Come and get a jump on Passover while enjoying Purim festivities at the East Brunswick Tri-Synagogue Purim Celebration, on Sunday, March 17 at Temple B’nai Shalom. Held in conjunction with the East Brunswick Jewish Center and Young Israel of East Brunswick, the festivities will begin11 a.m.-2 p.m. with a wine-tasting and sale to benefit of Yashar LaChayal, Straight to the Soldier, an Israel-based non-profit organization that raises money for poor and lone solders without family in Israel. A majority of the more than 200 different wines, which range in price from $6-$150, come from Israeli wineries and all will be kosher for Passover. Regular and sparkling grape juice will also be available for those who can’t consume alcohol.
The Purim carnival will begin with Mr. Magico performing a magic show at 11:30 a.m. for children. The carnival will also feature games, face-painting, quick minute-to-win-it contests and games, craft-making and decorating groggers, crowns and other items, a hamantaschen filling station allowing youngsters to take home and bake their creations. Various snacks such as cotton candy, popcorn, cookies and chips will be available.
Cost for carnival is $18 per child with a maximum of $54 per family.
For information, contact Jamie Wasserman (973) 222-7643 or jamieleighdmd@comcast.net.
The Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe vs. Wade has made abortion a key political issue in the upcoming presidential election and the subject of endless debate. On Monday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m. Dr. Michal Raucher will speak on Abortion in Judaism, Christianity and Islam at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick. Raucher is undergraduate director and associate professor in the Department of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. Her research fields center on Israel studies, the anthropology of women in Judaism, religious ethics and women in religion. She is the author of “Conceiving Agency: Reproductive Authority Among Haredi Women,” spending two years in Israel researching the book. It explores the ways haredi women contend with interference from doctors, rabbis and the Israeli government in taking control of their reproductive lives.
The cost is $18 and registration is required at aemt.net. For information call (732) 545-6484.
American-Israeli rapper, pop and world music singer, songwriter, producer and influencer Nissim Black will perform Sunday, March 24 at Purimfest at the Marlboro Jewish Center. Doors will open at 3 p.m. Black grew up in inner city Seattle where he was exposed drug use and his own mother lost her life to an overdose. He began rapping as a preteen under the name Danger. Black later converted to Orthodox Judaism and has collaborated with a number of artists and has released many singles and albums. Today he uses his passion for music to spread a message of positivity and increase awareness of God through mainstream mediums.His YouTube channel has garnered 26 million views worldwide.
An afterparty will follow the performance.Tickets, which are $18 for students and $36 for adults, can be purchased at mjcnj.com/NissimBlack.
Congregation Neve Shalom in Metuchen will host its annual Donald and Ruth Kahn Jewish Book & Author Event on Sunday, March 31 at 10 a.m. Attendees at the free event can meet three authors, hear them talk about their books and answer questions. The books will also be available for purchase and be personally signed by their writers.
The authors and their books are: “Death March Escape: The Remarkable Story of a Man Who Twice Escaped the Nazi Holocaust” by Jack H. Hersh, about the author’s father who survived concentration camps, starvation, forced marches and disease finally escaping where he again survived with the help of courageous Austrians; “In the Hands of Women” by Jane Loeb Rubin, historical fiction about an obstetrician in Manhattan in the early 1900’s contending with both deficiencies in medical care and the biases against of other physicians toward a Jewish woman; and “Shadows We Carry” by Meryl Ain, about twin girls whose parents survived the Holocaust and the clashes between their own professional ambitions and the expectations of their father.
For more information call the synagogue at (732) 548-2238.