The Seder Plate NI/15/70
-The Herclar Club Passover Newsletter
4/09/09 Issue 13
SEDER FACTS: This is the 39th Annual Seder. It is being held on Thursday April 9th (2nd Seder), 2009 (the 15th of Nissan, 5770) at the Green Brook Country Club, North Caldwell New Jersey. Janice and Joe, Harriet and Lew Schloss led the Seder in memory of Uncle Leo. In addition they are paying tribute to the five Geller siblings who were founders of the Herclar Club. FROM THE EDITOR Howdy. It’s been almost three years that we have been in Florida and things are still going great. Jack (9) is doing very well in 3rd grade. He enjoys his new DSI, the computer, Bokugan and is taking piano lessons. He also recently got his Blue belt in Karate. Hannah (7) is having a great time in 1st grade. She is a very social and friendly girl with lots of friends. She is very expressive and makes us laugh almost every day with a new face. (Showing disdain at her daddy’s jokes is a From Top Left and Going Clockwise: favorite.) Susan is kept very busy with the Aunt Lillie (Weinstock), Herman Geller, Clara Geller, Uncle Max (Geller), Rose kids, teaching Spinning at the new LA Fit- (Lebersfeld), Aunt Nettie (Leven) and Uncle Leo (Geller) ness in Boca and being Captain of her tennis team. I too am playing a bit of tennis, but it will be a while before I go pro like my wife. I also have been teaching Sunday school for the new Humanistic Judaism Congregation in Boca. Hannah is in my class. The lighting business has been challenging, but all the Lebersfelds have been working hard and making good decisions to ensure we come out of this difficult period stronger than ever. We recently returned from a little vacation with my kids and my parents in the Dominican Republic. Our flight home was cancelled after being delayed four hours. We had to get our luggage, get on busses, check into a hotel for the night, wake up early the next day, wait in the airport a few more hours and then finally took off for home. The experience was annoying and tried all our patience, but the book I was reading helped me keep it all in perspective. The book was titled Sarah’s Key. (I wouldn’t have normally picked up that book, but it was on my new Kindle that my parent’s gave to me.) It is the story of a young Jewish girl in Paris in 1942. Her world is shattered by the Vichy governments’ actions against the Jews. While I toiling away waiting in the airport eating Wendy’s and ice cream, I was reading about 10 year old Sarah Starzynky who was herded with thousands of Jews into an old stadium with no food or water for three days. When we had to board busses to go to a hotel for the night, I was reading about Sarah and her family forced onto busses to go to a brutal internment camp. The juxtaposition was very powerful and made me appreciate how profoundly fortunate we are. Our family roots go back to Europe. I know of members of the Lebersfeld family who were killed by the Nazis in Poland. I’m sure we all lost many family members from all the early branches of our family tree. Luckily, our ancestors made the move to America. We here at the Seder start our modern history with the five children of Herman and Clara Geller. They formed the strong trunk that we are the beneficiaries of. We won’t forget them or what they have done. We say goodbye to the “fab five” with the passing of Leo. Leo was an incredible person and has left this world much better than how he found it. He lived a great life and was an example for us all on how to lead the life of a mensch. His easy manner and family focus was a tie that bound us all together. We will remain a strong family with an appreciation of our heritage and a pride in the great people who came before us. I will miss him, but will live each day with the understanding he is still with me. He and his brothers and sisters have given us a strong foundation on which we are adding our own layers of love, accomplishment and Tiken Olam. His life was an absolute blessing. Lastly, I started a Group on Facebook called the Herclar Club. This will be an easy way for all of us to stay in touch and share events, pictures and videos all year round. You have to join Facebook
