The Y Expo and Fair will again feature the Hester Street Troupe, from left, Jay Sweifach, Alan Sweifach, and Jim Bazewicz.
Photo courtesy Hester Street Troupe
November 13, 2008
When Sael Abacassis talks about his family’s experiences in the rocket-bombarded Israeli town of Sderot, it is more wrenching than any media reports could be.
Abacassis, 22, is this year’s Israeli shaliah, or emissary, with the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey. He grew up in Sderot. Serving with the Israel Defense Forces in 2005, he took part in the agonizing process of forcing Jewish settlers to leave their homes in Gaza, just a mile from his home.
He plans to show documentaries about life in Sderot when he speaks at the annual Expo and Fair of the YM-YWHA of Union County on Sunday, Nov. 23. But Abacassis will also talk about his grandmother and how she twice survived rockets slamming into her home. And he will speak about his young cousin. The 17-year-old died shielding her little brother from a rocket strike from Gaza that caught them on their way home from a youth group activity.
Israeli emissary Sael Abacassis will describe the challenges of surviving in Sderot at the Union Y’s annual Expo and Fair on Nov. 23.
Photo by Elaine Durbach
His talk will be one of three that day. Marc Hilton of B’nai B’rith, who is cochairing the event with Y program director Jani Kovacs Jonas, said that this year the event will feature Jewish life in a variety of settings. In addition to Abacassis’s talk, Karen and Stu Cooper of West Orange will describe what they have witnessed during visits to the Jews of Cuba, and Jeff Misrahi, who comes from England, will talk about the history of the Jewish community there.
Hilton said, “The fair is about Jewish life. We’ve been celebrating Israel’s 60th anniversary all this year, but the country is doing very nicely, so we decided we’d also look at what is happening in other countries.”
Jonas, who is also a member of the fair planning committee, said, “There will vendors, but Jewish life is about more than shopping. We also want to feature other aspects of our culture.”
She said that members of the Union chapter of DARE — Drug Abuse Resistance Education — the program that teaches children the dangers of substance abuse, will be handing out free child identity kits to parents. There will also be the regular favorites — Gizmo the Clown will entertain, there will be an array of food, and the Hester Street Troupe and Kol Halayla, a Jewish a cappella group from Rutgers University, will perform.
--TOP--
Comment: comments@njjewishnews.com
