Welcoming Bar and May Henny Simon Tribute
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Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage E PAID Norwich, CT 06360 Permit #329 TH RETURN TO: 28 Channing St., New London, CT 06320 Serving The Jewish Communities of Eastern Connecticut & Western R.I. CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED VOL. XLIII NO. 8 PUBLISHED BI-WEEKLY WWW.JEWISHLEADERWEBPAPER.COM APRIL 21, 2017/26 NISAN 5777 NEXT DEADLINE APRIL 28, 2017 16 PAGES HOW TO REACH US - BY PHONE 860-442-8062 • BY FAX 860-443-4175 • BY EMAIL [email protected] • BY MAIL: 28 CHANNING STREET, NEW LONDON, CT 06320 Henny Simon tribute Israel Independence Day SEE AD ON PAGE 16 By Jerry Fischer, JFEC Executive Director Monday, May 1 ed by hearing the war th RayThese Gawendo are the names; these are the witness- stories, encouraged Come celebrate Israel’s 69 birthday on , es:Oleg Elperin Henny to speak. She hosted at Congregation Beth El, 660 Ocean Ave, New London Sigmund Strochlitz(January 4, 1915 - ) started locally, in the with Emissaries Tal and Guy5:45 who PM are with planning a Torch another Lighting “knock & (July 12, 1932st - ) Colchester schools, Ayour Little socks Something off” event Extra. for the community’s enjoyment. Eva Powell (1 night Chanukah and then, through the The evening kicks off at 1916 - August 12, 2006) z’l Strochlitz Holocaust Volunteers from our community will Rabbi Isidore(November Greengrass 1, 1925 - July 28, Resource Center, re- have the honor of lighting 12 candles representing the 12 tribes 2009) gionally, in just about of Israel.At around This 6:30custom an began Israeli in meal Israel following the birth of the Jacob Biber (December 12, every school district state. The Little Something Extra is a surprise, so don’t be late. 1912 – August 12, 2009) z’l in eastern Connecti- of falafel, shawarma, hum- Henry Drobiarz(March 15, 1915 – November cut, and in the State Capitol for the officlal State mus, Israeli salads and pizza will be available. The meal will con- 21, 2009) z’l Commemoration. She was a nervous wreck clude with a “homemade” parevecontact birthday Mimi at cake. the Jewish Federa- Ruth Vogel (June 1, 1919 – September for that speech, but Romana Strochlitz Primus tionThe food is always delicious and to be sure we prepare enough and set up enough tables, 9, 2010) z’l coached her through the writing and presenta- INDEPENDENCE DAY CONT. ON PG 12 Mira Kil (March 19, 1919 – December 10, tion of the speech, and she was exemplary. via phone or email (preferable) to let us know your plans by 2013) z’l Abram Markiewicz and Bob Simon were two Yom Hashoah commemoration Elie Wiesel(December 8, 1925 – April 28, of four loves that Henny had in her life. Her SEE AD ON PAGE 16 2014) z’l first love was a man who proposed to her in the Henny Rosenbaum(September Markiewicz 30, 1928 – SimonJuly 2, ghetto. The engagement ring is on display in On Sunday, April 23, at 3:30 pm 2016) z’l the Museum of Jewish Heritage in NYC. I do not know his name. I asked Henny about it a few the Community Holocaust (JulyWe 15, have 1925 two – Aprilleft… 4, 2017) z’l weeks ago, after we had taken all this year’s Commemoration Service will be held at the Zachs Hillel House Encountering Survivor students to the Museum on the campus of Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Avenue in and I had shown them the ring. She flashed a New London. There are a few more survivors in our com- smile at me and just said “He was something. There will be a musical prelude, a responsive reading and a munity. One or two still living, most gone. They But he was killed, like most of the others taken Memorial Candle Lighting ceremony with survivors and children too were witnesses, but just to their family, and out of the ghetto.” of survivors lighting candles while students from the general even then, perhaps, grudgingly and sparingly And then, in the last years of her life she met and Jewish community and from the College will narrate a dedi- did they share their experiences. The pain was Ben Cooper. He had been a medic in WW II, and cation for each candle. “Defying too great. part of the army that liberated Dachau. They theFollowing Nazis: The the Sharps’ Commemoration War,” Service, we will adjourn to For Henny Simon the pain was also too great, met at a State Holocaust