first, but that only takes a minute or two. Let’s get everyone in. It’s a secure “closed group” so the information is not in the public domain. All the photos that everyone sent to me are on the site even if I was unable to include them here in the Seder Plate. Any pictures or videos taken at the Seder will also be added. Let’s start “Herclar 2.0.” Love to all and Happy Passover. -Eric Lebersfeld NEWS FROM AROUND THE TABLE Greetings from Sam Weinstock I write to you this year feeling bittersweet. This will be the first Seder without the presence of the five siblings of Herman and Clara Geller –Lillian, Max, Rose, Leo and Nettie who have all passed on. This, our 39th Herclar Family Seder, is dedicated to their memory and is a tribute to them, for their vision of keeping the larger family together. Now it is up to all of us to perpetuate this wonderful tradition while at the same time individually each family continues to grow and flourish and live in different geographic locations. From our beginning to now, I count 121 family members and that number will continue to grow as the years go by. As a testimony of our continued growth on May 9th Eric and Katie will be married and on June 13th Casey and Chris will marry. Momentarily, Debbie and Mark will give birth to their first child. We wish all of them a hearty mazel tov and welcome them all into the Herclar family. I want to thank Janice and Harriet for all of the time and research they have put into this evening’s tribute to the five Geller founders and their spouses. A special thank you to Katie (almost Skoloff) for the many hours of artistic work she put into designing and assembling the Herman and Clara Geller Family Tree. With these contributions, I am certain that this year’s Seder is going to be a most memorable one. So let’s celebrate and feel good about our wonderful Geller family. Wishing you all, a sweet Passover and good health in the coming year. -Sam The Skoloff Family I will start out this year by telling you that our family seder in 2008 was on the floor of dad's and mom's bedroom with the Huber family so dad could be a part of our celebration of passover. He enjoyed it. It gave him a great deal of pleasure at a time that otherwise was not pleasureful. As you know , as time went on dad's health declined. His life was a big part of our life through October. We had a long time to say goodbye to each other. There were lots of good things for Joe and me this year including a wonderful summer trip to the Ashville area to spend a week with all our children and grandchildren at a lake house belonging to Katie's family. Then for us came a dream come true, a trip to Africa where we actually met up with Sam and Ellen. Not too long after our return , dad passed away. Sad, but we knew he was in a better place. We miss him very much. We will always remember the warm, healthy, happy man he was. Thanksgiving was spent in Reston at our home with all of our children and grandchildren and Harriet's family. The bonus was that we had mom with us too. Actually we had three other special people there, Jeff and Melissa and Max. They could not go home to New Jersey so we had the pleasure of their company at Thanksgiving. They are forever invited. Then came December and Joe and I were fortunate enough to go to Aruba as we have a timeshare there. It was a much needed rest with no worries as we knew mom was well taken care of. At the time we were in Aruba , Brian was
in Panama with a friend. Must admit I was a little concerned about a trip to Panama, but he had a great time and came home perfectly safe. Brian is still living in West Palm, Florida and is still with the Associated Press. Christmas Holiday was spent in Greenville , SC with Eric, Kati , Sam and Marshall. New Years was a joy, as we spent it in Conn. with Kim, Ernie, Zachary, Ben and Sophia. February took us to Keystone Colorado with Eric and his family where we spent valentines day and Eric's birthday. We had a great time, snowshoeing, tubing with the boys and snowmobiling. We actually road with Sam and Marshall on a huge Cat up the mountain to the continental divide in Keystone. It was an awesome sight. Sam and Marshall at age 8 and 6 are avid snowboarders along with Eric and Katie. Go on Eric's facebook and watch Marshall snowboard. All in all, busy, but wonderful. March the plans started to make our move to change mom's home to Delaware. Wow , what a job, but worth it. Her apartment is lovely and thanks to Joe every picture, mirror and light were up in short order. She is very happy living 5 minutes from Harriet. One of her rooms is full of family pictures from all generations and a beautiful picture of our dad. We feel like he is there with her. Joe and I will be a little over 2 hours away. So now coming to NJ will only be for Herclar Family things. We are happy to be here this year especially to remember the five special people that kept us together. So far so good 39 consecutive years of the Herclar Family Seder. Thank you Aunt Lillie, Aunt Rose, Uncle Max, my dad, and Aunt Nettie . They were the best and they with their spouses created a family of memories for me that will be a part of who I am forever. Happy Passover to all of you and wishing you a wonderful time to follow.
