The Seder Plate NI/15/66
- The Herclar Club Passover Newsletter -
4/24/05
Issue 9
SEDER FACTS: This is the 35th Annual Seder. It is being held on Sunday April 24th (2nd Seder), 2005 (the 15th of Nissan, 5766) at the Green Brook Country Club, North Caldwell New Jersey. 35 Adults and 10 Children attended. Renee and Stuart Baritz and family led the Seder.
FROM THE EDITOR Howdy. I am sorry that my family and I will not be joining you this year. We have made the trek to Florida to be with the southern Lebersfelds. The big news for us is that in June 2006, we too will be southern Lebersfelds. We have made the decision to move to Florida after the school year next year. We are building a home in Boca in a development called The Oaks. Now I have never seen an oak tree in Florida, but maybe there is an Oakpalm or something. We haven’t told the kids or the dog yet, so if you see them, mums the word. Woody can lip read, so be careful. I am very excited to work with and live near my brother Ken. We have not lived in the same state since 1979 when he left for college. With Jason and now Brian working in East Hanover, Capitol Lighting New Jersey and our growing web presence are in very good hands. Jack turned 5 earlier in the month. He spends his time creating new words, playing the drums and writing books. His little sister Hannah turned 3 last month. She spends her time playing dress up, playing make up, bothering her older brother, trying her parents patience and being an adorable little princess. Susan is spinning her little keester off for New York Sports and is studying to be a certified personal trainer. Head hunting has taken a back seat to being Mother-of-the-Year. I hope this year will be one of growth, happiness and peace for everyone. -Eric Lebersfeld NEWS FROM AROUND THE TABLE Greetings from Sam Weinstock Once again we are gathering to celebrate the Passover Seder and in doing so, we are also celebrating "Family." This year our wonderful Herclar Family Seder tradition is meeting for the 35th time. The entire family should be extremely proud of this accomplishment. We are the envy of many people in our community. The roots that were planted by Herman and Clara Geller have grown into five generations and it will continue to strengthen with each new marriage and birth along the way. As we retell the Passover story as written in the Haggadah each year, so we also must continue to live and retell the story of the Herclar family for many more generations to come. Even though it is a small step there is cautious optimism, for the first time in many years that peace is coming for our brothers and sisters in Israel. Let's pray and keep our fingers crossed that this time the road to peace will be an enduring one. Wishing all of you a wonderful Passover holiday and continued good health in the coming year. -Sam The Skoloff Family
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IT HAS BEEN AN INTERESTING YEAR FOR THE SKOLOFF FAMILY. SOMETHINGS GOOD, SOME NOT SO GOOD, BUT ALL HAS HAD HAPPY ENDINGS. WE HAVE SPENT TIME TRAVELING TO WHISTLER, CANADA AS WELL AS ARUBA, NEW ORLEANS, WHERE HARRIET ACTUALLY JOINED US, AND WE HAVE SPENT ALOT OF GOOD TIMES WITH OUR CHILDREN AT THEIR HOMES. WE HAD A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING WITH EVERYONE IN RESTON INCLUDING AUNT MIRIAM AND UNCLE LEO. AUNT MIRIAN AND UNCLE LEO HAVE HAD A TOUGH YEAR, BUT HOPEFULLY ARE AT THE SEDER WITH YOU AND JOYOUSLY CELEBRATING WITH THE FAMILY THEY SO LOVE. JOE IS VERY FORTUNATE AND DOING GREAT AFTER HAVING THREE STINTS AND A PULMONARY EMBOLISM. AS A MATTER OF FACT, THINGS ARE BETTER THAN EVER. WE ARE VERY GRATEFUL. THE BEST NEWS OF ALL IS KIM AND ERNIE ARE DOING VERY WELL WHILE THEY ARE EXPECTING TWINS THAT ARE DUE ANYTIME, HOPEFULLY NOT AS EARLY AS THIS SEDER. AS OF THIS DATE I DON'T KNOW WHETHER I WILL BE AT THE SEDER BECAUSE WE WILL JUST BE COMING HOME FROM TAKING SAMUEL, OUR GRANDSON, TO DISNEY WORLD. WE COME HOME LATE ON SATURDAY NIGHT, GIVEN THAT THE SEDER IS SUNDAY, IT MAYBE DIFFICULT, BUT I AM STILL THINKING ABOUT IT. IF I DON'T SEE YOU ALL, I WANT TO WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY PASSOVER FROM JOE AND ME. BRIAN IS STILL WITH THE AP AND MADE A TRIP TO COSTA RICA THIS YEAR. HE HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED TO THE SAN FRANCISCO OFFICE AND IS NOW LIVING IN OAKLAND. ERIC IS WITH A COMPANY CALL ANS, A PAIN MANAGEMENT COMPANY, AND SPENDS A LOT OF TIME IN THE OPERATING ROOM AND IS STILL LIVING IN GREENVILLE. THAT'S ABOUT IT FOR US. AGAIN IF WE ARE