Holocaust survivor Dr. Inge Auerbacher will share her story of persecution and survival on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. in Raritan Hall at Middlesex College in Edison.
At age seven, Auerbacher and her parents were deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia where they managed to survive for three years. After liberation the family immigrated to New York and she eventually became an author and chemist. Auerbacher has written six books, three of which focused on her memories of the concentration camp. Her first, I Am a Star: Child of the Holocaust, was published in 1986. She was the subject of the play, The Star on My Heart. Two years ago she worked with Los Angeles AI company StoryFile and Meta Platforms to create an interactive AI and virtual reality version of her life at Theresienstadt allowing users to ask her virtual avatar questions.
Auerbacher has appeared on many radio and television programs in the United States and abroad, has lectured throughout the U.S., Canada and Germany and has had prize-winning documentary films made about her.
Her most recent film: The Olympic Doll, based on her book I Am A Star was especially made for middle school children to promote tolerance. Auerbacher’s hometown, Kippenheim in Germany, now awards the Inge Auerbacher Prize given to students and institutions promoting tolerance and human rights.
The program is sponsored by the Blue Card Organization, Provident Bank and the Holocaust and Human Rights Center at Middlesex College. It is free and open to the public but registration is required at tinyurl.com/HHRCatMiddlesexCollege. For information contact Terrence Corrigan at 917 603-5146, tcorrigan@middlesexcollege.edu.
The Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life will hold its 26th annual Rutgers Jewish Film Festival, running Nov. 6-16, showing a variety of American, Israeli and other international films. Many of the 11 are award-winning and making their New Jersey premiers and will be shown at the Regal Cinema in North Brunswick. They focus on a wide range of subjects, including interracial protests in 1960s America, Stockholm’s vibrant contemporary Yiddish scene, Holocaust resistance in Finland and international love stories.
Opening the festival is Eleanor the Great, a poignant American film directed by Scarlett Johansson and featuring June Squibb, that premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Because of high demand a second theater showing has been added, also at 7 p.m. However the Nov. 11 show is sold out.
Opening night will also include a short film, Double Happiness, directed by New York filmmaker Shari Albert.
There will also be an additional showing of the closing night film, SODA, a drama set in 1950s Israel featuring Lior Raz (Fauda) and centering on forbidden desire, past trauma, and moral reckoning that was nominated for three Israeli Academy Awards. In addition to the 5:15 p.m. showing on Sunday, Nov. 16, there is now a Saturday, Nov. 8 showing at 9:15 p.m.
Among the festival speakers are: Nancy Spielberg, producer of A Letter to David (Nov. 13); Ilana Trachtman, director of Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round (Nov. 9); and Shai Korman (Nov. 9), producer of The
Floaters, (Nov. 9 and15 ), an offbeat comedy set in a Jewish summer camp, featuring Steve Guttenberg and Jackie Tohn.
A list films, showings and additional speakers can be found at bildnercenter.rutgers.edu/film. Tickets are $15, general; $65, discount pack of five films; $8, students, in-person only. Tickets can be purchased online at bildner center.rutgers.edu or one hour before each screening. For more information, e-mail rujff@sas.rutgers.edu or call (848) 932-4166.
A panel discussion featuring legislators and Jewish community leaders will focus on important issues to be decided by the state government and the important role the Jewish community can play will be held Saturday, Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. at Congregation Ahavas Achim in Highland Park.
After the Election for Governor: A Jewish Agenda for New Jersey Part II will be moderated by Moshe Kinderlehrer, publisher of the Jewish Link of NJ. Participants will address a number of issues including the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Antisemitism definition bill, the state’s opportunity to join the Federal Tax Credit Scholarship program for Jewish and other nonpublic school families, security funding for Jewish institutions. The panelists are: state Assemblyman Robert Karabinchak (D-18), East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen, NJ Teach Executive Director Katie Katz and Dan Rozett, director of community relations and Israel engagement at the Jewish Federation in the Heart of NJ. The program is sponsored by the Jewish Community Forum of Raritan Valley and is being co-sponsored by federation, the Jewish Link and Teach NJ. The program is free but advance registration is required at jewishheartnj.ticketspice.com/a-jewish-agenda-for-new-jersey.
A community briefing on the situation in Israel featuring Dani Wassner, managing director of government and media relations for the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), will be held Sunday, Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. in East Brunswick. Wassner will share what is unfolding on the ground in Israel as well what the future may hold. The program is being sponsored by the Jewish Federation in the Heart if New Jersey in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League of NY/NJ, AIPAC, American Jewish Committee NJ, Daniel Pearl Education Center, Highland Park Conservative Temple-Congregation Anshe Emeth, Israeli-American Council, Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County, Temple B’nai Shalom, Temple Emanu-El , Temple Shaari Emeth and Young Israel of East Brunswick.
Wassner has served since 2008 as the director of Israeli government relations and communications in the Israel and Overseas Department of JFNA,
represenong the North American Jewish community to the government of
Israel, its media and to other opinion leaders. He participates in Knesset committee meetings, interacts frequently with Israel’s leaders and has a
broad knowledge of the Israeli political scene. The program is free but advance registration is required at https://jewishheartnj.ticketspice.com/briefing-with-dani-wassner. Location will be provided after registration.
