High school students from the Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy (Jewish Educational Center, Elizabeth, New Jersey), accompanied by their teacher and grade advisor, Rabbi Raphael Karlin, led an intergenerational model Passover Seder for the Café Europa Group of Holocaust survivors, at the Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey main office in Elizabeth. The program was coordinated by Debbie Rosenwein, MSW, LCSW, JFSCNJ, coordinator for Holocaust Services.
Holocaust survivors from the Union County area meet twice a month for their Café Europa program, supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and the Wilf Foundation. Students from the nearby high school interacted with the survivors and presented an abridged version of the traditional Passover Seder. The students entertained the group with a lively program complete with songs, dance and interpretations of traditional texts.
Jewish Family Service of Central NJ is a non-sectarian health and social service agency providing a gamut of services to over 7,000 individuals a year.
The Rabbi Teitz Mesivta Academy (RTMA) is the boys high school division of Jewish Educational Center in Elizabeth, which is now in its 76th year. Students at the RTMA engage in a full and rigorous college preparatory program that is presented as part of a demanding dual curriculum that offers Hebrew language and Jewish religious instruction alongside general studies and extracurricular activities.