Newsletter, Fall 2018

Update from The Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey • September 2018 • Volume 8

Strengthening the Jewish community locally and around the world

Celebrating Israel’s 70th all year The Jewish community’s “Israel@70” celebrations, happening throughout the heart of NJ, have something for everyone.

After all, this is a moment 70 years in the making. So we’re pulling out all the stops.

Among the dozens of Israel-themed activities and programs offered, supported, and promoted by the Federation for every age, stage, and interest occurring this fall are:

• PJ Library activities for tots and moms,

• an Israel Summit being planned by and for teens,

• JerusalemU films for high school and college students,

• Shalom Hartmann Institute adult education.

Plus, the Federation’s Four Corners of Israel Mission will be taking some 250 first-timers and re-visitors to see and experience the country.

Also happening: We’re welcoming Israeli youth ambassadors, Maya and Dana, for the year. They’ll be traveling around, meeting with peers, and conducting programs about Israel’s culture and people.

Every opportunity offers a path to connect: to Israel, to the community, to the Federation, as well as to new ideas, new concepts, and new friends.

The Federation is all about connecting, whether it’s to one another, to

the vulnerable who live among us, and to the synagogues and organizations that enhance our lives.

It is at the ready when crisis hits, sharing hard-won expertise and connections to public safety and government leadership.

This newsletter highlights individuals who are making a difference and programs that matter. Some are local, others are in more exotic locations.

What connects it all? You! It’s your interest, your engagement, your response, your donations that enable the Federation to accomplish so much for so many. Thank you for all that you do.

Local Holocaust survivor population on the rise and in need of help Helen* is one of the scores of Russian Holocaust survivors moving to the heart of NJ to be closer to their adult children. The influx is so pronounced that the area’s survivor population is growing. So the Federation is raising funds to help its partner agencies provide desperately needed services to those who’ve been through so much.

countless cousins, and any sense of home.

Helen was only six in 1941 when the Nazis invaded Russia. Originally from Kiev, she managed to survive three of the Nazi’s worst camps. Along the way, she lost both parents, her eight siblings,

Now Helen, widowed, wanders once again, most often at night.

Dementia has taken any sense of security. And her daughter, Ruth*, is at her wits end.

After the war and more years of wandering, she met and married Avrum, another Russian survivor who had escaped just as the Nazis invaded. Neither had any other family. For years, they wandered together, landing eventually in the US and began a family.

According to Fay Ross,

Elderly Holocaust survivors need help from all of us.

The FBI connection

Coordinator of Holocaust Survivor Services for Jewish Family Service (JFS) of Middlesex, home is the best place for Jewish Family Service (JFS) of Middlesex, home is the best place for people like Helen, “because home care is far less expensive than institutionalized care.”

Fay’s case load for Russian Holocaust survivors has increased some 20% so far this year, but her available dollars have not.

Jewish Family & Children’s Service (JFCS) of Monmouth County reports a similar influx and shortage of funds. According to Amy Dorfman, LCSW, Director of Programs and Services, “The influx has been dramatic. We now have a wait list for people needing services, and most of them are Russian.”

She went on, “After the war all the displaced Jews were forced by the Soviets to move back to their cities of origin. After surviving the Soviet system, they arrived here with serious medical and dental issues not adequately treated in the USSR. Now they’re turning to us.”

To help, go to jewishheartnj. org/give/holocaust * Helen and Ruth’s names have

Amy Keller is a fierce protector of the common good.

Amy guides the Federation’s extensive program aimed at tightening security at every Jewish community facility. Her work with Federation partner organizations has helped result in more than $3 million in national and state grants for security awarded locally in each of the past two years. She guides the Federation’s Security Task Force, which assesses security needs of local organizations and educates volunteer and professional leadership.

Most recently, she graduated from the FBI Citizen’s Academy, and is now a member of its esteemed National Alumni Association.

Amy Keller with FBI Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie

Her membership in the Alumni Association means she, and by extension been changed. the Federation and its partner organizations, are part of a network supporting, and supported by, local, state and now federal law enforcement. To learn more go to jewishheartnj.org/crisis.

Shin-Shin-What?

The Shinshinim* are here! Maya Shany and Dana Zachar are Israeli high school graduates who deferred going into the Israel Defense Forces and, as part of a very selective program, are spending their gap year in the heart of NJ. When they are not visiting day schools, Hebrew schools, and youth groups, speaking at synagogues and interacting with teens throughout the area,

Lindsey Lipson, one of four daughters, said, “I’ve met shinshinim at Camp Tel Yehudah. They’re always the coolest counselors, so I’m really happy Maya’s staying with us. She’s terrific and I know this year is going to be great.”

