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Historic words, historic actions

It is Passover, time to remember the Exodus and the words that set it in motion: Let my people go.

Those historic words speak defiance against slavery.

Let my people go.

Where?

Anywhere.

Why?

Because when you are enslaved, the only destination that matters is out.

But if we read the words with a different emphasis, we discover something else.

Let my people go.

The people whose liberation Moses demands are his.

Never mind that Pharaoh refused. Never mind that it took 10 plagues for him to relent, and then only long enough for the Jews to get to the sea, and cross it by a miracle.

Think about what Moses had to do before all that.

He had to identify himself as a Jew. Had he not done so, there would have been no Exodus.

UJC is where we can acknowledge and proclaim our personal identities as Jews, which we must do before we can aid our own people who are in need or in trouble.

We cannot hide, even if it is comfortable to do so, as it certainly was for Moses while he lived as Pharaoh’s son.

We cannot hide without eventually bringing misery upon ourselves or others. Even if hiding was our only salvation in another time or place, we must not hide when it is safe for us to live openly. This is the grandfather’s unforgettable discovery in everything is illuminated, a movie you should see.

Not until we accept and assert our identity as Jews can we, like Moses, help our own people. Not until we face the truth of our ancestry can we, like the grandfather in that movie, find personal peace.

Hag Sameach.

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UJC MetroWest launches Operation Promise  

Operation Promise, a $160 supplemental initiative of the North American Jewish federations to support Russian and Ethiopian Jews, had its official UJC MetroWest launch on March 7 at the UJC Board of Trustees meeting.

Funds raised in this effort will provide additional aid to three needy populations: Jews in the former Soviet Union, Jews awaiting emigration from Ethiopia to Israel, and Ethiopian Jews already in Israel.

Recent allocations have not been enough for the rescue and resettlement of the Ethiopian community. That is why each federation community is being asked to raise an additional 20 percent of its annual campaigns over the next three years. Our fair share in the MetroWest community translates to $4.8 million.

The Ethiopian situation is dire. There are 17,000 Jews still in Ethiopia, living in deplorable conditions in Addis Ababa and Gondar.

Another 8,000 are in Israel in absorption centers, where they can stay from several months up to two years. The cost to maintain one person in one center for one year is $4,370.

More than 100,000 Ethiopian Jews are already settled in Israel, but their lives are difficult. They are not assimilated into mainstream society. And they are poor.

• More than 70 percent live in poverty.
• Most of the adults do not know Hebrew.
• More than half of the men are unemployed.
• One in every four teenagers drops out of high school.
• Very few of the teenagers who do finish high school manage to qualify for admission to university.

Operation Promise will continue to rescue Ethiopian Jews and bring them to Israel. The goal is to double the current aliyah rate to 600 a month. Fixed expenses for Jews waiting to leave Ethiopia include housing, rent, food, security, health care, Hebrew language instruction, and airfare for each émigré.

Doubling the rate of aliyah would double the demands on the absorption process. Centers will be expanded as needed to complete the entire emigration by the end of 2007.

For Ethiopians struggling to adjust and succeed in Israel, Operation Promise will offer preparatory programs to two-thirds of all pre-schoolers; remedial help to five out of the seven high-schoolers who need it; and university scholarships to 2,300 young adults.

Rescuing Ethiopian Jews from Ethiopia is only the beginning. The key to their future in Israel is education. Ethiopians must be empowered to make their own way. Only an educated population, one generation after another, can do this.

That’s why Operation Promise is crucial, and support for it is urgent. Click here to help support Operation Promise with an online donation.

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Donor Spotlight: Randee Rubenstein

The event that changed the course of Randee Rubenstein’s life was a speech, and she was the one who gave it.

This month’s donor spotlight shines on Rubenstein, a resident of West Orange, whose personal path to a high level of UJC involvement started somewhat inauspiciously.

Her parents, whom she describes as “very compassionate, giving people” were never “connected with UJA.”

But their generous inclinations and natural sympathy for the less fortunate might well have influenced their daughter’s choice of career.

Rubenstein is a social worker who, since 1993, has worked in the Senior Adult Department of “our own JCC MetroWest.

“Through my work in the JCC, I became familiar with the work of UJA and federation and became a donor.”

In 1983, her first child was born prematurely and with multiple physical and other challenges.

Through Yaldeinu, the Hebrew Sunday school for disabled children run through the Center for Special Education in the Jewish Education Association of MetroWest NJ, Rubenstein met other parents of children with developmental challenges. When she learned “that there was no summer program under Jewish auspices for our children to attend, my husband and I began advocating for the JCC to start one.”

Their advocacy succeeded. A couple of years later, with seed money from federation, “a unit at the JCC Camp at Deeny Riback began for developmentally disabled children. This program has evolved into Camp Friends, a program for special-needs children at the JCC camp.

“The summers my son spent at Flanders were the greatest summers! He absolutely loved camp!”

And that’s how Rubenstein came to be asked to speak at a Women's Department event “about my son's experience at camp and the difference federation had made in our lives.”

She was “only too happy” to do so.

