The Seder Plate NI/15/67
- The Herclar Club Passover Newsletter -
4/13/06
Issue 10
SEDER FACTS: This is the 36th Annual Seder. It is being held on Thursday April 13th (2nd Seder), 2006 (the 15th of Nissan, 5767) at the Green Brook Country Club, North Caldwell New Jersey. 55 Adults and 15 Children attended. Debbi and Max Lebersfeld led the Seder. FROM THE EDITOR Howdy. My four year old daughter Hannah gave me a good reality check the other day. I was working at the computer one night after dinner. I was paying some bills and getting some tax papers in order. She came up to me with a book and said, “Daddy can you read this to me?” I was very involved in my task, and without looking up I said “Honey, I’m doing something very important now. I’ll read to you later.” There was a little pause, and she said with a mild amount of hurt in her voice, “But… I’m important.” I stopped working, closed my eyes, turned to her and said, “that’s just about the smartest thing I’ve ever heard.” I picked her up and gave her a big hug and we walked away to read her book. I never try to take my wonderful immediate or extended family for granted. Sometimes it happens and it takes the wisdom of a four year old to realize my mistake. We lost one of our matriarchs when Nettie died last month. I will always remember her sweet smile, kind words and warm spirit. We will move to Florida in a few months. Our new home is almost completed and the children are excited for the move. Hannah (4) is busy running the house and attending nursery school. Jack (6) is always happiest making other people laugh at his jokes. He is learning piano and loves to play all kinds of games. Susan is always running and talking on the phone. She is teaching spinning at New York Sports Clubs and hopes to continue that in Florida. As for me, I’m looking forward to working with my brother, but will miss working side by side with my cousins. Jason and I have our webcams set up though, so we will still see each other everyday. Have a great Spring everyone. Happy Exodus. Eric Lebersfeld Tribute to Nettie from Renee My mother was a wonderful person who always put her family first. She was the happiest when her family was around her. She adored her sisters, brothers, children, husband, nieces, nephews and of course her grandchildren. She was very proud of everyone's accomplishments and in her quiet way showed her approval. What you saw was who she was. She had simple desires and was easily satisfied. Her relationship with my father was very special. They adored each other. They were role models for all of us. She was a very strong woman and made those around her strong as well. Nettie was a very charitable person and was always there to help others and those less fortunate. We are all better for having Nettie as a part of our lives. My mother was a precious jewel. She was loved by all and set a high standard for us all to live up to. Ma, I loved you dearly. Rest in peace. I know you’re happy because you are reunited with your Ray. We will miss your forever even though we know you are in a better place. -Renee
-1-
NEWS FROM AROUND THE TABLE Greetings from Sam Weinstock I am very excited to be greeting you once again at the 36th annual Herclar Family Seder. This year we have a record attendance with over 70members of the family who will be celebrating this evenings Seder with us. Together we span five generations and we have grown to be more than 100 descendants of Clara and Herman Geller. During this past year we were blessed with four new additions to the family tree, including the first set of twins. Mazel tov to all the families. We must continue this circle of strength and love that brings us together and adds a wonderful dimension of family to each of our lives. Sadly, we recently experienced the loss of Nettie Leven, the youngest daughter of Clara and Herman. She attended all of the pervious Seders. She was a wonderful woman and a role model for all of us to follow. She will be missed. “May her life be for a blessing for all of us.” Wishing all of you a sweet Passover and continued good health in the coming year. -Sam
The Skoloff Family The best part of 2006 was the birth of our two newest grandchildren, Sophia and Ben and the best part of that is that Joe and I finally have a granddaughter. We now have four adorable little boys and one princess. The highlight for our family was Thanksgiving, just being together with our parents. We usually celebrate in Virginia with Harriet and Lew's family and our mom and dad, but this year traveling was difficult for aunt Miriam and uncle Leo so we brought the mountain to Mohammed and celebrated at the Renaissance Hotel at the Meadowlands where we all stayed for a couple of nights and enjoyed our time together. Aunt Ruth joined us for Thanksgiving dinner and that made it all that much more special. Kim and Ernie are still