Rona Ramon to Speak at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades

Rona Ramon, the widow of Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut, will speak at Kaplen JCC on the Palisades on Wednesday, April 29, 8:30-10:30 pm. Ilan was killed in the Columbia shuttle accident in 2003. Their son Asaf, who was a fighter pilot, died in a training accident just six years after his father.

Rona established the Ramon Foundation which seeks to promote personal and social excellence, impart leadership in the spirit of the Columbia crew, and encourage groundbreaking advances in space and aviation, as well as science and technology. She also recently wrote a book, Above Us Only Sky, which is a collection of both Ilan and Asaf’s personal journals and letters.

Rona will discuss the legacy of her husband and son and share how she is learning to transform personal tragedy into something that can inspire Israel’s future generations. The cost is $15 for JCC members; $18 for general admission; $10 for teens under 18.

Annual Yom HaShoah Commemoration at Teaneck High School

On Thursday, April 16, at 7:30 PM, The Jewish Community Council of Greater Teaneck is having the annual Yom HaShoah Commemoration at Teaneck High School. Yom Hashoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day takes place on the 27th of Adar which is the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and was selected by Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, in 1951.

The keynote speakers for the program this year are Howard and Nancy Kleinberg. The couple, who reside in Toronto, first met in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp where Nancy saved Howard’s life. They’ve been married for more than 60 years and have four children, 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Their miraculous story of survival and reunion was featured on live with Regis and Kelly.

A pre-event reception for survivors and their families will take place in the school’s Media Room, beginning at 6:00 PM.

For more information, go to teaneckyomhashoa.org or call Steve Fox at 201-362-6776.To attend the reception for survivors and their families, please call Dena Levie at 917 334-0937.

Community-Wide Event for Yom Ha’Atzmaut

A community wide event in honor of Yom Ha’Atzmaut will take place on Wednesday evening, April 22 at Keter Torah. On the Lunar calendar, the date is the 5th of Iyar, and it marks 67 years since the creation of the state of Israel. Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers, is on the 4th of Iyar.

The community wide event will begin with mincha at 7:25. Following mincha, there will be a presentation for Yom HaZikaron, in memory of those who have fallen defending the State of Israel, followed by maariv chagigit, and a chagiga in the shul’s ballroom.

Rabbi JJ Schacter to Speak Sunday at Congregation Rinat Yisrael

Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter will speak on Sunday, April 19, at 8:00 p.m. at Congregation Rinat Yisrael. The title of Rabbi Schacter’s speech is “The American Chaplain and the Survivors.” Rabbi Schacter is a Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and a Senior Scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University.

The speech is being given in memory of Rabbi Schacter’s father, Rabbi Herschel Schacter, z”l, and in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald. Rabbi Herschel Schacter, who passed away at the age of 95 in 2013, served as an Army Chaplain during World War II. He entered Buchenwald within hours after it was liberated. He remained there for months tending to survivors, leading religious services, and eventually helping to resettle thousands of Jews.

Belz School Offering Free Seminar

Yeshiva University’s Belz School of Jewish Music is offering a four week seminar at Congregation Bnai Yeshurun. The Bayrish Schreiber Memorial Seminar will focus on the musical nusach of Shacharit for Shabbat. It takes place on Thursday evenings from 8-9:30 P.M and runs through May 21st.

The seminar is conducted by members of the Belz faculty. It’s free and open to all residents of Bergen County. All baalei tefilla and aspiring baalei tefillah are invited to attend. A Certificate of Completion will be given to all those who finish the series. In addition to learning the beautiful and accurate nusach of the Belz School, attendees will learn surprising facts about tefillat schacharit.

Yizkor Service for Holocaust Victims

A Yizkor service to remember Jewish Martyrs who died in the Holocaust will take place on April 16, 2015 at Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff, New Jersey.