In memory of my dad, my hero, the best example of all good things, the best example of sincerity in everything he ever did. This is for a man who taught me and our family about the importance of family and family connections. He was so proud of this Lebersfeld, Geller, Leven, Weinstock family connection. As you all know, he truly believed we were the "envy of the community" and he did believe this. His laughter , his joys and his life successes will always be apart of me. May I say "dad you are with us at this seder, at our home, at mom's home and everywhere we are, you are there. My dad had the greatest spirit and it will live forever in all the hearts of all of us who continue to love this special man. -Janice Rayme and Mike Rempfer Family This year has been full of love and loss for our family this year. To start off with the love, Presley and Camryn continue to be the loves of our lives! Presley who will be 4 in May is busy with school 3 days a week, gymnastics and now swimming lessons that she loves. She is sassy yet sweet and has not killed her little sister…yet. Camryn is really coming into her own. At 18 months she is talking up a storm. She loves singing and dancing and torturing her big sister whenever she can. She also goes to a gym class once a week and will be starting school a couple days a week in September. Mike and I continue to be busy with work and the kids and are really looking forward to the summer where we have some vacations planned both with the kids and without (now that’s what I call a real vacation!) We love being at the shore with Mike’s family and at the beach with my family and plan on doing a lot of both this summer! We took Presley to her first trip to Disney World this past January and had the best time. Presley loves Disney everything from the princesses to the movies and really took it all in and enjoyed every single second of it. It was a really special time for us to have with her and Camryn ended up having her own mini vacation too spending time and getting spoiled by both sets of grandparents. We are also eagerly awaiting the birth of my sister Debbie’s baby which is due any day now. We don’t know whether it is a girl or a boy, although Presley will tell you it’s a girl. We are excited to have a new addition to the family and can’t wait to meet Baby B! On a sadder note, we lost my grandfather earlier this year and we miss him very much. Presley says that he is up in the sky, with his brother and sisters and her bunny Bailey and that seems to make her feel better, us too in a way. He was a wonderful man who brought so much love into everyone’s
lives and we think of him often and will love him forever. One final highlight, we have been lucky enough to have my grandmother move to Delaware and we are so happy to have her so close now. We have been able to see her more and the family really enjoys having her near by. It will be wonderful for my children to be able to grow up so close to their great grandmother and great for her as well as she seems to get so much pleasure and enjoyment out of them! We wish everyone a happy Passover! Renee and Stuart Baritz Family The Baritz family has had some bright spots since last year's seder. Jared and Rachel were married on April 5, 2008 and will be celebrating their one year anniversary at this year's seder. The year went by very quickly. Casey and Chris became engaged in August 08 with a wedding planned for June 13, 2009. We are all very excited and thrilled to have Chris join our family. Chris will be graduating from Fordham business school this May with an MBA in finance and accounting and will be inducted into the honor society. Everyone has been busy with their work schedules and personal life. Stuart is still of course traveling to Asia and Europe doing what he does. Which he does very well. Everyone else has been working hard, maintaining their jobs in this tough economy. Renee is involved in a new volunteer project. She is mentoring in an after school art program with the Dream Charter School in Harlem. The project is sponsored by Free Arts and the kids are 6 and 7. It is fun and rewarding at the same time. Casey is still with the Private Bank at Citigroup working on events and marketing for them. Jared's company has had some investment opportunities at this time. Rachel continues to do some great things with Fragments. At times like these, we all appreciate our great family and the wonderful relationships we have. We all have our health and each other. We wish you all a wonderful holiday with health, happiness and family. Kim and Ernie Huber Family Life in CT has been well. Our travels last Oct took our family on their first trip to Disney World and on the Disney Cruise. We all enjoyed being together in the "Happiest Place on Earth.� We are in the final stages of a complete renovation on our kitchen. It has been a lot of work since Kim has been acting as the General Contractor. The kitchen does look beautiful and Ernie wants to start cooking because he loves the kitchen so much. Zachary is in kindergarten and enjoys soccer, tennis and drama. He is looking forward to picking up ice hockey in the fall as every good New Englander chooses (from what we understand). Ben and Sophia started preschool this past September and love it. Sophia started ballet and tap last fall, but decided on early retirement. Ben tried his hand at Karate and is currently taking a multi sports class. Ernie is enjoying his job with the Stanley Works and hoping they pull through this terrible economy stronger. Although he is an IT leader, his children prefer to think that he makes screwdrivers and hammers. Kim is busy managing the family, playing chauffeur, being a general contractor, preparing taxes for family and friends and greatly enjoying yoga in her free time. We are happily coming up on our 10 year anniversary this October and planning a wonderful trip to Napa and Sonoma. Grammy and Grandpa Joe have graciously volunteered to take care of their beautiful grandchildren. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Passover. Katie and Eric Skoloff Family It is spring here in South Carolina, and we are happy for the warm weather and flower blossoms. With the season comes a lot of exciting events for the Skoloffs! Eric and I will be getting married on the 9th of May! We hope to see each of you at the wedding to celebrate our love as a couple, and the union of our two families. Eric is working harder than ever. He is with the same company he has been with for over 6 years now, dealing in pain management devices. His company changed
names when they were bought by St. Jude Medical. Now they are St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation. He is the top revenue producer for the entire nation! We are super proud of him. Eric's accomplishments at work are only as wonderful as they are because he manages to make our family his number one priority, even though he balances a very busy schedule and four employees. I (Katie) have had a big time planning the wedding. It has been a joy to find ways to show how blessed we are as a family and to create an occasion to celebrate that. I stay busy too, with my small interior design business and helping with the boy's activities and school projects. Samuel is now 8 years old! He is getting so big, sometimes we just want to stop him from growing up so fast! He is always involved in a lot of fun projects and sports. Right now he is succeeding in Little League Baseball. He has a busy schedule of games and we try to practice a lot in the back yard too. He is a straight A student, and for all of his mental and physical prowess, we are really proud of him. Marshall is 6 years old and he is a little fire ball! We can barely spend 5 minutes in his presence without laughing! He is always dancing or cutting jokes. He is in kindergarten at the same school where Sam attends second grade. It is an excellent curriculum and we feel very blessed to have such an amazing public school right in our neighborhood. Marshall begins his third year of soccer this month and he loves crafts and is also quite the student! Another exciting piece of news we have to be thankful for as a family, is that we bought a piece of land in a beautiful old neighborhood in downtown Greenville! It is situated right between our city skyline and our biggest public park and the zoo. We are thrilled, and hope to start building by the end of this year. I have already drafted the floor plans, all we need is a builder! The home will be a dream come true for us and we hope you will some day be able to visit. Wishing this letter finds each of you well and we send with it a big embrace. Much Love, Katie, Eric, Samuel, and Marshall Skoloff Jamie and Ken Lebersfeld Family We are sorry not to be at the HERCLAR Seder with all of you. We are thrilled to have Eric, Susan, Jack and Hannah in Florida to celebrate with Mom and Dad and my family. We had an eventful, life changing year as we sent our oldest daughter, Jenna, off to college. It was very strange at first setting the dinner table for only 3. The house does seem a little emptier without her. She did wean us gradually because she was rarely home during her last summer before she left. At least, we still have Alexa at home for another couple of years. Jenna, as previously stated, is now a freshman in college. She is freezing her toochas off in Chicago at Northwestern University (the Alma Matter of my cousin Jill). She is currently double majoring in biology and psychology and hopes to become a Brain Surgeon. She has experienced her first bout of cold weather and snow. Her new Midwestern friends chided her for catching snowflakes on her tongue, making a snow angel and throwing snowballs like they did when they first played in the snow. Only they did it when they were 5 years old. She played trumpet in the NU Marching Band and really enjoyed it. The highlight was going to a bowl game in San Antonio, TX. As football season has ended she is playing in the Basketball spirit band and campus Jazz bands. She has a rigorous academic schedule and even more rigorous social schedule. She is always running to and from class and various other events. I am not sure if she sleeps. I am pretty sure she eats. Alexa (16) is a sophomore in High School. She is still
singing and has just performed in the School Show. The show was The Wizard of OZ and she played the part of Dorothy. She attends a performing arts camp over the summer and starred in 2 shows (Spelling Bee and A New Brain). We were able to kidnap her cousin, Jane (Lebersfeld/Silver), to come see her show. Jane’s camp is just a few miles away from Alexa’s. Alexa was busy at a rehearsal so Jamie, Herman, Adele and I decided to surprise Jane and just showed up at her camp. We convinced the Head Counselor to let us take Jane to Alexa’s show. Alexa was very surprised. Alexa is continuing with her band along with her friend, Ashley, who plays guitar. They have recorded several original songs in the studio and you can listen to their music by searching out their MySpace Music page. Just go to MySpace.com and search “Ashley and Alexa.” You can also see videos of their one and only concert on YouTube at Ashley3748. If anyone hears of a producer looking for new talent please send them a link. Jamie