living in Rhode Island with Zachary, Sophia and Ben. They were considering a move closer to Virginia, but recently Joe and I decided that in the next year we will be moving to be near them, an exciting change for us and hopefully a slower pace for Joe. He will be working there, not retired yet, but hopefully not working as hard as he works now. Eric is doing very well working for St. Jude’s Medical and is in the process of renovating and moving into a new home. He still lives in Greenville with his sons Sam and Marshall who are now 5 and 3 years old. Brian who was just in New Jersey visiting his grandparents has moved to West Palm Beach, Florida and is enjoying living there. We are happy to have him back on the east coast. Joe and I will be celebrating our 40th anniversary this year by spending some time in Austria, northern Italy and Switzerland, an exciting trip which we are looking forward to. That's it for us. We wish everyone a happy and healthy Passover. Adele and Herman Lebersfeld We sold our home at 10 Princeton Terrace to another family from Short Hills. It was quite an ordeal packing up 30 years of our lives into boxes. Sifting through all the memorabilia and photos, reluctantly throwing out “stuff”, giving other treasures away, carefully packing what we could not part with. I threw out 30 years worth of unsorted screws and nuts from my shop…what a trauma. Adele boxed up itineraries from her 36 + missions to Israel and around the world. Thank God for Joanie. She helped with the sorting and decision job. We made many trips to the Short Hills dump with over 50 black bags of wonderful stuff. No one wanted my Selectric typewriter or Eric’s high school project, a solar water heater panel. Ken’s Tonka trucks suffered an ignominious end, and Joanie’s beautiful sand sculptures went back to the earth where they -2-
came from. I hope the Salvation Army uses all the “bedgavant” and other household “goods” we gave them. Our new condo at the Carillon in Livingston Center will be ready in June. Our big trip this year was to India. Adele led a mission with 29 board members of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. We went to see how the “Joint” spends the funds allocated to the India Jewish community. There are 4500 Jews left in India in a population of 1.2 billion Indian people. They have been in India for 2000 years. Most of the Jews moved to Israel when the state was formed. We visited many synagogues from Mumbai to Cochin. We met with 9 residents in the old age home. We had dinner with a group of teenagers from the JCC. They are all studying to be engineers or computer scientists. They are the future of the Indian Jewish Community. We had fun also. Adele rode on top of a huge elephant to throw out the ball that started the elephant polo match. I was on top of another elephant trying to hit the ball with an 8 foot mallet through the goal posts. We saw many of the tourist sites, including the magnificent Taj Mahal. The highlight of our year was celebrating our 45th wedding anniversary with our family and friends at the Newark Museum. Let’s hope to have many more parties with all of you. Hag Sameach! Renee and Stuart Baritz We all are continuing with our busy lives. Stuart now works for Metlife which bought Travelers. Stuart is traveling more then ever, if that is even possible. He now spends at least a week in London, besides going to Japan, Australia, Korea, across the US and Italy. I am sure there are some places I have forgotten. Renee gets to join him on some of his travels. She is working twice a week as a social worker at The Bronx Lab School. Stuart and Renee have just returned from a UJA mission in Morocco. It was fascinating. It was amazing to see Jews, Muslims and Christians coexisting and respecting each other. We could all learn from the Moroccans. Casey is starting to travel like her father. Although her travel is just in the US, it seems that she is always off to do an event somewhere on either coast. She continues in her job as an event planner at the Private Bank for Citibank. Jared still works for a private equity commercial real estate firm. He too, seems to be busier than ever. He continues to do financial analysis for them as well as managing some of their properties. He is also always on the lookout for properties for them to acquire. We all look forward to some quiet time that we can spend together at our home in Sagaponack. Ellen and Sam Weinstock When we wrote our Seder Plate article last year we told you that we had joined the ranks of the homeless when we moved out of our two homes, and put all of our possessions including our twentytwo boxes of photographs into storage. What an uncomfortable feeling. It was almost like losing your identity. Well we are glad to report that one year later, we have two new addresses: one in Green Village, New Jersey and one in