There will be a photo exhibit at 6:00 P.M. Following the exhibit, Dr. Rachel Yehuda, Director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, will speak. Dr. Yehuda will begin at 6:30 P.M. The title of her speech is “How the Trauma of the Holocaust is Genetically Transmitted from Survivors to Subsequent Generations.” For more information, call Dr. Wallace Greene at 201-873-3263

Local Company Strives to Set a Guinness World Record and Help a Charity

On Sunday, April 19 at 10:00 in Overpeck Community Park, Toufayan Bakeries seeks to set a Guinness Record. The event, “Wrap It Up For a Cure” will feature the world’s largest display of sandwich wraps. Toufayan Bakeries is going for the record in support of this year’s Walk MS Ridgefield Park event.

The Toufayans, along with volunteers from the MS Society, will create 750 individual wraps, each one different than the next. Toufayan will use 46 pounds and eight varieties of deli meat, 750 individual slices of six cheese varieties, and 25 pounds of sliced vegetables. The final display of wraps will be completed within one hour; then counted and verified by Guinness World Records and then provided to Walk MS Ridgefield Park participants for lunch. Toufayan donates a portion of its sales to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Community-Wide Yom HaZikaron Commemoration at Ben Porat Yosef

Ben Parat Yosef will host a Yom HaZikaron event on Tuesday, April 21 at 8 P.M. The special ceremony will commemorate Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror.

Eli Weiss, the brother of Sgt. Ari Weiss Z”L of the Nahal Brigade, will share his story. Ari and Eli and their family immigrated to Israel from Dallas, Texas in 1992. Ari was a member of the Nahal Brigade and was just 21 when he was shot and killed by Palestinian terrorists in 2002. The terrorists opened fire on an IDF position in a house in the West Bank city of Nablus and a fierce gun battle ensued.

The event will include tefillot, yizkor, and singing of memorial songs. For information contact Ruth Roth ([email protected]).

Hadassah to Host Former CNN Correspondent Allan Chernoff

The Teaneck-Hackensack Hadassah will meet on Monday, April 20, at 1:00 PM at Congregation Beth Sholom, at 354 Maitland Avenue in Teaneck. The guest speaker will be Allan Chernoff, journalist; He is a former CNN Senior Correspondent; and reporter for CNBC and NBC News programs. He has received six best reporting awards from The Society of Professional Journalists, New York Chapter. As a reporter, he also worked on teams which won Peabody and DuPont Awards. Mr. Chernoff is the author of The Tailors of Tomaszow which he co-wrote with his mother, Rena Margulies Chernoff, a Holocaust survivor and former resident of Tomaszow. The book presents a realistic view of Jews in the pre-Holocaust time in a small town in Poland and their differences of opinions on all matters. However, their ordinary skills as tailors and seamstresses saved many from death. Refreshments will be served. For further information, please call Kitty at 201-836-4798.

Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller
to Speak in Bergenfield April 21st

Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller will speak at Congregation Beth Abraham in Bergenfield on April 21st at 8:30 PM. Her visit is sponsored by the Sisterhoods of Congregation Beth Abraham and Bnai Yeshurun. Internationally known as an outstanding scholar of Jewish studies as well as a gifted lecturer, Heller has been a full-time faculty member of Neve Yerushalayim College in Jerusalem since 1980. Heller is a member of the Har Nof community in Jerusalem where four of its esteemed members were killed in a horrific terrorist attack last November. Her own son-in-law is still recovering from grievous injuries sustained in the attack, while her then 12 year old grandson, who was in the line of fire, managed to escape and begin the process of alerting the authorities.

Heller’s areas of expertise include textual analysis of Biblical literature and Jewish philosophy with an emphasis on the teachings of Maimonides and Maharal. She is also particularly well known for her courses devoted to the role of women in Judaism and analyses of the lives of women in the Bible. She is distinguished by her unique and inspirational teaching style. Based on classical sources, her insights on virtually any topic within Jewish studies flow in a seemingly effortless stream. While leading her listeners along creative new lines of thoughts, she resorts to a disarmingly keen sense of humor to provide practical examples that illustrate and draw personal relevance from even the most abstract concepts.