and I have been busy at the store. I am enjoying working with my brother, Eric, every day. I get to work with my father every day (that is if he doesn’t have a golf game). I talk to my cousins and Uncle Max almost every day. These are the joys of a family business even when business is becoming more challenging. Working together with my wife, brother, father, uncle and cousins we are navigating these choppy waters in this economy. No matter how bleak the news is, if we have our health and our family then we are lucky and blessed. We are living in the greatest society at the greatest time that humanity has ever experienced. If we feel otherwise it is only that our expectations are so high. We have a reasonable amount of peace and prosperity. Even if some have taken a step backwards we all know it will be only temporary. We wish you all a healthy and safe Pesach! The New Jersey Lebersfelds 1 (aka Max, Debbi, Daniel & Brian) Another year, another grandchild! It’s amazing that after 3 sons, we now have 3 granddaughters. I always told Jason he was going to get his payback for his and his younger brothers’ formative years. We spent 8 days in early March at the Four Seasons in Punta Mita in Mexico. It was truly beautiful and one of the best resorts we’ve ever stayed at. Every day, they would show you some 600lb fish that a 3 year old boy caught with dental floss and a twig and that would be your dinner later that night. It’s been a wonderful year of family for us being with Jason and Illana and their girls as well as Brian and Daniel and their respective girlfriends. Daniel and Allison Baker have been dating for almost two years. Allison is an art director at McCann Ericson. Daniel is still moving his way up the legal ladder at Dechert LLP in New York. He’s been working on some pretty important cases, but if he gives you any specifics, he’ll have to kill you. They’re planning a trip to France and the beaches of Croatia in July. Brian has been dating Lana Serebryanaya (say that 10 times fast) for about 6 months and they just returned from a trip to the Atlantis in the Bahamas. Lana is beginning her career in occupational therapy. Brian is continuing to grow 1800lighting.com into one of the preeminent lighting websites on the internet. He has been shooting informational videos that will soon be viewable online so everyone should check them out! We hope for everyone to have a Happy Passover! The New Jersey Lebersfelds 2 (aka Jason, Illana, Gracie, Addison & Charlotte) It’s becoming clear that I’m going to need more and more space in The Seder Plate just for the names of my kids. If you don’t recognize Illana tonight, that’s because she’s NOT pregnant for a change! Someone reminded me that I’m not Hassidic and that it’s ok to be done at 3 girls! Charlotte Olivia joined our brood this past October. In what is becoming an annual ritual, she took over her older sister’s room. If you look at our house from the outside, it looks like the scene from Real Genius just before the house exploded with popcorn coming out of all the doors and
windows. Gracie is finishing up her final year of preschool and will be off to Kindergarten next year after another summer at Jeff Lakes Day camp. Addison will be starting preschool in the fall. For those that don’t know/remember – preschool is expensive – buy some lights! As for Illana and me, we just got back from the Bahamas – a belated 30th birthday present for Illana. The truth is I’m writing this before we’ve actually gone away but I’m sure it will be a much welcomed vacation. Let’s just hope it wasn’t so good that Illana’s pregnant again… Happy Passover. Debbie and Mark Bednarcik We are still living in Holly Springs, NC where we have been for the past five years. Mark works at Syngenta in research development and chemistry while Debbie continues to be at ECPI, a private technical college, as a Career Advisor, but not for long! We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of "Baby B" whose due date is April 7th. We are very excited about our new addition and hope our "first child" (dog), our 4 and a half year old weimaraner, Dixie feels the same way. We hope everyone is doing well and wish you all much good health and happiness! Jill and Barry Cohen-Weinstock Family Happy Passover and Congratulations to the Herclar Club on its 39th Seder. It is wonderful to be here celebrating with all of you! One important highlight for our family was Brett’s Bar Mitzvah on November 15th 2008. We were fortunate to have the both the Cohen and Weinstock families present to share in this joyous occasion with us. Of course “Brett Rocked” and did a fantastic job in synagogue... inspiring us all that morning! We partied that evening at Brett’s All-Star Celebration where there is a huge rivalry between the Canadian Maple Leafs & the New Jersey Devils. Who do you think was the favored team? Brett is in 7th grade at Millburn Middle School and has a perfect track record with making the school bus every morning at 7:10 am. He enjoys Math and Science, has a great interest in business and would like to be a contestant on “The Apprentice.” He reads the sports section of the NY Times every morning looking to see the scores of the NJ Devils and NY Yankees, hoping that they will be playoff contenders. He plays tennis, has a mean top spin serve and plays 1st base on his baseball team. This will be his 5th summer at Camp Winadu in the Berkshires. He is our resident weatherman, trip coordinator and comedian all in one. He also plays a mean game of poker! Sara is 16 years old and attends Millburn High School. She is a member of the Millburn High School Science team and competes