by Elaine Durbach
NJJN Bureau Chief/Central

July 2, 2009

Gray hair and white beards notwithstanding, there were boyish grins on both sides of the microphone at the Jewish Educational Center’s annual gala dinner on June 23.

Leaders of the Elizabeth religious and educational institution honored its very first boys’ graduating class and the parents who took the chance of sending their sons to the then brand-new yeshiva high school in Elizabeth, now known as the Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy.

Two of the eight men who formed the class of 1959 have passed away — Norman Kalish and Jules Weiss — but four of the six survivors were present at the dinner at the Hilton in Staten Island.

Jay Goldfischer, Dr. Norman Novick, Dr. David Rabinowitz, and Bernard Schwartz smiled broadly as they received framed copies of their graduation photograph from Rabbi Elazar M. Teitz, son of their late dean, Rabbi Pinchas M. Teitz.

Elazar, himself newly ordained at the time, was the graduates’ senior class rebbe, and, according to his recollections, they did their best to give their young teacher a tough time. He would tell them he had not forgotten what it was like to be their age, he said, grinning back at his old students. But they were an exceptionally bright group, he added, and they “set a high bar for all future classes to emulate.”

As various speakers remarked, all these years later, the elder Teitz’s contribution is still cherished in the community. Talking after the ceremony, Elazar said, “As one of my sisters said at my father’s funeral, we could not hope to fill such large shoes, but we could follow in his footsteps.”

It was a time of retrospection for those first graduates. In answer to an e-mailed question, Novick wrote: “The school’s influence lives on in my children and grandchildren. My parents made a decision once, 50 years ago; my family will reap the rewards for untold generations.”

He said: “As pioneers in the nascent JEC high school, we were made to feel very special by way of the attention and nurturing that were bestowed upon us. Though we were in a high school of only eight students initially, we were afforded everything that a private school provided — from art lessons, enrichment programs, sports, to tutoring to prepare us for the College Boards.”

Regarding the gala, he said, “Noting the 50 years growth of the JEC — from we eight into an institution that includes so many campuses — this is an awesome experience. Hundreds of students are being educated where there was once only eight of us. Rabbi P.M. Teitz was indeed a visionary. The face of American Jewry has been transformed.”

There are 49 members in the Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy 2009 graduating class.

‘A high standard’

The guest of honor at the gala was Kirk C. Tice, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Rahway, with which the JEC has formed a partnership that aims to enhance its science and health programs. The connection also opens up the possibility of internships for its students.

Teitz praised Tice for the priority he has always placed on patients’ well-being. Sustaining that focus, Tice said, has become particularly challenging in the present economic climate. Contrary to the general belief, he said, “health care in not recession-proof.” With more and more people losing their jobs and with them their health insurance, it was becoming even more important for the hospital to grow its services and form new partnerships. “We need your support more than ever before,” he said.

Special tribute was paid to Joseph Resnick, who turned 100 in February. Resnick served as president of the JEC board in the mid-1940s, sent his own children there, and has seen his grandchildren and great-grandchildren attend the school. His great-grandson, Jess Goldblatt, 14, helped him up to podium, to be honored by Teitz for “all that he has accomplished in setting a high standard for integrity, decency, and, above all, an abiding concern for community and Yiddishkeit.”

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