To say that Debbie Marcus is a Superfan of The Jewish Link is actually quite an understatement.

She grew up in southern California and came east to attend Yale University, where she met her husband, Alex. She’s worked in university deans’ and admissions offices and obtained a PhD in higher education administration from the University of Pennsylvania. Alex is a physician, and both of them are proud to have grown in their observance of Torah and mitzvot. They currently attend services at Chabad of Basking Ridge, the only place near them having in-person services (following all COVID protocols). “It is a solid three-mile walk,” Debbie said, “but we’ve gotten used to it.”

Debbie stopped working shortly after the second of their three children was born. One of her passions is to better familiarize her town with Jewish needs. Recently she got the local public schools to change the fall 2021 start date so it would not conflict with Rosh Hashanah, and to offer the PSAT on a weekday. She has worked on communications for successful local township political campaigns and part-time as a Jewish family connector for the Federation. Alex is the president of Jewish Family Services of Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties.

Debbie and Alex have three children: son Zach, 19, doing shana bet at Mevaseret and currently planning to start at Yeshiva University post-Pesach; 11th-grade daughter, Eliana, who attends their local public school, is heavily involved in CTeen, NCSY and USY and spent a high school semester in Israel; and son Judah, a freshman at RKYHS.

Did we mention that Debbie is a super Superfan?

After she and Alex switched their sons from public school to JKHA/RKYHS, one Friday the boys came home carrying a thick newspaper they had never seen before. She and Alex read it cover and cover. She speculates that they quickly developed an affinity for the paper because “we don’t otherwise easily hear what is going on. Our local Jewish community is very small; we are fascinated to learn so much more about nearby communities.”

They live just outside the geographical area of most Jewish Link readers and past the delivery zones, south of Morristown, and north of Bridgewater. Since there are no nearby sources for the newspaper, they have gone to great lengths to ensure they do not miss a single issue.

“We get petrified of schools going virtual, not because of COVID or learning inconvenience, but because we lose our easiest source for the paper to be brought home,” she said. “My son Zach may or may not claim that we pushed him to work on his school newspaper solely so he could qualify for a summer internship at The Jewish Link and have early access to a full electronic version that we could print out easily.”

The family paid postage to have The Jewish Link mailed to them one summer and often go to get kosher bagels in Livingston just to grab the paper when school is not in session.

Perhaps it’s more appropriate to call her a Jewish Link evangelist. Or a proud patriot of the paper.

She and her husband joke that “the main reason I participated in (and raised money for) The Jewish Link advertiser’s CrossRiver Tennis Open was so that I could qualify to be considered as an Athlete of the Week, and knew they would probably mail us that issue.”

Family members used to fight over reading sections until they realized they could just take a few copies at a time of each issue.

As for articles, first they focused their Jewish Link reading on finding the kids—or at least their school—featured in the back pages. Then they expanded to the humor section and often read Schmutter and Kranz humor columns at the Shabbat table. (“We keep a running tally of which column we think is funnier each week, with a separate category for witty headlines, in case inquiring minds need to know.”)

Debbie adds: “We also learn a lot from and appreciate the divrei Torah and inspiring columns. Even the housing section gets devoured by our daughter, who loves to pick out potential houses for later in life, and gains interior decorating ideas for our own.”

Debbie Marcus is an incredible SuperFan of The Jewish Link. And she sets a very high bar for all the others.