New Jersey 5765 - the year in review

Compiled by Lori Nusbaum

The Jewish year 5765 included the shocking resignation of New Jersey’s governor, a hard-fought presidential election, natural disasters in southeast Asia and the Gulf States, and a wrenching but ultimately smooth withdrawal of Jewish settlements from Gaza. Locally, these events were the background of efforts that tapped into a deep well of volunteer spirit among the area’s Jews.

Some highlights of the year that was:

The Darfur crisis

Jewish organizations put the humanitarian crisis at the top of their agendas, demanding action on a program of genocide by the Sudanese government targeting non-Muslim farmers in the country’s Darfur region. United States Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) went on a fact-finding tour of Sudan and Israel and said the Bush administration is so focused on Iraq and Afghanistan it has neglected other foreign policy issues, including the genocide in Darfur. The Community Relations Committee of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey took the lead in fund raising and organizing local events, including Greater Newark Responds to the Crisis in Sudan, an interfaith coalition that included the American Jewish Committee. In July, New Jersey’s acting Gov. Richard Codey signed a bill requiring state pension funds to divest from companies doing business with Sudan unless its government acts to stop the genocide there.

Stem cell research

New Jersey became the second state in the nation to legalize embryonic stem cell research, a move hailed by Jewish leaders as a triumph of science and medicine over political opposition spearheaded by Christian conservatives. Acting Gov. Codey reiterated the state’s $10.5 million commitment to support research on stem cells derived from human embryos. Hadassah lobbied in Trenton for funding for stem cell research, and the MetroWest CRC held a major conference on stem cell research. Jewish groups urged passage of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which would make eligible human embryonic stem cells derived from in vitro fertilization for research supported by the federal government.

Politics

In the 2004 presidential election, NJ Jewish voters favored Democrat John Kerry, the Massachusetts senator, over President George W. Bush by a margin of 75 to 24 percent. Much of the debate in the organized Jewish community focused on the candidates’ positions on Israel. While both had strong records on the issue, the Republican Jewish Coalition placed newspaper ads saying Bush was the best friend Israel ever had. The National Jewish Democratic Coalition defended its candidate as a true friend of the Jewish state.

Rep. Bill Pascrell celebrated his election to a fifth term in the House of Representatives. Other NJ Democrats who won reelection to the House included Donald Payne, Robert Menendez, Rob Andrews, Frank Pallone, Steve Rothman, and Rush Holt. Republican incumbents who were reelected included Rodney Frelinghuysen, Christopher Smith, Frank LoBiondo, Mike Ferguson, Scott Garrett, and Jim Saxton.

The governor resigns

Gov. James E. McGreevey resigned his position on Nov. 15 and was replaced by Senate president Richard Codey (D-Dist. 27) in a scandal with some uncomfortable echoes for the Jewish community. McGreevey announced that he had had an extramarital affair with Golan Cipel, an Israeli who was McGreevey’s ill-fated appointee as state homeland security adviser. Cipel denied the affair and allegations that he demanded millions of dollars to quash a sexual harassment suit.

In a separate incident, McGreevey supporter Charles Kushner, a pillar of local Jewish philanthropy and former chair of the Kushner Companies real estate empire, was sentenced to 24 months in prison on charges related to a Federal Elections Commission probe of his political contributions and for retaliating against family members who had cooperated with the government in its probe.

Natural disasters

United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey raised close to $200,000 for victims of the devastating tsunami that struck east and southeast Asia in December. In August, local givers emptied their pockets again on behalf of victims of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated America’s Gulf Coast. UJC MetroWest raised $300,000 after the storm to date, while synagogues and groups throughout the area held drives to collect toiletries, clothes, and school supplies, and institutions extended offers of aid and housing to evacuees from the storm-shattered region.

Anti-Semitism

According to the annual “Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents” report released by the Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitic incidents in New Jersey increased 42 percent, from 209 incidents in 2003 to 297 in 2004. Only New York, with 350 incidents, had more than New Jersey.

Bergen Community College investigated reports that a Jewish man wrote an anti-Semitic e-mail bearing the return address of his wife, Nancy Haiduck, the school’s public relations director. Haiduck later resigned her position.

Officials at Montclair State University investigated an incident in which swastikas and other graffiti were painted on a dormitory. A nonresident freshman student was later arrested.

Nine New York Times employees, including a Jewish man, filed a lawsuit claiming they were subjected to racial and religious discrimination at the paper’s Edison printing plant.

Leadership

The past year saw many new leaders take the helm of local and national organizations. Kenneth R. Heyman of Short Hills succeeded Ellen Goldner as president of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey.

Neil Goldstein succeeded Paula Gottesman as president of the Jewish Community Foundation of MetroWest and Israeli-born Anat Becker became executive director.

Harold Colton-Max was appointed executive director of the Jewish Community Housing Corporation after the retirement of Fran Klein.

