Summit Jewish Community Center, Temple Beth-El Mekor Chayim in Cranford, and Temple Sholom in Scotch Plains, in collaboration with Temple Beth-El Mekor Chayim and Congregation Beth Israel, Scotch Plains, are four out of eight congregations across Essex, Morris, and Union counties that have been awarded Synagogue ABLE Challenge Grants by MetroWest ABLE to promote inclusion in synagogue life for individuals and families with special needs. The announcement was made by Mort Bunis of Livingston and Eta Levenson of West Orange, MetroWest ABLE chairs.

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Whippany — Eighteen plagues will replace the usual ten. Water will be spilled because wine wasn’t available during the war. Bitter herbs will be eaten, symbolizing the grass people ate to survive. Milk and honey will represent redemption and the Promised Land.

The first ever Shoah (Holocaust) Seder will take place on Sunday, May 19, from 2:30-5:30 p.m. at the Alex Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus in Whippany, 901 Rt. 10, Whippany. Inspired by the traditional Passover seder, the interfaith and intergenerational program is being sponsored by the Holocaust Council of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ.

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Jewish history and Jewish values obligate our community to join the fight against the brutal and epidemic crime of sex trafficking, according to organizers of a UJA-Federation of New York conference last week, including The Jewish Federations of North America National Campaign Chair Susan K. Stern. Trafficking is a contemporary form of slavery which requires moral outrage and a call to action, the organizers argued. more

The international crusade to end slavery — whose best-known face is the trafficking of women in the forced-sex trade — has attracted in recent years a disproportionate number of Jewish organizations and individuals.

“Jewish people have been victims of violence throughout our history; we understand unfairness and injustice and intolerable treatment,” said Laurel Bellows, who as current president of the American Bar Association last year created an ABA Task Force on Human Trafficking. “I have made the fight to combat human traffick     ing one of the key priorities,” said Bellows of her ABA presidency.

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The audience will be treated to an eclectic mix of musical traditions when the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and David Krakauer, guest solo clarinetist, perform at the 16th Annual UJA Benefit Concert at 3 p.m., on Sunday, April 21, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. A community dessert reception will precede the concert at 2. This year’s honorees are dedicated UJA supporters Dr. Dorothy and Gerry Cantor of Westfield.

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Two Union County seniors are logging long hours at their advanced age to give back to their community.

Their names are Bill Goldfischer and Eddie Michaelis. They are 89 and 90 years old, respectively. Each weekday they put in hours in the kitchen at the YM-YWHA of Union County, which is a Jewish Community Center.

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EAST BRUNSWICK — The parking lots were so full Saturday at the Value City furniture store on Sixth Street in the township that when owner Simon Kaplan arrived, he had to park across the street.

But Kaplan didn’t mind. He was happy to see so many superstorm Sandy survivors at the store, choosing new furniture to replace items lost during the storm.

Kaplan’s donation of $78,000 worth of furniture, most of it clearance items from his stores, was the latest in a series of efforts spearheaded by the borough of Madison, partnering with the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest, based in the Whippany section of Hanover.

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In December 2010, 44 Israelis were killed, 5 million trees were consumed, and more than 15,000 people were evacuated from their homes in the wake of the devastating 86-hour fire that destroyed over 12,000 acres of Israel’s Carmel Forest.

Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ (then UJC MetroWest and Jewish Federation of Central NJ), through the generosity of the community and together with its overseas partners — JDC and the Jewish Agency for Israel — helped to provide emergency shelter and support to the evacuees and trauma counseling for families who lost loved ones and homes in the fire, deployed local Emergency Response Teams, and worked with Israeli youth movements to open day camps for children and students evacuated from the imperiled area.

Two years later, as Tu B’Shevat (the Jewish New Year for Trees), the forest is being reborn. Read more in this JTA article.

Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle and Senator Nellie Pou joined with the NJ Coalition Against Human Trafficking to host the first Human Trafficking Awareness Day Rally on the steps of the Statehouse [Friday].

“One of our best defenses against this scourge is awareness,” said Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen). “This trade thrives in the shadows, unbeknownst to many, in neighborhoods and businesses right in our own back yards. In addition to toughening our law enforcement approach, we need to educate everyone in order to help rescue the innocent victims of human trafficking, many of whom are women and children.''

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On Sunday, about 60 volunteers from the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest based in Whippany turned out to help dismantle a house that had floated into a marsh in Union Beach, said Stacey Brown, a federation representative. more

In the aftermath of the storm, Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ (jfedgmw.org), one of New Jersey’s largest philanthropies, has opened an emergency mailbox, the Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund, which will be used to provide aid to its partner agencies and assist the community and others impacted by the disaster, especially the frail and disabled. Lester Senior Housing and the Y are just two of Federation’s 27 local partner agencies serving Essex, Morris, Sussex, Union, and parts of Somerset County. more

LIVINGSTON — Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and his Republican opponent, Joe Kyrillos, both pledged strong support for Israel and tough action against Iran if it comes close to developing a nuclear weapon at a Jewish forum in Livingston last night.

"Since I was elected to the Senate, I believe Isreal has had no better friend in the United States Senate than I have been, no greater ally," said Menendez, a seven-year incumbent who noted he authored sanctions against Iran’s economy which he called the "most crippling in history."

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(New Jersey Jewish News) -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed into law new sanctions against Iran that prohibit public contracts with any company or person that invests in Iran’s energy and finance sectors.

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HANOVER — Gov. Chris Christie expressed his unequivocal support for Israel on Tuesday night at the launch of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest New Jersey in Whippany, saying that as long as he is governor, New Jersey’s Jewish community will have a “big part to play” in the policies of his administration.

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In the largest merger of its kind, two major Jewish federations serving Essex, Morris and Union counties will combine into a single organization next month.

The merger, in the works for more than two years, will join together United Jewish Communities of MetroWest, based in Whippany, and the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey, in Scotch Plains.

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Millburn High School rising senior Matthew Survis was recently honored with a Special Recognition Award presented by the Sister Rose Thering Fund (SRTF) at a student recognition event hosted by the SRTF at Seton Hall University in South Orange.

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NEW YORK (JTA) – Two Jewish federations in New Jersey are merging in what is being described as the largest federation merger in history.

The United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ, which has about 100 employees, is merging with the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey, which has more than a dozen, on July 1, becoming the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ. The two federations’ catchment areas are contiguous.

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Three Million and Counting! The PJ Library, an international literacy program for Jewish preschoolers, celebrated a major milestone this week when founder Harold Grinspoon delivered and read the organization’s 3 millionth free Jewish children’s book—Noah’s Swim-a-thon—to PJ Library family Cindy and Neil Goldstein and their children, Jordana, 6, and Ryan, 8, at their home at in Livingston, NJ.

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Five of the six candidates running for the vacant Congressional seat formerly held by the late Donald Payne participated in a candidates forum on Wednesday morning at the Cooperman Jewish Community Center in West Orange. The forum was sponsored by the Community Relations Committee of MetroWest and Central New Jersey of the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey.

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