CNN Legal Analyst Elie Honig will speak at Temple Emamu-El in Edison on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 11 a.m. about Jewish Identity and Political Power From the Holocaust to Today. Included in the program will be the story of an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor. He will share insights from his latest book, When You Come at the King: Inside the DOJ’s Pursuit of the President, From Nixon to Trump.
Honig, who is also a temple member and spent 14 years as a federal and state prosecutor, will speak about not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also about the dozens of interviews he conducted in researching the book, including with a Watergate prosecutor who revealed she hid copies of valuable documents at home to shield them from being destroyed by President Richard Nixon’s allies. It focuses on various investigations by special prosecutors, including cases involving Patrick Fitzgerald, Robert Mueller and Jack Smith and will track the history of the special prosecutor’s office.
The program is free and open to the public, but those attending must register at edisontemple.org/form/Honig–Book-Event. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at $19.99 each and orders can be taken in advance of the event. Refreshments and book-signing by Honig will take place after the talk.
For information contact Ellen Hochman admin.assistant@edisontemple.org.
Young Israel of East Brunswick will host Shuk to the Core, which supports Israeli artists and vendors during challenging times, at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22. Available will be jewelry, clothing, Judaica, hand-crafted goods, artisanal woodwork, sculptures, toys, literature and games, artwork, kippot, designer clothing and fragrances. The venue, first held in 2002, is now again operating during the aftermath of the war in Gaza with events throughout the United States and Canada. Come purchase the perfect gift just in time for Hanukah gift while helping Israel vendors who have had a difficult two years.
The event is being co-sponsored with the synagogue by Areyvut, Mental Health First Aid and Tal Tours. Contact WhatsApp 516-636-1618 for more information.
Shoshana McKinney Kirya-Ziraba, the founder and director of Tikvah Chadasha Uganda, will speak at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 23 at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple. The nonprofit organization, whose name means New Hope for Uganda in Hebrew, serves disabled children and impoverished women in eastern Uganda. She is now a member of Uganda’s Abayudaya Jewish community and has become a bridge between American Jews and Africa. The organization specifically focuses on Jewish women who have no other income and few options for livelihood.
Kirya-Ziraba, who is originally from Los Angeles, became involved with the Abayudaya in 2018 and moved with her husband to Uganda in 2021. She was named one of the 10 Jewish women leaders for 2025 by the Elluminate Jewish Women’s Foundation and is a contributing writer for Lilith, the Forward, Tablet Magazine, Jewish Women’s Archive and many other publications.
The cost is $15 for temple members, $18 for non-members and $10 for seniors and students. Register at https://ansheemethmemorialtemple.shulcloud.com/form/keepers—Shoshana%20McKinney.html. For information, call the synagogue at (732) 545-6484.
Cheryl Kempner will speak about her book, Remember Me: An Alzheimer’s Journey Through Art and Poetry, on Monday, December 1 at 7 p.m. at Marlboro Jewish Center. The program will focus on how to cope with those suffering with Alzheimer’s through family, gatherings, art and feelings. Kempner, a synagogue member who teaches in its preschool and Hebrew school, focuses on viewing the disease though a patient’s eyes and starts a conversation through her own poetry about the plight of a person with dementia and the family caring for them. Kempner uses her own mother to show the traumatizing effects of the disease for those diagnosed through the visual decline of her mother’s artwork.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the synagogue’s Steinkohl Social Action Committee in honor of Kempner’s grandparents Theordore and Dora Steinkohl.
For information call the synagogue at (732) 536-2300 or mjc@mjcnj.com.