Boca Raton Florida. Both locations are great. Sam loves the fact that we have moved out of Essex County –the first time in over 60 years—especially because we now enjoy lower taxes and he really enjoys the more rural setting. In addition, our current life style has permitted us to spend more time at our new house in Florida. This December, we took Steven to his favorite place— Sea World. When Sea World created their newest attraction “Dining with Shamu” they must have had Steven in mind. Upon Steven’s insistence, we got to eat lunch and dinner with Shamu. That is…. eat dinner with Shamu not be eaten by Shamu!!!! . Steven continues to enjoy his oil painting classes. I am going to bring a few of the paintings to the Seder so you can all see them. See what you think. But the best highlight of this past year was participating in our grand daughter, Sara’s Bat Mitzvah. For those family members who attended ----you qvelled along with us. . She was truly outstanding and that’s not grandparents bragging. Just ask the Cantor -3-
at Oheb Shalom!!!. For those of you who like to play golf we just returned from an incredible golf experience in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. This is a special place to visit because the vistas are magnificent and the hotels were so grand.. We shared some fun time together with Jared and Rachael in Cabo who were at the same hotel. Our best to all of the family for a happy Passover. Ellen and Sam
Harriet & Lew Schloss The highlight of this past year has been the birth of Presley Jane Rempfer, our first grandchild born on May 14, 2005. For those of you who are already grandparents, you know it is the best ever! Presley truly lights up our life. Rayme and Mike are wonderful parents and have already taken Presley to Gymboree and swimming classes. We are very fortunate to live not too far from them. Rayme resigned from her job as a buyer for QVC after having Presley but has been fortunate to start working from home as a consultant for a former vendor. Mike graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes nursing school last May and is working full time at the hospital there. Debbie, Mark and Dixie, their weimaraner live outside Raleigh, NC in Holly Springs and love it there. Wished they lived closer but we get to see them every month or so. Debbie is a career counselor at ECPI Technical College and Mark is a biochemist for a Drug company. Lew and I have had several motorcycle rides, the most memorable were to West Virginia, Niagara Falls and Nova Scotia. We are planning a trip to Cape Breton in Nova Scotia in September. We have a wedding in Sedona, AZ after Presley's 1st birthday and from there we will go to Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico but not on the bike! Last July we took our children on a family vacation to Sea Colony in Bethany, DE. We will go back there this summer and hope to make this an annual event. Lew has been retired from DuPont for over a year now and is busy volunteering for CASA (court appointed special advocate) and Read Assist Program tutoring first and second graders once a week. I retired from my job in October or should I say semi-retired since I do fill in when needed. I still volunteer for Read Aloud DE, Meals on Wheels and Kesher Committee through my synagogue. We have been up to New Jersey a lot to visit mom and dad (Aunt Miriam & Uncle Leo). In fact, in November for Thanksgiving, the entire family met at the Marriott Hotel so we could continue the tradition of all being together. Even Aunt Ruth and Leah joined us. It was wonderful! Hope all is well with all of you and your families. Love, Harriet
Michael and Joan Silver Hag sameach from the Silver family. Jane, a sixth grader at Millburn middle school, is working hard, studying for her bat mitzvah, and counting the days until Camp Wayne begins again this summer. Jake is working harder than ever in his first year of high school. He has enjoyed playing high school basketball and football. Daniel, a sophomore at Millburn high, is also working hard. He has decided to give his baseball career a rest and put all his concentration into becoming a lean, mean fighting machine for football (he’s got the lean). And, of course, Michael is working hard to raise money for some home improvements‌all donations are welcome. Joanie has put her education (and mind) on hold, so that she can take care of her family, her house, and herself. She works hard and gets paid in the gratefulness of her children and darling Michael. Thank you to my wonderful family. -4-