NOT THERE, WE ARE THINKING OF ALL OF YOU......JANICE AND JOE Adele and Herman Lebersfeld This is the first family Seder our family will miss in 36 years. School vacations and the April weather in Florida led us to make the decision to have our family Seder in Florida this year. We will miss you all. This year we became Florida residents. We are selling our home in Short Hills, where we have lived and raised our family for the last 29 years. We have purchased a condo apartment in a new complex in Livingston Center. Big plans for 2005. We had a wonderful family vacation, all 15 of us, in the Dominican Replublic (as Jack calls it), in December. A vacation we will all remember. Our big trip this past year was to Morocco and Turkey. Adele is on the board of the Joint Distribution Committee. The JDC is an organization, in existence since 1917, takes care of the Jewish populations all over the world. We traveled to Casablanca, Marrakech, and Istanbul to meet with the leaders of the Jewish community and visit the old age homes, schools, and synagogues to see how the JDC money is spent. We even visited the home of a welfare recipient in Casablanca. Her husband is a beggar on the street; she has a young child in school. She is thankful for the money the JDC provides her to pay for basic necessities. But when she asked the JDC country director for more money to send her child to a secular school, the director refused telling her that she should send her child to the Jewish school that is supported by the JDC. We were very impressed with the dedication of the Jewish community leaders, who spend an amazing amount of their time on community business. Our many years of involvement in the greater Jewish and world community constantly reminds us how blessed we are to live in America and to have had the opportunity to grow up and thrive as a minority in a Christian country. We feel especially grateful to be part of this extraordinary family. We wish you all good health and peace, and we promise to be at the Herclar Seder in 5766.
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Tony and Bobbie Muriello Tony & I are so sorry we won't be joining this year at the seder. We'll be in New Orleans. We will be thinking of you and sending our good wishes and love. Unfortunately the rest of family can not be there either, so about the family. Nanci has been traveling and studying for the last four months in Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam. She returned to Seattle where Michael met her. They toured the pacific nothwest, flew to LA and are now driving the coast to spend some time with Lindsey and John in San Francisco. Lindsey and John have become engaged. They are planning to marry in August. They will be moving back to NY much to the regret of Kia their tibetan mastif. David and Lauren have moved to Clifton. They have settled in and are enjoying the area very much. David is director of dog training at Biscuits and Bath. Lauren is attending Montclair State for her masters in psycho-therapy. We love you all. Renee and Stuart Baritz The Baritz family has had a very productive year. Stuart continues to widen his travel routes encompassing more of the US and the world. He is part of the Met-Life buyout of the Traveler's group from Citigroup. His travels will now also include India, Korea, Russia and Brazil. Renee continues her work as a social worker working for the Carter Burden Center. She is working for their senior center starting a training center for volunteers who will be teaching computer to seniors in an 8 week course which will meet one hour per week. The seniors are very excited and to date 75 have signed up and the number keeps growing. Kickoff for the class is Wednesday, April 27. Jared is busy doing financial analysis and finding new properties and projects for his commercial real estate group. Casey has been doing lots of traveling putting on events for the Private Bank at Citibank. She, like her father, often goes to a western city back and forth on the same day. We would like to wish everyone a very Happy Passover and health to all. Ellen and Sam Weinstock A Few Words from the Homeless Family: For us this has been a most extra-ordinary year-a year of change, a year of "firsts" and the year we became homeless. It all began last May when we put our house on the market because we had purchased a townhouse in Chatham Township. When the Short Hills house did not sell immediately, as we had planned, Sam decided we should put our Florida House up for sale too and see which sells