Now that the Yamim Tovim are behind us and, hopefully, our sukkahs have been put away and the Yom Tov leftovers are long gone, I am sure many of us have been looking forward to getting back to our regular work, school, shul and learning schedules. We are also now entering the fall event season and many of our community’s most important institutions are gearing up for their upcoming fall and winter dinners, galas, receptions, melave malkas, brunches, you name it.
As a former professional fundraiser, one of the near-mandatory commandments we always followed in scheduling events was the following: “Thou shalt not make a fundraising event too close to Yom Tov!” and we would always allow at least two to three weeks after the Yamim Tovim to hold an event. The important corollary to this commandment within the frum community is that no one pays serious attention before Yom Tov to what is going on after Yom Tov. This common wisdom is practically sacrosanct and hardly ever challenged.
Therefore, in keeping with these rules, I am very proud to invite our Northern New Jersey-based readers and friends to join me at the second annual Glatt Kosher Food and Wine Expo on Monday evening, Nov. 7, at Cong. Ahavath Torah in Englewood. This event, which I am co-chairing with Marcy Cohen of Englewood, is being coordinated by Elan Kornblum of Great Kosher Restaurants—and is being sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey as an important fundraiser.
As the co-publisher of this community paper, I am very aware, perhaps more than most, of the work that the Federation does on behalf of the broader Jewish community and on behalf of the kosher and Orthodox community as well. In so many areas, ranging from security funding, antisemitism issues, food and hunger, mental health resources and much more, the Federation plays a key and strategic role in addressing these topics both short-term and long-term. Our editors and I work closely with the Federation’s CEO Jason Shames and his team in making sure that our readership and community are aware of the excellent and essential work they do. It’s a critical relationship that I value and cherish and is worthy of our community’s support. It is also the reason I agreed to co-chair this event.
In addition to hearing at the event about what Federation is doing for our community, the evening will also be a chance to sample a wide array of great kosher food and wine from literally all over the tri-state area and there will be a lot to enjoy there, with more restaurants signing up almost daily.
You can also read more about the event in the article by Betty Schwartz in this week’s paper in our Food and Wine section on page 135 and the full page ad on page 4.
I joked with our event committee members at our first meeting that an event like this should really be an easy invite because the food and wine aspect alone will be a tremendous draw and I certainly hope that will be the case. I really do hope you will consider joining me that night and feel free to please come on over to introduce yourselves as well.
It’s also not too late to be a sponsor on some level or buy VIP tickets, in addition to general admission, and we are hoping for strong participation from all corners of our readership and areas served by the Federation.
Sign up to register and donate at: www.JFNNJ.org/FoodExpo. For other questions, please contact Batya Friedman, [email protected], 201/820-3909.
I hope to see you there on Nov. 7!
By Moshe Kinderlehrer, Co-Publisher
