Attention local history buffs! Here’s a book you won’t want to miss:
Voices of Etz Ahaim. Nathan Reiss and Seth Rubenstein paired up to create a wonderful collection of biographies of many of the diverse congregants of Congregation Etz Ahaim, a Sephardi Orthodox synagogue in Highland Park, New Jersey.
Learn about how Rabbi David Bassous was born in India, grew up in London, became a rabbi in Israel, had his first pulpit in Vancouver, and then came to Highland Park. Liselle (Elisheva) Badache grew up in war-torn Algeria. Behzad Hakakian, brother of Roya Hakakian, speaks of growing up Jewish in Iran. One of the oldest members of Etz Ahaim, Al Benzilio, whose parents were from Salonika, reports on the original building in New Brunswick, and how the synagogue was named after one in Salonika.
Pictures enhance each of the biographies. Twenty two people of varying ages and backgrounds were interviewed for the book.
The book was available via the Etz Ahaim website, etzahaim.org; you can probably contact the webmaster to see if you can still get a copy. There is one copy in the reference section of the Highland Park Public Library.
Hear ye, hear ye! What was your favorite Highland Park story of the year?
The Highland Park Mirror is asking you to vote on your favorite story of the year. Cleverly, these are called the Readers’ Joyce Awards. Must have something to do with Joyce Kilmer.
So, what was your favorite story? The top story for me was the library budget cuts. But I was tempted to vote for the closing of the ‘Y’. All my children attended nursery school there, and we enjoyed swimming in the pool. Now there is no pool in Highland Park! When the Aguda dug a big hole for its new building last summer, some of us remarked how it was about the right size for a community pool. RPRY now has a beautiful outdoor pool for the day camp; couldn’t we women have a women’s hour in the summer, even if it’s just once a week?
Welcome to the first post of “Here in Highland Park, New Jersey”. Or the short name: “Here in HP”. I hope to bring you stories about Highland Park, what’s going on in the local Jewish community, ideas on how to build a productive website, how to get your family to eat healthy food, artsy photos and fun Flash tidbits and more. I will invite comments, and we will even have guests contributors!
One possible contributor may talk about any of these topics: art, nutrition, general health, yoga, cooking, keeping an environmentally sound home (natural cleaning, recycling, etc)… is that enough to keep you interested?
I would also like to add some short parsha thoughts…for those of you who are “Hebrew-challenged”, the parsha is the portion of the torah being read each week. For example, this week is Vayigash… in which Joseph finally reveals his identity.