Her parents are excited for other reasons. Robin explained, “Robert and I have wonderful friends in Israel. Each time our daughters

have been there our friends have kept an eye on them.

Now we have the opportunity to take care of an Israeli young woman. Now we’re sort of reciprocating, keeping an eye on an Israeli child.”

Say hello to our shinshinim, Maya Shany, left, and Dana Zachar, right.

“This program is to help kids here learn about Israeli kids and vice versa.” they will be living with local host families. These special ambassadors are part of the community’s celebration of Israel @ 70.

Maya, who hails from the Modiin area, will be staying with the Lipson family in East Brunswick. Dana, born in Be’er Sheva, will be in Rumson with the Dyms.

According to Leigh Dym, the program, put together by the Federation in partnership with the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), “is beautifully organized.”

Her daughter Amanda, a junior at Rumson Fair Haven High School, Skyped with Dana before she arrived. She said, “I’m really looking forward to learning more about her, and how people my age deal with issues such as going into the IDF.” According to Dan Rozett, the Federation’s Director of Community and Israel Engagement, “That’s exactly what this program is for: to help kids here learn about Israeli kids and vice versa.”

He’s been working with leadership at four local synagogues that are sponsoring partners: Rumson’s Congregation Bnai Israel, where the Dym family are members, North Brunswick’s Congregation B’nai Tikvah, Metuchen’s Congregation Neve Shalom, and Marlboro Jewish Center.

Giving back is a common theme for both the Dym and Lipson families.

Leigh is on the board of the Federation’s partner agency Chhange, the Center for Holocaust, Human Rights, and Genocide Education, based at Brookdale Community College. She’s also started STEAMpark, a new nonprofit that provides education, emotional and wellness support for children at after-school activities focusing on science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math in Monmouth County’s economically disadvantaged areas.

Lindsey Lipson is on the planning committee for the Federation’s Teen Israel Summit, Nov. 18. The family is very involved in their synagogue, East Brunswick Jewish Center and with the Federation.

For more information about the Shinshinim, and schedules, and how you can meet them, go to jewishheartnj.org/shin. * Shinshinim: Hebrew for the program bringing young Israeli ambassadors to the US. Maya and Dana are shinshiniot (female, plural formulation) but they are referred to by the name of the program.

Kayla sees the difference your donations make in Israel Kayla Rosen works at Crossroads, one of the Israeli organizations this Federation has supported for several years, in large part because it has such a positive impact on youth at risk in Jerusalem and Modiin.

She says East Brunswick’s vibrant Jewish environment — attending Solomon Schechter Day School, volunteering on Super Sundays, and spending summers at Jewish camps, as well as a home filled with Judaica and a love for Israel — nurtured her love of Judaism and Israel.

After moving to Israel, she earned a degree in social work from Bar Ilan University and began her career at Crossroads.

Kayla is part of a team providing essential prevention and intervention programs for pre-risk and at-risk English-speaking teens and young adults struggling with social, emotional and/or educational difficulties. Kayla and her Crossroads colleagues help them rebuild and reclaim their lives.

“We are a safe outlet, trustworthy faces, available for crisis or emergency intervention on the streets.”

Kayla and her Crossroads colleagues regularly spend evenings interacting with teens where they are comfortable, whether on the streets of Jerusalem, in a community center, or in group support sessions.

She said, “The services we offer, both formally and informally, enable English-speaking teens in distress to acclimate into Israeli society. We are a safe outlet, trustworthy faces, available for crisis or emergency intervention on the streets.”

Kayla added, “The amount of growth we see inspires us. And the Federation generously enables this to happen. It warms my heart that the community that instilled within me a love of chesed (lovingkindness) supports an organization I am so deeply passionate about.”

The Jewish Federation, as part of its commitment to meet the needs of the most vulnerable Jews around the world, supports its overseas partners at the

Kayla Rosen, who grew up in East Brunswick, works with at-risk youth in Israel.

Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). We also provide targeted grants for programs like Crossroads to meet needs within a specific set of criteria:

• Youth at risk • Seniors, especially Holocaust survivors, with unmet •

basic needs People needing vocational training to enter or re-enter the job market.

According to Dan Rozett, Federation’s Director of Community and Israel Engagement, “The committee chose to focus on these three cohorts because they reflect the Federation’s core values: caring for the vulnerable, responding to crisis, connecting people to the community, and broadening commitment to each other.