Saul Andron was named acting director of the Jewish Education Association of MetroWest.

Marc Perlman of Princeton Junction was named president of the NJ region of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the umbrella organization for 760 Conservative congregations across North America.

Seton Hall University professor Rabbi Eugene Korn was named national director for Jewish affairs at American Jewish Congress.

Etzion Neuer was hired as NJ region director for the Anti-Defamaation League.

Ze’ev Bielski, the mayor of MetroWest’s sister city of Ra’anana, became chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Reuben Rotman, who had served as acting executive director of Jewish Family Service of MetroWest since July 2004, became the agency’s executive director.

Short Hills clinical psychologist Linda Kohl was named president of the American Jewish Committee’s Metro New Jersey chapter.

June Walker of Rockaway was elected to her third term as national president of Hadassah.

Newark native Phil Yourish was appointed executive director of the New Jersey Jewish Museum.

Education

With the resignation of Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union West Orange lower school principal Fran Urman shortly before the start of the school year, Janice Naldi, principal of the SSDS lower school in Cranford, became principal of both schools. Gloria Kron, former assistant principal at the West Orange lower school, was appointed associate principal of both schools, and Moshe Rudin, director of Jewish studies for both schools, took on the additional role of assistant principal of both lower schools.

Later in the year, SSDS announced it would open a Somerset County campus in an unusual partnership between the Conservative movement and PARDeS, the Progressive Association of Reform Day Schools. The school is located at Temple Beth Shalom in Hillsborough and is headed by Naldi.

Rabbi Abraham Warhaftig served as the interim principal of the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston. Rabbi Moshe Brand, who was vice principal of the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy middle school for nine years, was appointed principal after Warhaftig’s death in June.

Area high schools responded with increased drug and alcohol awareness programming after the arrest of 42 students, mostly from Jewish day schools, on drug and alcohol charges at an unsupervised party in Livingston Nov. 21.

The Drisha Institute, the Manhattan-based center that pioneered advanced study of classical Jewish texts for Orthodox women, offered a course in the library of Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy.

Hineni at Sinai, a school for children with autistic disorders housed at Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy, held its first graduation celebration.

Philanthropy

United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey raised a record-setting $24 million-plus in the fiscal year ending June 30, even as it announced plans to carry out structural changes intended to reduce the draw on its “rainy day” stabilization fund.

More than 900 volunteers helped out at December’s Super Sunday, raising $2.52 million for United Jewish Appeal, the fund-raising arm of UJC MetroWest.

The Jewish Community Foundation increased their net asset base by $14 million.

The MetroWest community provided $50,000 for installation of high-tech X-ray equipment for a hospital in Beersheva’s Soroka Medical Center.

In addition to ongoing Israel partnership projects in Ra’anana, Rishon Letzion, and Ofakim/Merchavim, UJC MetroWest sponsored a dialogue between secular, left-wing kibbutzniks of the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council in southern Israel and religious, right-wing settlers of the Gush Etzion Regional Council just outside Jerusalem in the West Bank.

The federation initially allocated $15,000 to provide social services in Nitzan, Israel, for 500 residents who were evacuated from their homes in the Gaza Strip in August.

In an effort to deal with education and social gaps in Israel, UJC of MetroWest launched an extended day program providing a hot lunch and enrichment classes to elementary school students in Ofakim/Merchavim.

The North American Coalition for Israel Engagement began initiatives in seven area synagogues, day schools, congregational schools, and with public school teachers to enhance the engagement of Israel within the MetroWest community.

UJC MetroWest is replacing the Pathways program for intermarrieds with new approaches to outreach and engagement.

Parsippany LIVE, the community’s Naturally Occurring Retirement Community project in the Lake Hiawatha area, launched many of the services older adults in that community requested through surveys and community listening sessions.

Around the agencies

The Center for Culture and Wellness began offering activities ranging from Hebrew lessons to yoga classes for the developmentally disabled through a grant from the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey. The programs are run by the center’s sponsor, the Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled of MetroWest.

The Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest New Jersey received a $15,000 grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission. The society used the money to launch a traveling exhibit of photographs, documents, and memorabilia depicting the history of the Jews of Morris and Sussex counties.

The Holocaust Council of MetroWest presented “From Memory to History,” an exhibition that told the stories of Holocaust survivors and victims through words, pictures, artifacts, and living recollections. The exhibition, visited by more than 5,000 students and adults, was on display at the Alex Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus in Whippany.

The Grotta Fund for Senior Care of the Jewish Community Foundation of MetroWest provided Jewish Family Service, Jewish Vocational Service, and Overlook Hospital with $3,000 each to strengthen in-home services for needy senior citizens.

Bracha Weisbarth, director of library services at the Waldor Memorial Library, retired after 12 years of service to the library, located on the Aidekman campus.

The Millburn Group Home, which operated under the auspices of the Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled of MetroWest, Inc., celebrated its 15th anniversary.