first. As you would have guessed it, after burying two St. Anthony Statues, we sold both houses in two weeks. (A note about St. Anthony Statures---you must bury them upside down in the ground) Our first closing was in December and with no new Florida house, we were forced to rent an air-conditioned storage locker and put all of our possessions in it. Renting a storage locker was definitely a first for us. A bit of advice-no matter how you label things, once they go into storage, it is most difficult to find anything and even to remember what you own. It is strange feeling to visit our home away from home---the storage locker. Another first took place in January. We had a house sale at our Short Hills address. This was definitely a first and probably will be the last time I would have a house sale. I could write an entire article about house sales, but that's for another time. Because our new house was not ready, once again, we put all of our possessions into a warehouse. This time when we put all of our possessions in storage we tried to do some advance planning. But we never imagined we would still be homeless by Passover. So although, we know where the -3-
Hagaddas are, alas, we cannot reach them. . So the last day of January, we finally vacated our beautiful house, which had been home for over 31 years. We were quite sad, but happily we could say we moved in good health and we were blessed to be able to move out in good health and still married, too!! When we vacated Minnisink Road, we thought we would be in our new home by mid March, at most, maybe-six weeks. One of the haunting questions was." Where do we live for this short time period?" We needed "transitional housing. Yes, each of our children offered their homes to us, but we didn't want to be a burden. (That sounds like the typical Jewish guilt syndrome!!) Then we explored living in the Summerfield Suites or a Marriott, but we decided living in these locations would be very confining. Now one of our friends insisted that we come and live at their home. Our friends rationalized to us that moving in to their home would only be for a very short time, that we could have the use of their fax machine, could use their Internet connection and most of all could have the use of the kitchen. For me, having a kitchen is a very important commodity and was the convincing factor. Moving in with friends… that's a really big first. During this time period, Sam and I have been on our best behavior. Our short stay has now reached the three-month marker and happily, we are all still friends. I am sure our landlords can't wait for us to pack up and leave!!! Happily, we have given them two weeks notice. As I write this article for the Seder Plate, I do see the end in sight and yes a very exciting new beginning for us. We take title to our new home next Monday, and should move in shortly there after. Sam and I are looking forward to sharing good times with all of you at our new address, 31 Melrose Lane, Green Village. To round out this year's happening, it's hard to believe that Melissa and Jeff will be married one year on May 30th. Along with our homeless saga, Sam and I are still reliving the beauty of that wedding at Cipriani. 42nd Street. Happy Passover. -Ellen and Sam Max and Debbi Lebersfeld We had a wonderful year since last Passover. Daniel turned 25 and graduated from George Washington Law School. He spent the first half of the summer studying for the New York and New Jersey Bar exams. Good news – he passed them both, so he is now a full fledged lawyer working long hours for Dechert in New York City. Brian is now working in the East Hanover store. He and Daniel are sharing an apartment in the city. Jason, Illana and Gracie moved to West Orange in September. It is so nice to have them closer. Illana brings Gracie to East Hanover at least once a week. Could this be a Capitol employee in the making? And on February 22, Gracie turned one year. She is an active little girl who keeps her parents busy. Now that we are truly empty nesters, we have been doing more traveling. Although we didn’t take a big trip, we did take several shorter ones. Last summer we spent 4 days in St. Petersburg, Russia before a week in the south of France. St. Petersburg was amazing. We highly recommend it. In October, we went to Biarritz, where unfortunately the weather was not great, so we left a day early and spent an extra day in Paris. And after 5 years we returned to Hawaii. It is still just as beautiful and we vowed that we won’t wait another 5 years to return.
