avenue parade route, which stretched from 53rd Street to 81st Street. Parade organizers said the annual event is largest single gathering in the world in support of Israel.

Rally organizers estimated that Sunday’s event attracted nearly 100,000 marchers, including New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who were on hand to greet the marchers. Thousands of participants lined the parade route, waving Israeli flags and placards and shouting greetings to familiar faces among the marchers.

A student color guard, carrying U.S. and Israeli flags, along with a new Hillel Yeshiva school flag, headed the yeshiva section of the march.

The Hillel Yeshiva students, who wore purple T-shirts bearing the slogan “Let Us Raise Up Jerusalem in All of Our Joyous Occasions,” carried 20-foot-long banners that reflected the theme of the parade; a Hebrew banner was illustrated with the same slogan as the shirts, while an English-language banner bore the phrase “Jerusalem — Then, Now, and Forever.”

The banners were created by Sandra Smith, a yeshiva faculty member and parade coordinator, with the assistance of art teacher Ellen Fellner and a committee of students from the high school; the shirts were designed by Daniel Rosenzweig, director of the yeshiva’s library media center.

For the first time, the yeshiva students entered a float in the parade; 30 feet long, it displayed the “Jerusalem — Then, Now, and Forever” slogan. Designed by high school senior Josh Schneider of Ocean Township, the float was donated by Raymond and Camille Saka of Oakhurst, members of the yeshiva’s board of directors.

Adding to the festivities was a dance troupe of girls in grades five-eight, who danced, sang, and shook tambourines along the parade route.

The yeshiva began planning for the event last December, and enthusiasm among the faculty and students was evident from the beginning, according to head of school Dr. Ruth Katz.

Katz and high school principal Rabbi Ralph Tawil met with members of the parade committee in January, and parade coordinator Hilary Yolin attended two parade rallies the yeshiva students staged on the school campus.

“The student rallies were among the most expressive and enthusiastic I ever saw,” Yolin said.

“We wanted to make sure the parade organizers knew how important being in the parade was to our school,” said Katz. “We wanted to share the idea that our participation was a symbol of what we could do to show our support and connection to the State of Israel.”

The entire school worked as a “united community” to prepare and execute all the parade plans, she added.

Fourth-grade students joined in the parade for the first time, Katz said.

“They were eager to participate,” she said. “If you include children in this age group in an event like this, it becomes a way of life for them and something they look forward to with great exuberance.”

In fact, one fourth-grader who was scheduled to visit relatives in Florida on the day of the parade convinced his parents to change their vacation plans.

“He told his parents he couldn’t go away — that he had to march in the parade and show the kids in Israel that he cared about them and supported them,” Katz said. “As a result, the family canceled their vacation plans and attended the parade with their son.”

The yeshiva has been part of the Salute to Israel Parade for 18 years, according to Clifford Wasser, director of development.

“For 18 years, it has been a way in which we show our solidarity with Israel,” he said. “Each year marks a continuation of that solidarity. The students, parents, and faculty are totally committed to this effort, and that sense of commitment grows stronger every year.”

More than 100 parents of yeshiva students watched from the sidelines as their children marched in the parade, Wasser said.

The parade is also a striking celebration of American ideals, Tawil added.

“We can openly express our love of the State of Israel in this very public way,” he said. “That is a great comment on the freedom we so cherish in this country. We’re free to express our ethnic foundations on Fifth Avenue in New York, one of the most famous and recognizable places in the world. That is a stunning commentary on America.”