with other High Schools in NJ. Millburn’s team is ranked 1st in the state at this time. She plays 2nd base for the Millburn JV Girls Softball Team. She is active in the French Magazine at Millburn High School and participates in the Iris Teen Tzedakah program through Jewish Federation. This summer she is has been accepted to attend the Biomedical Science Academy at the University of Pennsylvania. She begins driving lessons on Monday…so everyone on the road BEWARE! Chloe is 8 1/2 years old and is in 3rd grade at Deerfield Elementary School. She always has a smile on her face and says hello to every student as she passes them in the hallways of Deerfield. She loves to laugh and her laugh is contagious. She loves to sing and dance to the music on her mother’s Ipod. Chloe has a unique fashion sense and every chance she gets she puts on Mom’s makeup, jewelry and shoes. She enjoys tennis, piano, dance, soccer, and hopefully softball! She loves to bake and lick the
batter, and is the “sous chef” for her Grammy Ellen. She is a great helper in the kitchen putting away the dishes, setting the kitchen table, and unpacking the groceries. She is very organized and actually enjoys folding the laundry!!! She was the cutest “ski bunny” as she cruised down the trails in Vail, Colorado during our recent trip in February. Melissa Weinstock and Jeff Foor Happy Passover 5769. It is hard to believe that another year has passed. It has been an exciting year for Max, growing and changing each week. And it has been an exciting year for us as we learn to adapt to each new phase of parenthood. In May, I returned to work and Max started going to daycare full time. So far, he has been quite adaptable and has thrived at daycare. He seems to love music, will eat just about anything, and amazingly has a rather large vocabulary. But if you get him to say anything, he will probably “woof, woof” at you; to Max, all animals including people “woof!” Luckily, we made it down to Florida several times over the past year and shared Max’s 1st birthday with friends and family in Boca Raton. We also spent a weekend on the Chesapeake Bay with the Garfinkels; it was fun and nice to find a resort so close to DC. On January 20, we had front-row seats on a most exciting event—President Obama’s inauguration. Max and Jeff spent the weekend roaming around trying to see Obama and Biden while they were on the move around town. They met many secret service agents and police dogs along the way—maybe that explains all the “woofing.” We also spent some time in NJ. And in November, we came up to celebrate Brett’s big day. It was a beautiful weekend and Brett did a great job. It was so nice to catch up with family and celebrate together. The next weekend, we were fortunate to celebrate Thanksgiving with Janice and Harriet and their immediate families. We had great fun getting to know their children and grandchildren on a more personal level. During this financial crisis, work has been a challenge for Jeff and me. With the credit markets in a slowdown, the FHLBanks have faced many difficulties; this has made my job more interesting and more stressful. Similarly, Jeff’s role at the SEC has been demanding; while not involved in the Bernie Madoff investigation, it has been an interesting time to regulate mutual funds and insurance companies. Despite this, we both feel lucky to have job security in this difficult environment. We are looking forward to going to Florida in a few weeks to visit Jeff’s niece and nephew, Kimberly and David Haas, who had a baby girl on St. Patty’s Day. It is also our 5-year wedding anniversary on May 30th and we are planning a nice trip to Phoenix in October to celebrate. Max just started walking a few weeks ago; and he is getting more challenging and opinionated. It is hard to believe that he was born just 15 months ago. He is really a little boy now and not a baby. Wishing you a happy and healthy year ahead. Much love, Melissa, Jeff and Max The Muriello Family Muriello Family feels so sad that we won't be joining you at this years special seder. We will be there in spirit sharing the quick reading of the hagada. This year we have spent a lot of great times together with our family. Tony & I will be celebrating our 40th anniversary with a trip to somewhere yet undecided. Nanci & Michael have worked very hard and completed a successful year at their beautiful studio, Big Apple Power Yoga. Check it out on the web. David & Lauren are experiencing the bliss of parenthood with their son Isaac Paul. John, Lindsey & Jake are still loving life in Battery Park City. Love to everyone. The Muriello Family
Ellen and Sam Weinstock As soon as Passover was over, last year we made, what has become, our annual visit to Sea World to celebrate Steven’s 40th birthday. Shamu did not actually sing happy birthday, but Steven and the entire family had a wonderful time together. If you do visit Sea World, be sure and take the behind the scenes tour, it is worth the money if only for removing the stress related to touring one of these big parks and keeping everyone happy. From the whales and penguins of Orlando to experiencing the majesty and beauty of the exotic animal life of Africa. Last September along with four other couples we went on an “Out of Africa Expedition” that took us to South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This trip is a fascinating study in contrasts and the memories will last a life time. Although Sam was the one who really wanted to go—I am now also raving about this trip. Without any advance knowledge, we met Janice and Joe on Table Mountain in South Africa. Look how far we had to go to catch