Melissa Weinstock and Jeff Foor Happy Passover 5766 to the Geller Clan. We are excited to celebrate with all of you in person this year. Time really does fly by. We have been working hard and taking advantage of DC’s varied cultural opportunities (i.e. bars). We have been to a variety of shows, from Al Green to Alvin Ailey and we even went to an Opera for Valentine’s Day!! We also got an early, behind the scenes peek at DC’s new panda cub. As usual, the past year has been filled with great trips. Without a doubt, the high point of our travels this year was a 10-day trip to Spain last fall. We went to Barcelona, Seville, Cordoba, Granada and Madrid. It was my first time to Spain and I was surprised at the beauty and Mediterranean atmosphere. History, art, and great food, Spain has it all. As Jeff studied in Madrid during college, his Spanish skills and memory of the country made the trip even better. We traveled to Florida a few times to visit Jeff’s family and we continued our wedding tour—visiting Tampa twice in three months. We also spent some time up in NJ, highlighted by Sara Cohen’s fabulous Bat Mitzvah last December—which we got to share with both the Weinstocks and the Foors. Amazingly, it has already been ten years since we graduated college, so we went to Philly last May to catch up with Jeff’s friends at the Penn reunion. And in the fall, we had a failed attempt at going to University of Michigan for Homecoming. Needless to say, US Airways spoiled our plans, so Jeff will have to wait another year before he can experience a game at the “Big House.” We did have another exciting football experience this past summer. We road-tripped to Canton, OH for Dan Marino’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I am such a good wife!! Besides working and traveling, we have continued to look for a house in DC. But with the high price of real estate, we have yet to find anything in our price-range that meets our needs. So, if you are looking for us on a Sunday, we are probably out trolling the open houses in American University Park. Our travels continue as we are going out to San Francisco for my 5-year business school reunion at the end of April. In addition, we are looking forward to visits from the Cohens and Foors in May and traveling with the family to celebrate Sam’s 70th next year. As usual, we are trying to avoid the latest scandals and protests on Capitol Hill. Definitely look us up if you are planning to be in the DC area. Much Love, Melissa Weinstock and Jeff Foor
Gloria Schwartz and Family And now it is time for the Wide World of Schwartz! From around the globe, here is the latest on the Schwartz Clan. Andrew and Dina are kicking it old school down in SoBo (South Boca Raton) and their two handsome sons Ethan and Jasper have joined the "Jog Road Crips" gang. The two boys split their time between running in place and staring directly at the sun. Due to the influx of mafia into South Florida, Andrew's law practice is thriving, yet Andrew hasn't been seen in over 3 weeks. We're sure he's just "resting.” I'm sure if he were not missing, he'd wish everyone a Happy Passover. Donna and Jeff Banker remain in Need-a-ham, Massachusetts with their two beautiful kids Sydney and Kyle. Jeff recently became an ordained minister for the local Baptist church and Donna is continuing with her successful Gospel career. Her latest hit, "Thank God for Manicures" recently hit # 456,912 on the charts and she is hard at work producing her next album entitled simply, "Q". No one is sure what that means. Sydney and Kyle are currently being home schooled by the family's three cats. Sydney's reading is now at level "Meow". Kyle recently learned that kitty litter is not the same thing as the candy "Nerds". Matthew recently changed jobs and is working for Verizon Wireless in their Mobile Music Division. While he says he is working, people claimed to have seen Matthew asleep in the bedding section at Macy's in Manhattan. When confronted by his family on the issue, Matthew simply stated, "What were YOU doing there at 3am?". He had a great point, so we dropped the issue. We believe he remains living in Manhattan, which ironically spells "Matt" if you remove 2 n's, 2 a's and 1 h. Coincidence? We think not. Dave is still somewhere in Colorado. Last we heard, he had trapped his backpack under a boulder and became trapped -5-
for days. It took him 5 days to realize that he wasn't actually wearing the backpack, at which point he simply walked back to his car unscathed. Shortly after that incident, he married a nice Jewish bear'ess and has changed his name to "Grrrrr". And last but most, the matriarch... Gloria Schwartz. Gloria was recently tapped by the Centers For Disease Control in Atlanta to lead a flagship study on allergies to cats. It appears that Gloria's penchant for taking in sick animals all these years might end up curing the Bird Flu. An antibody, found growing only within the Schwartz house, has been cultured by scientists and has already been found to cure 786 known ailments including: runny nose, non-runny nose, jumping up and down disorder, head leaning disorder as well as the formerly incurable disease of "constant