For more information about overseas allocations, contact danr@jewishheartnj.org.

These teens will change the world Calling all area teens! The Federation is spearheading two terrific programs specifically designed for teens who want to make the world better.

All sixth through twelfth graders are welcome, especially those who want to have fun while figuring out how to make a difference for a cause they care about.

According to Inbar Singal, Federation’s Community Engagement Manager, “It’s an expansion of the J Team Teen Philanthropy program.

Instead of having only one group, there will be several, it will be multi-year, and include a post-bar and bat mitzvah program, so they can see how their individual projects make a difference.”

One teen who participated in last year’s program, Aiden Wechsler of North Brunswick, reports, “I learned a ton, especially how to look at charities and understand if

they are using my dollars for the things I’m interested in.”

Aiden is also looking forward to the Israel Teen Summit, set for Nov. 18, that is being planned and organized by teen volunteers, many of whom also received grants from the Federation to participate in programs in Israel. Others represent area youth groups, including BBYO, NFTY, and USY.

Area teen leaders met in Israel this summer.

From left: Jared Blatteis, Lindsey Lipson, Shelly Nezaria, and Sari Reiter.

The Teen Summit will include workshops on advocacy, Jewish cooking, Israeli dance and music, and much more, all ending with a huge after-party.

The keynoter will be Chloe Valdary, the charismatic, 20-something who has been speaking on behalf of Israel since her college days and is currently Director of Partnerships and Outreach for Jerusalem U.

Hate speech at the Shore The ADL again reports a jump in anti-Semitism, up 32% in 2017 in New Jersey, which ranks third in the country for anti-Semitic incidents.

The numbers are backed up by signs that are literally everywhere.

• Shore towns flooded with cartoon drawings of Hitler blaring absurd “facts” about Jews, • Other cartoons warning Jews to return to Israel, • Local teens on a school outing draw “I H8 Jews” in the sand.

Fortunately, this Federation has an arsenal of quick, effective responses.

At one school dealing with anti-Semitism, the principal followed the Federation’s suggestion, enrolling the teens and their classmates to join some 2,000 others at the annual Colloquium organized by Chhange, the Center for Holocaust, Human Rights, and Genocide Education in Lincroft. This year’s topic was Standing Up to Hate.

According to Inbar, the goals of both programs are to encourage teen leadership, help them become active participants in philanthropy, involve them in community service, and increase their connection to Israel.

For more information go to jewishheartnj.org/teens

Then they visited Chhange’s groundbreaking exhibit, “Journeys Beyond Genocide: The Human Experience.” It focuses on what hate can do, and how individuals can make a difference.

Thanks to Federation outreach, faith leaders in the area have been speaking out against anti-Semitic and other hate speech.

Further, the Federation’s Security Task Force, guided by Director of Security Initiatives Amy Keller, continues to help Federation partners address potential challenges. With Federation’s guidance, many have been awarded millions in state and national security grants.

This summer, the Federation launched a dedicated fundraising campaign to intensify efforts fighting anti-Semitism. To make a targeted donation to counter hate, go to: jewishheartnj.org/protect.

Federation Leadership Jeffrey Schwartz PRESIDENT Amy Mallet 1ST VICE PRESIDENT

230 Old Bridge Turnpike South River, NJ 08882

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID New Brunswick, NJ Permit No. 885

Michelle Fields 2ND VICE PRESIDENT Murray Katz TREASURER Cheryl Markbreiter SECRETARY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Joel Krinsky Naomi Lasky Lauren Reich Adrienne Ross Keith Krivitzky CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Susan Antman EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

For Adults Only The Shalom Hartman Institute – N.A. is bringing its forums for adult dialogue on Jewish thought and education to some 15 locations throughout the heart of NJ. They offer opportunities for open, respectful exchanges of information and ideas, reflecting the Federation’s commitment to connect people to Israel.

For a list of the programs, locations, and dates, go to www.jewishheartnj.org/ hartman.

You make the difference You are the one who cares, who connects, who responds, who is committed to the community — to people you know and those you don’t. You join hundreds of others who make a difference in thousands of lives every day by:

Donating

Your donation to the Federation makes a difference in people’s lives. There are many ways to give. Connect to those who need you.

Go to jewishheartnj.org/give or call 732.588.1800.

Volunteering You are needed! Many of the Federation’s partners need volunteers so they can help more people. Connect to them, and show you care.

Go to jewishheartnj.org/ volunteer.