up with them!!. Another one of the highlights of the trip was riding elephants. It is a lot of fun with the hardest part being keeping your legs apart for the duration of the ride. (No pun intended. It’s a good stretch!!!) As soon as we got back from Africa we were off to Ann Arbor to experience big ten foot ball and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sam’s fraternity pledge class. I still can’t believe that Michigan won that game against Wisconsin. Although their football team was not great—you can’t beat the spirit and pride of being a Wolverine. Go Blue!!! Sam and I did spend more time this winter enjoying the Florida life. We were delighted when Justine, Lucas came to visit. A few weeks later, Max visited with us. Keeping up with the grand children does keep you young even though the calendar shows that in July Sam and I will be celebrating our Fiftieth anniversary. Where have the years gone? Let’s keep sharing evenings like this and celebrating together for many more years. Happy Passover everyone. Harriet & Lew Schloss will begin with thoughts of my dad (Uncle Leo), a wonderful guy who was loved, respected and admired by so many for his sense of humor, integrity, honesty and generous heart. How fortunate and proud I am to be his daughter. The standards he set were extremely important to me and how I live my life. On behalf of my family and my mom (Aunt Miriam), we are feeling a great loss especially at this time. Afterall, dad was our biggest cheerleader. Dad loved us and all of you very much. Family meant everything to him. He instilled that feeling in me and I hope I have done the same with our children. Dad often said "we are the envy of the community" and he was so proud. We moved mom to Delaware February 23rd so that she could be closer to us, Rayme, Michael and her great grandchildren Presley and Camryn. Mom has adjusted very well to her new
home and it is good having her only 10 minutes away from us. As for Lew and me, we continue to be busy but one of our favorite things is babysitting for Presley and Camryn once a week or every other week when Rayme goes to QVC or New York for work. They bring so much joy to our life. It won't be long until we have even more joy when Debbie and Mark have their first child due April 7th. I do hope that "Baby B" (for Bednarcik) will wait until after the Herclar Seder to arrive!! Debbie and Mark live in North Carolina and as soon as we get the word, we will be going there to lend a hand. At this point, no big trips are planned except for our 5th annual family vacation at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware in July. Wishing you all good health and happiness at Passover and always. Cheryl and David Garfinkel Family The Garfinkel Family—A happy Passover to all. It is hard to believe another year has gone by and things just keep on moving along; a little too quickly up here in the northeast in my opinion. Justine is approaching the big one-three milestone birthday. We are celebrating her Bat Mitzvah on 6.6.09. She is really excited and working hard getting ready for the big event. Her mother on the other hand is losing her marbles trying to keep all the details and deadlines straight! Justine is returning to Camp Robindel in New Hampshire for her fifth summer. She is still dancing and is getting her ten year trophy from Heartbeat Dance Center. Justine is an avid field hockey player for Mendham Township Middle School. We have our fingers crossed she will be the captain of the middle school team next year. Lucas went to sleep away at Camp Winaukee in New Hampshire this summer. You know what that meant; Mom and Dad were home alone! David forced Cheryl to try to pick up golf during that time. No such luck! Back to Lucas. He plays travel soccer for Mendham. Don’t mess with him, he has a lead foot and you don’t want him kicking you in the shins! Lucas loves watching all sports. He plays baseball in the spring on two teams; little league and a travel baseball team for 9 year olds. Lucas’ other hobby currently is the drums. We offer earplugs to all guests who enter our house! Recently, he started watching the cooking channel with his mom and he just loves the show Hell’s Kitchen. A chef in the family would be so nice. David and Cheryl are not as calm as they were over the summer. We did go on a great vacation to Mexico during the summer. We played golf on a beautiful course there overlooking the ocean. David is still attending to all the women patients in his life and Cheryl is attending to everything else in their lives!! Warmest wishes to all…. Gloria Schwartz and Family Once again, an update from the Wide World of Schwartz. Beginning with the matriarch, Gloria Ann Schwartz, a.k.a. GAS. Gloria has been on cross-country tour by bicycle, sampling Banana Bread recipes from all over the country for her new book, “Banana Bread, the new Penicillin.” She was last heard from in Outer Appalachia, West Virginia scouting out a Truffle-based banana bread with a supposed secret recipe. Turns out the secret ingredient can only be found when two banana breads from the same family get together and have baby banana breads who are linked genetically. Only in West Virginia. Andrew Schwartz, a.k.a The Beast, a.k.a. Knuckles O’Gratin, a.k.a. Lefty McCrackin is still practicing Mafia Law in Boca Raton. Florida. His most recent case, an alleged homicide in which the victim was shot in the back, has made national news. Andrew’s client, a ‘sanitation engineer’, claims self defense. He claims the unarmed man hurt his ‘feelings’ and felt so threatened by the victim’s comments that he had to shoot him or risk further emotional injury. The pre-dug grave in the Everglades remains unexplained. Ethan and Jasper Schwartz, Andrew’s two boys, continue to storm the Boca Raton sports scene, acquiring trophies faster than Joan Rivers acquires Botox. Donna Schwartz Banker recently started her own Spray Tan business…for pets! Seeing an underserved market in pet tanning, Donna has garnered a robust clientele including Lassie XII, Izzy Iguana, The Surfing Squirrel and Gables the Talking Chimp. Through sign language, Gables the Chimp says, “Donna tan good, eat banana. Tan good, banana, hungry”. Gables is clearly a satisfied customer. Children Kyle and Sydney have joined the family business as ‘handlers.’ Matt Schwartz is still working at Verizon, striking