eye blinking.” Mazol Tov Gloria for all your hard work! Jill and Barry Cohen-Weinstock Family Happy Passover from the Cohen Clan. Congratulations to the Herclar Club on its 36th anniversary Seder. A great highlight for our family this year was when Sara Marielle became a Bat Mitzvah on Dec 17th 2005. She was inspirational during her Shabbat service and was the “star of the party” that evening at Greenbrook Country Club. Brett and Chloe celebrated the night away with their big sister!! Sara attends Millburn Middle School and enjoys math, science and is extremely artistic. She dances, skis, plays tennis, softball, plays the piano and is a great poker player. She is a big American Idol fan and has converted the rest of us to watch the show too. It is now a family event. Brett is 10 and in the 4th grade at Deerfield School. He reads the sports section of the NY Times every morning looking to see the scores on the NJ Devils and NY Yankees. 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 Marlins 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 business and history. He went to Camp Winadu in the Berkshires and received the “character of the year” award for his age group. 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 5 1/2 years old and attends kindergarten at Deerfield Elementary School. She is extremely independent and “must do everything herself!!” She always has a smile on her face and says hello to every student as she passes them in the hallways of Deerfield. She enjoys swimming, ballet, art, soccer, dress up, and playing with dolls. She skied in Colorado and skied down from the top of Vail Mountain. It was a great accomplishment for her and great highlight for Barry. Her favorite colors are pink and purple, the more glitter the better and every chance she gets she borrows mommy’s lipstick. She attends Camp Harbor Hills in the 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. She has started an Interior Design business which she can devote her “extra time” to now that she is post Bat Mitzvah. She does Yoga for relaxation (we are all for that). We want to wish everyone continued good health, happiness and joy this Passover and for years to come. -6-
Jamie and Ken Lebersfeld The highlight of our year was Alexa’s Bat Mitzvah. Alexa grew eager and nervous as the date closed. Unfortunately, so did another woman named Hurricane Wilma. We watched the news reports wondering when and where she would strike and the timing could not have been worse. With just a few days before the Bat Mitzvah and such a wide swath of Palm Beach County without power, it was clear that the festivities that were planned were not going to happen. We had Friday night services by candlelight and shirtsleeves with just a few people in attendance. Saturday services were also without lights or air conditioning. The reception had to be postponed but finally happened about a month later. Alexa has been excelling in school. She is still singing in chorus and playing the French Horn in the Band. She enjoys IM’ing and talking to her friends. She and Jenna rarely miss an episode of The O.C. Jenna is almost sweet sixteen (4/16). She is eagerly looking forward to getting her driver’s license. She has her learners permit and is always asking to drive wherever we go. She’s an excellent driver. Her sophomore year she has chosen a very challenging academic schedule. She has two AP classes this year and the rest are honors. She is still playing trumpet in Marching Band and Concert Band. She misses playing basketball but at 5’ 1”, it was too difficult to be competitive. Jamie and I have had been feeling a little older. We recently went to a friend’s 50th birthday party. We have also been to two second weddings this year. The new Florida store is doing well and business is good overall. We had no significant damage from the Hurricanes this year. We wish you all a safe and peaceful Pesach. The Gellers All is well with the NJ Gellers. Ruth is in great shape for the shape she is in—she will be 97 on October 4th. She walks with a walker around the house, but we make her use a wheelchair in public. She doesn’t need it, but it makes us all feel better. She might not be able to use her legs well, but her mind is clear, so that is a small price to pay. We are all very lucky to have her around to yell at us. Roz sold her building in Perth Amboy and is now making outerwear out of another factory in Elizabeth—across from the airport. It is newer and more efficient and she is much happier with the commute. Stanley is working whenever he feels like it for Allied Office Supply in the collections department in the Clifton office. Besides going to the gym everyday, it gives him something else to do with his day. There is only so much time he can spend at Costco. Roz’s daughter Sari just gave birth to her and Mads’ second daughter, Maddie Rose