She may not have a cape or exhibit any extraordinary powers (yet). But Gavriella Newman has all the qualifications of an amazing Jewish Link SuperFan.
During the week, Gavriella maintains her ‘secret identity’ as a precocious pre-teen who recently completed the fifth grade at the Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey in River Edge and is entering middle school next year. She has three younger sisters, Naomi, 8; Ilana, 6; and Shalva, 3. She is a big help to her mom Rena, a teacher at SINAI at Heichal Hatorah, and her dad Zev, a software engineer at Infor. She enjoys attending a weekly art class on Zoom, is a member of the Meorot Jewish dance group in Bergen County, and is a voracious reader who recently finished and recommends the graphic novel “Click & Camp,” by Kayla Miller.
When the weekend settles in, Gavriella transforms into an enthusiastic Jewish Link SuperFan. As her mother Rena reports, once the Shabbat candles are lit, Gavriella races like the Flash to get the latest copy of the newspaper. Often mom will get a second copy, just “to avoid fighting’ among the siblings. Gavriella may not read by a Green Lantern but she definitely gets powered up by the paper.
The Jewish Link was delighted to talk with Gavriella last week about what makes this young Wonder Woman so passionate about the paper.
Do you read the paper every week?
Definitely! And if my family is going away for Shabbat, I make sure the newspaper is on the packing list.
What are your favorite sections of the paper?
I like the Simcha Link—I look for ideas for my Bat Mitzvah; the Food Link—I love to bake and enjoy reading the recipes; the Kids Link—the advice column is interesting and the word puzzles are fun; and the Memes section often makes me laugh. I love solving the word searches that appear every few months in the Kids Link. I also read the yeshivot section and look for people I know.
Has the paper made a difference in your life?
I often see things in it that I use. Like, one time I saw an event for Lag B’Omer at the Chabad in Teaneck, and I told my mom and dad about it. They took all of us and it was great—there was a petting zoo, and a magic show, and a bouncy house, and cotton candy. We had lots of fun!
What does the paper mean to you?
It’s something I do on Friday nights, something I look forward to and something that I get ideas from—baking tips, recipes, events and more. My sisters and I like to look at the winners of the different art contests and pick our favorites. And we’ve even made a game out of the ads for Cedar Market—I ask them to guess my two favorite foods, my two worst foods or the costs of two things they sell there.
By Harry Glazer
