Marriage and Family Celebration Day, HIghland Park, NJ - 11/02

Fri Nov 22 21:44:43 EST 2002

subject: Marriage and Family Celebration Day, HIghland Park, NJ  - 11/02

from: Smart Marriages®

This shows the kinds of things that can be done to celebrate marriage in
your community - 101 Ways and counting....  - diane

###############

Couples agree 25 years of marriage is worth more than silver

Friday, November 15, 2002

BY JOE TYRRELL
Star-Ledger Staff

For 25th wedding anniversaries, some couples celebrate by gathering with
family and friends while others take off for exotic locales as far from
their daily lives as possible.

But 26 couples in Highland Park, Edison and East Brunswick have come up with
another alternative: Through their synagogues and the Union of Orthodox
Congregations, they are sponsoring a series of free lectures on marriage and
family life.

Over the years, organizer Alan Singer of Edison said, he and wife Lanie have
marked significant anniversaries with several other couples from the area.
Often, they just celebrated after worship with a kiddish, a spread of food
and drink to mark a special event.

"But we all discussed that for our 25th year, we should do something a
little more significant," he said.

As the Singers talked it over with friends, and more people put their 2
cents in, they found some common threads. They wanted to say something
positive about the importance of marriage, he said, but they also had a
question: "What should couples be thinking about after 25 years together?"

Raising such questions publicly, and bringing in respected speakers to add
their thoughts, seemed like an ideal process, participants said.

"This is something that doesn't get shared on a community basis," said Abe
Schwartzbard of Edison, who will mark his 30th anniversary with his wife
Lois next month.

The idea of broadening the discussion and opening it to anyone made it more
attractive, said Judith Rebacz of Highland Park, as sharing is "an
important part of the Orthodox community."

The timing is also right for something substantive, said Shoshana Diskind
of Edison. "With Sept. 11 and the situation in Israel," a party didn't seem
the right way to mark 25 years with her husband Ted, she said.

Besides, she added, she wants to hear the perspectives of speakers such as
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, who is scheduled to launch the series at 8 p.m.
tomorrow at Congregation Ohav Emeth in Highland Park.

"I'm interested to hear his thoughts on the state of marriage these days,
and what it should be in the Orthodox community," Diskind said.

"Even things that you take for granted, sometimes it's nice to hear them
from somebody who's a professional," said Susan Wolf of Edison. "We're all
busy, we're all working, we're all parents, so it's good to talk about all
these things."

It's also good for children to see marriage and parenting given attention
and respect, said Schwartzbard, who has six children ranging from ages 9 to
26, and two grandchildren. "When you raise them in an area like this,
Edison-Highland Park, the community helps raise them with you," he said.

The organizers agree that their own thoughts about marriage and family
focus on the conventional: the importance of communication, respect and
"family time."

Singer and his wife met 30 years ago, when they were counselors at a camp
for handicapped children, he said. After all this time, acquaintances ask
them "what's the secret" to staying together, Singer said.

There is no secret, he said.

"Marriage is a wonderful institution that has perpetuity built into it," he
said. "It's built in because of what it means -- it's the roots of family
life."

The lecture series continues on Dec. 15, when Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weireb will
speak on "Parallel Promises: the Bond of Marriage and our Bond to the Land
of Israel" at Congregation Ahavas Achim in Highland Park; Jan. 5, Norman
Blumenthal will speak on "An Ounce of Prevention: Catching Teen Problems
Early" at Congregation Ohr Torah in Edison; and Feb. 8, David Pelcovitz
will address "How to Speak so Your Spouse Will Listen" at Young Israel of
East Brunswick.

Joe Tyrrell covers Edison. He can be reached at jtyrrell at starled ger.com or
(732) 634-6482.

***************************************************************************

Office of the Mayor

Proclamation

WHEREAS, Rabbi Eliyahau Kaufman, and his predecessor, Rabbi Emeritus
Eliezer Kaminetzky of the Congregation Ohav Emeth in Highland Park have
played a pivotal role in fostering a culture of sharing good fortune and
blessings with the community; and

WHEREAS, eleven couples, members of Congregation Ohav Emeth, are
celebrating marriages of a quarter century or more; and

WHEREAS, these eleven couples, in a spirit of friendship and love for the
community, have elected to celebrate their marriages and their blessings
with the community; and

WHEREAS, these eleven couples have become role models through devotion
Torah, and have created nurturing and caring homes for each other and their
families; and

WHEREAS, the pace of life and the times in which we live often leave little
time to recognize the accomplishments of loving, caring partners, as well as
the accomplishments of strong role-models and supportive parents to
children; and

WHEREAS, they are, as devoted partners and parents, and as dedicated
community members for more than twenty-five years, a blessing and a gift to
the entire community,

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Meryl Frank, Mayor of the Borough of Highland Park,
County of Middlesex, State of New Jersey, do hereby proclaim November 16,
2002

 "MARRIAGE AND FAMILY CELEBRATION DAY"

in the Borough of Highland Park, in their honor, and commend these eleven
couples for their years of devotion to each other, their families, their
synagogue and their community.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have here et my hand and the Seal of the Borough of
Highland Park, this 16th  day of November, 2002

Meryl Frank, Mayor

**************************
To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE, or change your address,
visit http://www.smartmarriages.com  Click Newsletter. Enter your
address in the appropriate box and proceed.

This is a moderated list. Replies are read by Diane Sollee, editor. Please
indicate if your response is NOT to be shared with the list.

This newslist shares information on marriage, divorce and  educational
approaches.  Opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by members of the
Coalition.

Newsletter archive - to read ALL past posts to the newsletter:
http://archives.his.com/smartmarriages/index.html#start

7th annual Smart Marriages conference/RENO, Nevada
June 26-29, 2003  http://www.smartmarriages.com/conferencedetails.html

List your program in the Directory of Classes at www.smartmarriages.com

Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education, LLC (CMFCE)
Diane Sollee, Director
5310 Belt Rd NW,   Washington, DC 20015-1961
www.smartmarriages.com  202-362-3332
cmfce at smartmarriages.com

FAIR USE NOTICE: This e-newsletter contains copyrighted material the use of
which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We
make such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of
marriage, family, couples, divorce, legislation, family breakdown, etc. We
understand this constitutes a 'fair use' of such material as provided
for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit
to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research and educational purposes. For more information go
to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use
copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond
'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

--  