on March 9th. Sofie, their first, is 23 months old. Her son, Jason is doing very well at Schott Brothers. He also enjoys bringing up his 2 daughters, Alexis and Sydney, 8 and 5 respectively. Roz and Stanley are busy traveling—they went on a Norwegian cruise the last 2 weeks of December, went boating with 2 other couples in the British Virgin Islands in February, and are taking their own boat with another couple in Venice for 2 weeks in June. They are also throwing some smaller land trips in to France and Asia. Beth is coming to the Seder directly from the airport. She spent the last 2 weeks traveling to Barcelona, Marrakech, and Paris with friends. She is looking forward to this summer, where she rented a beach house for 4 ½ months with friends in Beach Haven. In January, she opened an Endermologie Studio called Just Be Smooth on Millburn Avenue in downtown Millburn (over Bagel Chateau). Yes, she is finding time to work. There, she and her 2 employees give 35 minute treatments to people to help them get rid of their cellulite, saddle bags, and love handles. Finally, Beth and Stanley have a purchase agreement to buy 15 acres of land in Clinton Township, NJ on Route 22. They, with a real estate developer partner, will build a small retail center. We expect to close on the land and start breaking ground at the end of 2006. -7-
Joseph Levin In the Joseph Leven family, we are very happy because Seth has become engaged to Alexis, they currently live in NYC and happily will be remaining there because Seth will be a resident at Lennox Hill Hospital in the coming year. Seth will be graduating med school in June and will be officially Doctor Leven. As for their wedding plans they are looking at several different options. In meantime, Andrew is very happy at Emerson College were he with a group of collaborators are independently producing and directing a television show that appears on the Emerson channel. He is having great success in developing his skills in television and movies. We expect great things. Joseph Leven The Remaining Lebersfelds (aka Max, Debbi, Daniel, Brian, Jason, Illana & Gracie) Well, at least some Lebersfelds actually like New Jersey and plan to keep their permanent residence here. Besides, who wants to sit behind someone driving 6mph out of town because of the 14th hurricane warning in the last 15 days? Don’t worry…we’ll take you all back. We’ve had some fun this last year and we’ve got nice round numbers coming up this year. Max and Debbi have been burning through frequent flyer miles visiting warm places like Cabo San Lucas, important places like Israel, blindly ignorant places like Paris, and of course, Antibes. Debbi forgot to pay off Tony Soprano in early January and had her foot broken (actually Dr. David Levine of HSS broke her foot as part of necessary bunion surgery, which has since healed quite nicely). Although, while she was laid up and unable to drive for two months, American Express enlisted federal marshals to make sure that she was ok. Max is turning 60 in November and is quite close to being able to get his golf score average down to the always respected “double your age” level. Daniel is in his second year at the law firm of Dechert LLP in NYC. At least that’s where we think he is. His job keeps him at the office late enough that the janitors ask him to lock up. During the few hours a month that he is not at the office, he’s living with Brian on the Upper West Side (and yes, it is in fact a DEE-lux apartment in the sky). Brian, who will be 25 this summer, is still running Capitol Lighting’s 1800lighting.com website and growing it almost daily. We ask that all family start purchasing your lighting from there and leave us alone (just kidding…no REALLY, we’re just kidding…we love when you all come in….really, we do). We’re also VERY happy to introduce all of you to Brian’s girlfriend, Phyllis Roback. They’ve been seeing each other for over six months and we’re excited to say that the other women in the family love her…so she’s got that part covered. Jason and Illana really only exist now as a way of entertaining Gracie (although she’s probably entertaining herself by swiping at your food and silverware as you read this). She is now a world-renowned critic on children’s television (“Max and Ruby” is her current raison d’etre). Camp at B’Nai Abraham begins this summer with pre-school to follow in the fall. Gracie would also like to congratulate her father on turning 30 on May 15th. The difference is that Gracie will be getting presents, not her dad (aren’t they all for Gracie, anyway)? We hope that everyone has a healthy and happy new year…wait, wrong holiday? OK, well then we hope everyone enjoys their hummantachen….what…wrong again? Apples and honey? No…uhhh. Fast fast? Nope. I guess this is what happens when Jason is allowed to write for the family. Happy Passover!
-8-