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Harriet & Lew Geller Michael and Joan Silver The Silver family is doing well in between sports injuries and cold/flu viruses. Jane is looking forward to Middle School next year. She enjoys swimming, singing, playing computer games, shopping and talking to her camp friends on the phone. Jake is looking forward to starting High School next year. He loves academic challenges, football and basketball. He is a major player for Millburn's traveling basketball team. Hopefully Jake will start to enjoy baseball season...the first game was a little shakey. Daniel is doing well in his first year at Millburn High. He finished up a good football season. He worked hard to make the freshmen baseball team, and he is having a great season. Michael is working diligently in the insurance business. He loves keeping up with Daniel and Jake's football, basketball and baseball games and going out to breakfast with his princess. Joanie's home and family keep her busy. She completed one semester of Seton Hall University's Doctor of Physical Therapy program. She has scaled down to an on-line Physical Therapy Aide degree program. In her spare time she continues to play the piano miserably. We will miss everyone this year at the family seder. Melissa Weinstock and Jeff Foor Happy Passover 5765 to the Geller Clan. 2004 was an exciting year for the youngest Weinstock child. Jeff Foor and I were married on May 30th. We had a beautiful Memorial Day weekend wedding at Cipriani 42nd Street and a wonderful twoweek honeymoon in Hawaii. Almost a year later, the family is still coming down from its wedding ‘high.’ Ask Sam about the hors d'oeuvres—we heard they were fabulous. ☺ We spent the rest of 2004 on the wedding circuit (Boston and Chicago in one weekend) and helping our parents pack up our childhood homes. Jeff and I almost achieved 18 months of simultaneous employment until Freddie Mac shut down my division and I was, once again, on the job hunt. In December, I started a new position as a Senior Business Analyst at the Federal Home Loan Banks, Office of Finance. Jeff is still working as an attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission regulating insurance and annuity products. He is enjoying his time at the government working to protect consumers in their investment product purchases. Jill and Chloe Cohen spent some time visiting us in DC and we are looking forward to more Cohen guests in the coming weeks. We are doing well, trying to survive George W.’s second term and looking forward to the upcoming season of the Nationals. Give us a holler if you are planning to be in the DC metro area. Much Love, Melissa and Jeff
Gloria Schwartz and Family An uneventful year, except that Bubba, Freda Schwartz, died in January, and we all miss her alot. Donna and Jeff, Sydney and Kyle are all fine and still living in Needham, Ma. Right now they are visiting Boca Raton and the folks there. Hopefully they will be with us for Passover. Andy, Dina, Ethan and Jasper are flourishing in Boca. Andy is coaching Ethan's peers in soccer, basketball, baseball, and trying to keep up his law practice. Dina is very much involved with their temple (Beth El) affairs and is on the temple board. Matt is still with Sony Records in N.Y.C. whose clients are producing the number one hits in the country. Dave is still in Boulder, Co. loving his job with Volt. com, a headhunting co., and providing trails and information for the hikers at his website (dschwartz@americanhiker.com). As for me, I plan to retire from the J.C.C. after this year (after 16 years of service). What I will do remains to be seen. Hopefully I won't get
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too bored. That's it for now, hope to see all of you at our annual seder. Glor
Much love to all,
Jill and Barry Cohen-Weinstock Family Happy Passover from the Cohen Clan. Congratulations to the Herclar Club on it’s 35th anniversary Seder. Jill has attended all 35 of these Seders and it is wonderful to be here once again tonight. We feel extremely blessed to be in a country where freedom exists and are thankful for the men and women around the world who are protecting our freedom so that we can celebrate in peace tonight. Life with the Cohen Family is busy and we usually travel at a “frenetic” pace. Sara is 12 and in the 6th grade at Millburn Middle School. She enjoys math, science and is extremely artistic. She was recently participated in a National French Exam and was one of six students on her team to compete in a National Science Contest in Washington, DC. She dances, skis, plays tennis, softball, plays the piano and is a great poker player (if anyone is looking for a good card player to join their game.) She is a big American Idol fan and never misses a show. Cousin Justine will be joining Sara at Camp Robindel in New Hampshire this summer. She is a great big sister to Brett and Chloe and tries to keep “the peace” in a chaotic household. Brett is 9 and in the 3rd grade at Deerfield School. He reads the sports section of the NY Times every morning looking to see the scores on the NJ Devils (when they aren’t on strike), NY Yankees, and the NJ Nets. He loves to play roller hockey and his team is thrilled when he plays goalie. He plays tennis, soccer, basketball, and skis. He is playing Little League on the Jaguars which is part of the Eagle’s chain. He is hoping for the position of 1st base. He enjoys Math and Science and has a great interest in the solar system. He is going to Camp Winadu in the Berkshires for the first time this summer. He is also a great card player and there have been many late night card games where Sara and Brett are the two remaining players. He is a great brother to Sara and Chloe, and is the jokester in the family. Leave it to Brett to add some humor and “crude” entertainment at the dinner table every evening. Chloe is 4 1/2 years old and brings a smile to our faces everyday. She always wakes up happy and on the go. She is