The fifth annual Run for Rachel raised $70,000 to combat domestic violence.

After being open for more than 70 years, the Charles Bierman Home for Jewish Seniors in Montclair closed its doors in mid-June.

Farewells

The community had to say goodbye to several important figures during the past year.

Jerome Waldor, a leading benefactor of the MetroWest Jewish community who served on myriad boards and committees and was president of UJC MetroWest from 1990 to 1993, died Sept. 2. Waldor, an insurance executive who retired from the Air Force reserves in 1987 as a major general, was synonymous with the community’s UJA campaign.

William M. Lester died in March at his home in Florida. A pioneer in the plastics industry, he was a tireless supporter of UJC MetroWest and its beneficiary agencies and the founder of the William and Betty Lester Society, which comprises individuals who establish endowments benefiting the United Jewish Appeal of MetroWest.

Julius Koppelman, a philanthropist who supported Jewish causes in memory of Polish relatives who died in the Holocaust, passed away. He and his late wife, Dorothy, were major benefactors of the Julius & Dorothy Koppelman Holocaust/Genocide Resource Center at Rider University.

Synagogues

Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange offered a telephone broadcast of its High Holy Days services for the homebound.

Congregation Etz Chaim in Livingston moved into its new building in the Bel Air section of town in time for Rosh Hashana.

Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills displayed “Close Encounters with Jewish Genius: Photographic Portraits of Famous American Jews.” The exhibit was cosponsored by the Metro New Jersey chapter of American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest. This past year, the synagogue also dedicated its Barry H. Greene Early Childhood Center.

Congregation Agudath Israel of West Essex, Caldwell, became one of 13 synagogue preschools in the country to join Ma’alah, a Hebrew immersion program.

The Morris County Construction Board of Appeals ruled to block expansion of Temple B’nai Or in Morristown.

Bnai Keshet, Montclair, held its first commitment ceremony for a gay couple this past year.

Temple Beth Ahm, Springfield, dedicated a Holocaust Memorial Garden, funded by survivors Leon and Halina Kleiner.

Chabad Center of Northwest New Jersey in Rockaway opened a satellite location in Flanders.

Rabbi Amy Small of Congregation Beth Hatikvah in Chatham, accompanied on the guitar by congregant Sue Greenberg, put out a CD, Kabbalat-to-Learn Shabbat, focusing on Shabbat customs performed at home.

Rabbi E. Noach Shapiro of Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Montclair was one of four founders of Keshet Rabbis, a coalition of gay-friendly Conservative rabbis.

A new Chabad House opened in Madison.

The Essex County Ritualarium in West Orange began a $500,000 expansion and renovation of its mikva.

In addition, several local congregations celebrated milestones this past year.

Temple B’nai Or, Morristown, celebrated its 50th anniversary; Temple Shalom, Succasunna, celebrated 25 years with Rabbi Joel Soffin; Morristown Jewish Center Beit Yisrael was rededicated after 75 years; Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield celebrated its 25th anniversary; Congregation Shaya Ahavat Torah in Parsippany celebrated its 30th anniversary; and Temple Sholom of West Essex, Cedar Grove, celebrated its jubilee year — its 50th anniversary — and honored Rabbi Norman Patz in his 35th year as its religious leader.

New rabbis

The MetroWest community welcomed several new rabbis during the past year. Among them are Rabbi Helaine Ettinger, who returned to the Jewish Congregation of Kinnelon; Rabbi David Saltzman, Congregation Beth Torah in Florham Park; Rabbi E. Noach Shapiro, Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Montclair; Rabbi Jonathan Zimet, Ahavas Sholom in Newark; Rabbi Avi Friedman, Summit Jewish Community Center; Rabbi Geoffrey Spector, Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston; Rabbi Mark Biller, Adath Shalom in Morris Plains; and Rabbi Mary Zamore, part-time rabbi at Temple B’nai Or in Morristown.

When Congregation Beth El in South Orange hired Rabbi Francine Roston, it became the first Conservative synagogue with more than 500 families with a woman as its senior rabbi.

Miscellany

The film Sister Rose’s Passion was nominated for an Academy Award for best short documentary. The film documents the life and work of Sister Rose Thering, the Dominican nun who taught Jewish-Christian studies at Seton Hall and made it her life’s work to break down stereotypes and foster relations between Catholics and Jews.

Columbia High School in Maplewood became the center of a national debate after it limited its holiday music program to nonsectarian music.

New Jersey budgeted $400,000 for needy Holocaust survivors. Funds will be used to expand the use of home health aides, kosher meals-on-wheels programs, and other services provided by Jewish family service agencies throughout the state.

Former Basking Ridge resident Michael Chertoff was named head of the nation’s Department of Homeland Security.

Jews locally joined thousands around the world in celebrating the end of the seven-year cycle of Talmud study.

In June, New Jersey Jewish News launched a new biweekly edition for Monmouth County.

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