“The experience of riding on that camp bus and attending camp with all the other kids in the neighborhood [including his own sisters] was a wonderful, profound, life-changing experience for Ari. He had so much fun and was so loved by all the campers. Everyone learned sign language so that they could communicate with Ari. He felt so much a part of our community.”

That was the speech that changed Rubenstein’s life.

“I was so impressed with the women I met that day. I knew this was an organization with which I wanted to become more involved and that when I was able, I wanted to be able to ‘give back.’

“I have now become very active in Women's Department and UJC, and my beginning feelings have only been more affirmed. I feel privileged to be part of this organization.

“I know that every donation I give goes so far to help people in the Jewish community all over this world.”

It’s a safe bet that the same speech that changed Rubenstein’s life when she gave it is still changing other lives today.

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Ner Tamid Event proves illuminating

It was Friday morning, March 10, and gorgeous out. Illuminated, even.

It was a school where the students did look impossibly young, but unlike typical teens, they were modestly attired, they spoke easily and without condescension to visitors in need of directions, and they had clean faces. They were illuminated.

The guests, most of a certain age, had been invited to attend an elaborate breakfast followed by a special showing of the film everything is illuminated. They, too, were illuminated, lit by achievement. The whole occasion, held at Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in Livingston, was a thank-you to them from UJC.

They are the Ner Tamid, which means “eternal flame,” a group established by UJC MetroWest to recognize donors who have given to the UJA for 25 consecutive years or more. In many cases, it is more. Among the thousand or so Ner Tamid achievers, there are some who have been donating regularly for half a century. There is no minimum gift, and gifts may be made to any federation.

The special presentation of the film was a gift from its producer, Marc Turtletaub, a MetroWest alumnus and longtime major contributor.

Turtletaub, who could not attend, was represented by his cousin, Jed Feibush, whose own story could be movie material. Feibush was orphaned at age nine. He and his brother were taken in by Turtletaub’s parents, “who didn’t need two more boys,” as Feibush bluntly put it, but who took in their nephews and raised them like sons.

This was an act of love and selflessness on the part of a couple renowned for their philanthropy to UJC. The late Alan and Bea Turtletaub were members of the Lester Society. Bea Turtletaub was a Lion of Judah. The couple left a legacy to UJC in the form of a six-figure annual gift, endowed in perpetuity.

The movie itself was an unusual and affecting mix of mystery, art, heart, hate, and peace so extreme as to be unpeaceful to behold. While movie reviews are not regular fare here at Speak E-Z, there are some things you should know about this one.

It first appears to be the story of a weird young American who goes to Russia to find the answer to a question of family history. By the time he finds it, however, it is overshadowed by the rest of what he finds, the rest of what the other characters find, and all of what the audience finds.

If you see this movie, you will also meet a Russian youth, likeable but not shallow, who speaks a uniquely hilarious English. You will meet an old woman who speaks one line so stunning as to have evoked audible gasps from the Ner Tamid audience.

And you will meet a grandfather, played with shattering genius by an actor called Boris Leskin. Present in almost every scene, he ultimately learns a truth of deep import to Jews: what enables you to survive in one circumstance can disable you from living in another.

Many in the Ner Tamid audience likely knew this already but perhaps more subconsciously than explicitly, as their mini-reviews suggest: “powerful, poignant and painful,” “most absorbing movie that I relate to,” “extraordinary,” “very moving," “a beautiful experience,” “magnificent.”

See the movie. Then consider striving toward Ner Tamid status yourself. There is a connection. It is illuminating.

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Travel abroad, bringing it home: UJC Mission reflections

[Editor’s Note: The following is the second article in an occasional series featuring the remembrances and reflections of some of the 18 participants in a leadership mission to Israel in September 2005. The purpose of the trip was to enable campaign leaders and emerging leaders to see for themselves the projects that UJC is funding, and then to translate those first-hand experiences into powerful presentations on behalf of the campaign.]

Project Atzmaut in Rishon LeZion is “a perfect example of how UJC is an idea organization — a think tank — and not just a fundraising organization,” says Montville’s Michael Lichtenstein.

The project uses a combination of Hebrew instruction, job training, parenting workshops, and educational enrichment for children to help Ethiopian immigrants with the transition to mainstream Israeli society.

Lichtenstein is quick to point out that the project is not limited to Rishon LeZion, the town where he observed it.

It’s a pilot program, he says, “being replicated in five different places.”

Lichtenstein found another example of ideas in action at an extended-day program at a school in the town of Ofakim. Sponsored by UJC MetroWest, this program is “a life-changing work that is raising the quality of education for children in an underprivileged community. Here, in one school system in one community, we [UJC contributors] are improving the immediate quality of life and the future quality of life.”

One of Lichtenstein’s most emotional memories is of a Kabbalat Shabbat that was also a reunion between a group of parents and children who had not seen one another for years.

Most of the parents were from the former Soviet Union. Their children were adults serving in the Israeli Defense Force. The parents had last seen their children as teenagers, departing for Israel alone.

“It was tremendously moving for me” Lichtenstein said, “because I have children myself, and I was away only six days, but I missed them so much.