eager to get dressed in the morning and start her day. She is extremely independent and “must do everything herself!!” She attends Bnai Jeshrun Preschool where she enjoys yoga, music, computers Spanish and Hebrew (quite the full curriculum for a 4 1/2 year old.) She also enjoys swimming, ballet and tap dancing. She went skiing in Colorado for the first time this year and had a great time. She loves playing with dolls, dress up and borrowing mommy’s lip stick every chance she gets. Her favorite colors are pink and purple. She will be attending Camp Harbor Hills this summer with Cousin Lucas. Barry is busy as usual with his profession in Cardiology. He is frequently speaking at conferences on cardiology and health related issues. He enjoys skiing, politics, and spending time with the family during his free time. Jill has the challenge of keeping everyone happy and sane. She keeps busy with the demands and fulfillments that come with motherhood. We want to wish everyone continued good health, happiness and joy this Passover and for years to come. Jamie and Ken Lebersfeld We are sorry not to be at the HERCLAR seder with all of you. We are thrilled that Joanie and Eric and families will be in Florida this year to celebrate with Mom and Dad and my family. We had another busy year in Florida. Both girls started new schools and are off to great starts. We had a little interruption in the start to the school year with a couple of Hurricanes. There were hundreds of trees down in our neighborhood. We had no power for 5 days with the first Hurricane and 2 days for the second. It was hot and dark. I missed the A/C. The girls missed the internet. At home, our screen enclosure for the pool was destroyed and we have some roof damage. The screens were fixed only recently and we are still waiting for the roof repairs. The Stuart store had the warehouse door blown off. The manager found it a couple of parking lots away. We lost awnings and roof tiles in the Royal Palm Beach store. The -6-
worst damage was in our Palm Beach Gardens store. The showroom was destroyed. We had to rebuild the interior from scratch. It recently reopened on March 1st. It was a nuisance but fortunately, we all survived. Jenna (14) started High School this year. She had a large group of close friends from Middle School that would not be going to the same school. After playing trumpet in the Middle School Band, she decided to join the High School Marching Band. The band performances were the highlight of the Friday night football games (since the football team lost every game they played). Jenna also excelled in her academics earning straight A’s. She has continued to play her electric guitar. She downloads guitar tabs on-line and sometimes accompanies her sister in a pop number. She also took up the French Horn for the High School concert band. The Band Teacher asked her to switch from Trumpet because they were over loaded. Other than music, Jenna enjoys digital photography, videography and Instant Messaging. Alexa (12) started Middle School in Pine Crest. She only had to change buildings not schools. There is a new curriculum and different teachers for each subject. She is still singing in the school Chorus. Alexa is playing French Horn in the Middle School band (she played French Horn before Jenna). She is also looking forward to performing in the Middle School play. Alexa also earned straight A’s. In what little spare time she has, she enjoys Instant Messaging her friends and playing games on-line. She and her friends also compose songs, which they sing in perfect harmony. She also enjoys performing with her friends while Jenna videos. Jamie and I have been busy at the store. The new Capitol Lighting store in western Palm Beach County that opened in last June has been busy. It has also been a challenge getting the Palm Beach Gardens store reopened and bringing our new computer system in to another couple of stores. The girls’ active social schedules have kept Jamie very busy shuttling them around. We wish you all a healthy and safe Pesach!
Cheryl and David Garfinkel It’s hard to believe it’s time for matzo pancakes again! The Garfinkel clan is growing up, getting busier and having some fun along the way. Justine is in third grade at Mendham Township Elementary School. She is doing fantastic academically. She did cheerleading in the Fall for the peewee team and has now decided to play soccer in the Fall...phew! She is participating in a competition Jazz dance team. We are working towards several Spring performances which she is really excited about especially because the costumes are so cool and the music is “Car Wash.” Justine is going to sleep away camp this summer for the first time with her cousin Sara; she can’t wait and we can’t believe summer is coming so fast. Lucas is a fireball of energy and curiosity. He is in his final year of preschool and should be ready for college in the Fall! Lucas has really enjoyed his time at the Hebrew Academy this year where is cousin Jack Lebersfeld has been part of his brat pack. Lucas loves anything sports but right now his passion is baseball and soccer. (Sorry Poppy, it’s all about the Mets, not the Yankees!) Lucas also loves play station, the computer, music and movies. He will be at Harbor Hills this summer with the Kindergarten boys, just ask for Mayor Garfinkel! Oh, you want to hear about the parents too! David and I are moving along at rapid speed trying to juggle work, home and family. We went on some nice trips this year. We went to Spain ALONE. As a family we went to the Dominican Republic, Rehoboth, Delaware, the Atlantis, and recently you could catch a glimpse of us skiing in Vermont. This summer David has offered to be the camp MD for one week at camp Robindel for girls. Needless to say, Lucas is ecstatic about the adventure and Mom has started to map out the quickest route in the middle of the night to a four star hotel! An enjoyable spring and summer to ALL.
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