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HERALD All the news of the Five Towns
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Rescuing cats in Woodmere
Memorializing Pete Sobol
Anti-Semitism envoy named
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Vol. 98 No. 32
AUGUST 5 - 11, 2021
Local schools’ reopening plans still undefined Rosa wrote. “So long as allowed by public health officials, schools should be open for in-person With schools expected to teaching and learning, and stureopen in roughly five weeks, dents should be in school.” preparations for a new educaAfter receiving Rosa’s letter, tional year are in flux, as the two Lawrence Superintendent Dr. public school disAnn Pedersen sent tricts and yeshivas an email to district in the Five Towns staff last Friday, await State Educanoting that the Edution Department cation Department guidelines amid an had yet to finalize apparently reits guidelines and strengthening corohighlighting the navirus pandemic. Covid safety protoLast year, with cols it asked the no vaccine to blunt state Department the virus’s impact, of Health to impleschools were rement, such as the quired to create use of masks reopening plans indoors in lieu of that had be apscreening and testproved by the Eduing; adherence to cation Department. RAcHEl KREISS existing mass-tranIn a July 29 letter to President, Lawrence sit masking rules schools across the Teachers Association for school-supplied state, Education transportation, Commissioner with no physical Betty Rosa laid out the depart- distancing; and physical distancment’s current plans. ing of three feet indoors, where “The governor’s staff has possible. informed the department that “There appears to be languidance from [the state] Depart- guage that will allow remote ment of Health is in develop- instruction for students who ment and the latest guidelines excelled in that instructional from the Centers of Disease Control will serve as its basis,” Continued on page 12
By JEFFREY BESSEN jbessen@liherald.com
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Courtesy Five Towns Kiwanis
How do I play this? The Kiwanis Club of the Five Towns held its 48th annual golf outing fundraiser honoring member Bernie Schwartz, which raised more than $40,000, at the Rockaway Hunting Club in Lawrence on July 12. On the 17th hole, one of the 108 golfers, Bruce Garfinkel, right, asked his caddie, Melvin, advice before taking aim at the green.
New rabbi aims to foster unity Temple Israel welcomes new spiritual leader By JEFFREY BESSEN jbessen@liherald.com
Newspaper publisher Horace Greeley’s advice to young men in the 19th century was to go west. Rabbi Erik Uriarte, or Rabbi Erik, as he likes to be called, has come east from his origins in California, his military service in Okinawa, Japan, and Korea, and from his most recent religious posting in Billings, Mont.,
to be the interim rabbi for Temple Israel of Lawrence. Uriarte, 42, was ordained as a Reform rabbi in May after completing his studies at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. He came east with his wife, Jenna, more than 2,000 miles from Congregation Beth Aaron in Billings, where he was a student rabbi and the synagogue’s director of religious programming.
Coming to Temple Israel was serendipitous, because Uriarte initially didn’t have the temple on his short list, and it filed its application with the Central Council of American Rabbis later than usual. “It was this very good combination of here is a synagogue that I think I would mesh very well with, that I could get some Continued on page 4
ducationally, socially, school is a community, and students need to be back in that environment to succeed.