“It’s hard to imagine sending a 15-year-old away on his own years ago and now he’s serving in harm’s way.”

UJC MetroWest helped to fund the reunion through The Jewish Agency, one of its overseas partners.

At Kibbutz Erez, near the Gaza border, Lichtenstein got to see some concrete results of UJC MetroWest sponsorship: a medical facility, an ambulance, and bomb shelters that have been refurbished for double duty as day-care shelters.

“Just a day after our visit,” he recalled, “two rockets landed in the fields of Kibbutz Erez. This would have been the first time the children were in the shelters because of an attack, and they wouldn’t have been frightened because they were used to playing there.”

The mission, Lichtenstein sums up, was a chance to “see first-hand what we do in Israel, to meet with the people who run the programs and with the recipients, and to see how effectively and appropriately our dollars are spent.

“I hadn’t been to Israel for 19 years. I was there during high school and college. The trip emphasized for me how important it is to bring high school and college students to Israel.

“I’m not going to wait 19 years before going there again.”

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Run for Rachel raises funds, awareness for domestic violence

Run for Rachel, the annual fund-raiser for the Rachel Coalition, will be held Sunday, April 30, at Memorial Oval in Livingston.

The Rachel Coalition, UJC MetroWest’s coordinated response to domestic violence, depends on this event to raise not only funds but also awareness of domestic violence as a real problem in the general population, cutting across class, race, wealth, zip code, religion, nationality, and age.

The funds go to support the dangerous, delicate, and urgent work of helping women who need to run away from home to escape from beatings, intimidation, orders, threats, insults, cruelty, intolerable circumstances, and grave peril. Paradoxically, these same women are often so trapped, frightened, isolated, and used to being these things that they cannot budge, much less run.

The 2006 Run for Rachel is a 5k USATF-certified race starting at 9:30 a.m. In addition, there are also a 3k walk, starting at 9:40, and a kids’ run, starting at 10:30. The kids’ run is for children ages 2-11; the distance is 25-200 yards.

Packet pick-up for all events is at 7:45.

The course is an “out and back” type; runners will follow a route and return to the starting point. The area is residential, with a mix of flat and rolling terrain. There will be mile clocks posted, and water stops along the way.

Registration is $7 for the kids’ run and $18-$25 for adults, depending on the date of registration and the style of shirt the participant chooses.

Only USATF-NJ members are eligible for prize money, which will be given to the first seven finishers. The top prize is $300.

Awards will be given to the top three racers overall, the male and female winners in each age group, and the male and female winners among Livingston residents.

The age groups are in five-year increments from 14-and-under to 75-and-over.

Ribbons will be awarded to all who finish the walk and all the children who take part in the kids’ run.

Prizes will also be given to the adult, child, and team that raise the most pledge money.

Entrants may register in advance or on the morning of the run. Visit www.rachelcoalition.org to download the entry form. Or call (973) 765-9050, ext. 400. Entries sent by mail should be addressed to Run for Rachel, Rachel Coalition, 256 Columbia Turnpike, Florham Park, NJ 07932. Checks should be made payable to the Rachel Coalition.

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UJC marks Israel’s independence with community celebration

UJC MetroWest will mark two major Israeli holidays next month, Memorial Day and Independence Day, with events at Alex Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus in Whippany.

Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day, celebrates the birthday of the State of Israel, which came into being May 14, 1948. Like other Jewish holidays, the exact date varies on the American calendar from year to year.

Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s equivalent of Memorial Day in the United States, originated as a salute to Israeli soldiers fallen in battle. It has since been expanded to memorialize civilian victims of terrorism as well as the nation’s war dead.

In Israel, Yom HaZikaron is observed with the sounding of a horn. The whole country stops for a moment, even drivers on the roadways, to honor those who have perished.

In the MetroWest community, the occasion is traditionally a mix of personal stories interwoven with music by the Kol Dodi Community Chorale. Someone shares a remembrance, often of someone who died in an attack. Then the music resumes, another speaker talks, and so on.

Following this is a sing-along. There is a large Israeli population in the MetroWest community, many of whom are nostalgically drawn to this part, where they can hear and sing familiar songs, which are all in Hebrew.

Yom HaZikaron will be commemorated on Monday, May 1, at 7 p.m.

The Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration will be the next day, Tuesday, May 2, beginning at 4 p.m. There will be food, fun, a giant birthday cake, and an Israeli marketplace featuring jewelry, pottery, and arts and crafts. At 7 p.m., the real entertainment will get under way.

There will be Israeli dancing by the internationally acclaimed duo of Tal Galor and her wheelchair-bound partner, Adam Greenfeld. Greenfeld was an able-bodied man who, after being wounded in conflict, was casting about for what to do when he and Galor became acquainted. They started to dance together, and the rest is dancing history.

There will be activities presented by members of a delegation from Operation Atzmaut in Israel, a program supported by UJC MetroWest. The delegation will be visiting to talk about their experiences of aliyah and getting settled in Israel.

There will also be an Israeli Army performance troupe of singers and a keyboardist, all active-duty service members who won places in the group as the result of competitive try-outs.

Both events, Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut, are open to the public.

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