big deals and living the life of a Las Vegas player. Matt recently dated Paris Hilton saying only, “That’s hot”. Matt is planning his next adventure of digging a hole from Short Hills, NJ to Beijing China using only a dull wooden spoon. Baron, Gloria’s Bernese Mountain Dog is gladly eating the dirt that Matt is up-heaving. Matt is currently ¼ towards his goal, having been interrupted briefly by a group of angry Sleestaks near Middle Earth. We wish him well. David Schwartz has been missing in the Montana wilderness since 2007. Since divorcing his wife of 1 year, a Black Bear named Shiva, David had pledged revenge against “all the bears in America.” He was last seen at a post office in Butte, Montana mailing what appeared to be a manuscript entitled “Why Ursine Love is Ruining America.” Now wanted by the Montana authorities for not paying cub-support, David is in the Montana underground being shuffled from safe cabin to safe cabin. Joan and Michael Silver and Family Happy Pesach from the Silver family. We have had a year full of blessings. Michael has been busy underwriting, visiting colleges, and watching sports. These are stressful times in business, but Michael’s sense of humor is still very much in check. TG Daniel is finishing up freshman year at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania. He is working hard as a student in the Sigmund Weis Business School and as a teammate on the Crusader football team. Jake has been enjoying his friends and the freedoms of senior year in Millburn High School. He is looking forward to attending the business school at the University of Maryland this fall. Jane is doing well as a freshman in High School. She continues to be passionate about her love for Camp Wayne, fashion, photography, and Godiva chocolate truffles. Joanie has been cleaning up after everyone and continuing to carry out assorted endeavors with great mediocrity. Adele and Herman Lebersfeld In November Adele and I led a mission to Israel. It started with the International Lion of Judah event in Tel Aviv. Next was the General Assembly which is the meeting of all the UJA federations from around the world. The common problem facing every one of them is the state of the economy and how to continue to provide humanitarian services for the Jewish populations around the world with less money. Many programs had to be cut. We finished the trip with Adele leading our group to visit JDC projects around Jerusalem. Adele is completing her 8th year on the board of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and we are going to Morocco in May with a group including Max and Debbi, to see the completion and dedication of a senior housing project which she was instrumental in starting last year. We are very proud to have Jenna and Dan in college, Jenna is at Northwestern and wants to go into medical research. Dan is at Susquehanna and will pursue a career in business. Jake will be going to The University of Maryland in the fall to study business and sports management. Alexa is finishing her sophomore year. She starred as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz in March at Spanish River High School. She is destined to have her name in lights. Jane is completing 9th grade at Millburn High. She is the queen of fashion and we are sure that the initials JLS will be emblazed on the fashions of the future. Jack, 9 years old and Hannah 7 years old attend St. Andrews school in Boca Raton. They are outstanding students and they love living in Florida. Jack and his computer games are never separated, and Hannah is always looking to see that Jack doesn’t walk into a wall. We are thrilled that they are just blocks away and we get to spend a lot of time with them. As far as keeping in touch, make sure to sign on to Face Book and join the Herclar Club! I recently posted a link on there of a facinating story of my cousin and his exploration of his parent’s extraordinary expereince to survive Nazi Germany. There is so much family history to share. This Herclar Club of Facebook will be a a great way to do it. Please get connected as I did in just a few minutes. Let’s put down everything we have so that our future generations know where they came from! We are happy to be here at the 39th Herclar family Seder and we wish everyone a zissan pesach and a healthy year.
Spectacular Family Tree created by Katie “soon to be� Skoloff
LEO. GONE, BUT FAR FROM FORGOTTON.
When I think about a man who has a deep and quiet soul... who works for what his family needs, takes pleasure in his role... When I think about a man who's had big challenges to face, I think about my dad, about dignity and grace. When I think about a man who in his daily life reveals so much strength and tenderness and depth in what he feels... When I think about a man who always gives the best he can, I think about my dad, my lifelong hero, a good man. From a birthday card written to Leo from Harriet.