Singer, composer, song leader and recording artist Noah Aronson and award-winning pianist and composer David Schlossberg will perform in a benefit concert, Together in Song, to support Israel on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick. The concert is being sponsored by Anshe Emeth, Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey and the synagogues of Middlesex County.
Aronson has been active in Jewish music about 20 years and his music in sung in communities and summer camps around the world. He tours internationally performing and leading “music-driven” experiences and has released numerous albums. His latest, released in September, is “Close to the Fire,” a collection of personal prayers and reflections intended to deepen spiritual practice. Earlier this year an anthology of Aronson’s original music containing 40 songs and teaching videos for Shabbat worship was published. Additionally, he hosts the BeMajor podcast series, interviewing fellow artists and wellness practitioners about the intersection of wellness and creativity.
Schlossberg, a Monroe resident known locally as “Piano Dave,” performs with the Highland Park-based klezmer group, Tsu Fil Duvids (Too Many Daves) and is an accompanist to many area groups including: Makhelat Hamercaz, the Jewish community choir of central New Jersey; New Jersey Cantors Concert Ensemble; Kol Dodi, Jewish Community Choir of MetroWest; and Kol Emet Choir of Anshe Emeth. He also serves as musical director for the music theatre program of Middlesex County Arts Middle School. Additionally, Schlossberg is also collaborative keyboard artist and accompanist at all services, concerts and special events at Anshe Emeth. His Jewish liturgical music has won many awards and he has released many albums.
Minimum donation of at least $18 will go toward federation’s Israel Emergency Relief Fund. To purchase tickets go to https://jewishheartnj.ticketspice.com/2023-together-in-song-concert.
For information contact Cantor Mark Stanton at (732) 545-6484 or cantor.stanton@aemt.info.
German historian Karina Urbach will explore how she reclaimed her grandmother’s recipes, which had been coopted by the Nazis, in a virtual program, Monday, Dec. 4 at 1 p.m. presented by Rutgers University’s Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life.
During the annual Raoul Wallenberg Lecture, funded by Leon and Toby Cooperman, Karina Urbach will detail how she set out 80 years later to seek the truth about how those recipes of her grandmother, who was a renowned chef and cookbook writer in Vienna who fled to England in 1938, were appropriated. When Alice Urbach returned to Vienna in the late 1940’s she discovered her bestselling cookbook has been Aryranized and published under a non-Jewish name.
Currently a senior research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London, Karina Urbach’s book, Alice’s Book: How the Nazis Stole My Grandmother’s Cookbook, has been translated into six languages and made into an award-winning documentary for German television. She previously spent six years at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
The program is free but registration is required at https://bildnercenter.rutgers.edu/events/upcoming-events/icalrepeat.detail/2023/12/04/116/-/how-the-nazis-stole-my-grandmothers-cookbook .
For more information go to: bildnercenter.rutgers.edu.
The Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey will hold its 2023 annual meeting, Join Us in Unity and Hope, on Thursday, Dec. 14, the last night of Hanukah, at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held in Monroe with exact location provided only after required registration.
The meeting will feature an insider’s view of the way the community builds connections to foster a vibrant Jewish future and will highlight how community partners have come together to find joy in Jewish life despite the urgency of the moment.
Those attending will hear about the many accomplishments and ways federation is supporting Jewish communities locally and abroad through challenges posed by the rise in antisemitism, economic hardship and the humanitarian crisis and devastation to Jewish communities caused by war and terrorism in Ukraine and Israel.
The program is free and kosher light pareve desserts will be served. To register go to:
https://jewishheartnj.ticketspice.com/jewish-federation-annual-meeting-121423-700-pm-.
For information, contact Lisa Karasic at (732) 588-1800 or lisak@jewishheartnj.org.
Ocean Township resident Zac Levy set out at age 16 on a year-long quest at homeless shelters and soup kitchens to understand the causes of homelessness and ways to assist the less fortunate. As part of his efforts he organized a winter clothing drive and launched Project Unhoused, a homelessness prevention initiative, and has authored a book, Project Unhoused. Available on Amazon, all the profits from sales are being donated to assist the homeless across America.
On Sunday, Dec. 17 at 9:30 a.m. Levy will appear at Temple Beth Miriam in Long Branch at a Breakfast with the Rabbi sponsored by the synagogue’s social action/social justice committee.
Levy is a graduate of the Rutgers University QuarkNet Program in particle physics and quantum computing and works in the lab of Professor David Tank at Princeton University, conducting research in the field of neuroscience and biophysics.
The program is free. For information go to https://templebethmiriam.org or
(732) 222-3754.