Commemoration ser- the Olin Science Center theater for a 4:30 screening of especially perhaps for her late husband Abram. vice, and were companions for the past seven with commentary by film maker He did not let her speak of her experiences dur- years, speaking jointly in schools and spending Artemis A. W. Joukowsky, grandson of the Sharps, and Helen R. ing their marriage. During the war Abram had time in each other’s homes. As Ben said, they Dewey, another Sharps family member and a 1969 graduate of lost a wife and child to the Nazi murder ma- were guardian angels for each other. Connecticut College. chine. He did not want to hear about the war. Ben called me at theSIMON Federation CONT. shortly ON afterPG 7 The Commemoration Service and Film are co-sponsored by When Henny remarried, her new husband, the JFEC, the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and the Zachs withoutA anyreunion personal pain that would like be reignit- no other: welcomingHillel House of Connecticut Bar College. and May By Marcia Reinhard, JFEC Asst. Director ter proof of this than what was them. seen this past Sunday, April 16 May and Bar were a “dynamic duo” during their The Jewish Federation pro- between 5 and 7:30pm when year of service with us and not much has changed vides many programs and ser- approximately 70 to 80 people since then. They have stayed very close friends and vices to our Jewish and general converged at Temple Emanu- about halfway through the evening, made a presen- communities. However, there El for a reception being held tation for us sharing their lives and all that has hap- is no program quite like that of for May Abudraham and Bar pened since they left us almost three years ago. Their our Partnership 2000 and now Halgoa – Young Emissaries presentation included pictures of both of them be- Partnership2gether Young Em- from 2013-14. May and Bar ar- coming officers in the military, (Bar is now a Captain issary program. It has become rived separately, but managed in the Israeli Navy and May is a 1st Lieut. in the Intel- the “Jewel” of our community. to have their visits overlap. ligence Forces) attending one another’s ceremonies, The ties that are made dur- Bar and May with Tal and Guy. Since they were here together seeing people from our community whenever any ing the ten to twelve months and had made such a huge im- of us travel to Israel and sharing their own travels that our Israeli Young Emis- pact on so many people in our around their country together, sometimes with many saries are here are unbreak- community, (as so many of the other emissaries from their year. Their presentation able. The connections continue long after they return Young Emissaries do), we at the Federation in coop- even included their first encounter with Tal and Guy, home, join the military, leave the military, get mar- eration with their past host families, decided it would our current and very wonderfulREUNION Young CONT. Emissaries ON PG 10 ried and have children of their own. There is no bet- be fitting to have a “Welcome Home” reception for 2 THE JEWISH LEADER, APRIL 21, 2017 and it appears the award is not given out ev- Secret tunnels helped Mention & Menschen ery year. The National Storytelling Network is Jews escape Vilna NADINE LIPMAN dedicated to advancing the art of storytell- By Curt Schleier, Forward [email protected] ing – as a performing art, a process of cul- - tural transformation, and more. Leaves Award is presented to those members theyHolocaust use the latest Escape ground Tunnel,” radar the techniques latest episode to re-discover in the PBS an sciim- of the storytelling community whoThe have Talking made enceportant series piece “Nova” of Jewish follows history a group in Vilna. of scholars and engineers as outstanding contributions to the literary body of storytelling as authors, editors or collectors. - Napoleon called Vilna (now officially Vilnius) the “Jerusalem- late Hazzan Samuel and Dora Manchester who ofist thewho North.” encouraged It was his home students to Elijah to study ben science.Solomon Jews Zalman, made bet up Peninnah, of course, is the daughter of the ter40% known of a city as thatthe Vilnaboasted Gaon, 100 the synagogues, Talmudic scholarsix newspapers and Kabbal and the largest Jewish library in the world. But then came the Nazis. residedin New London!in the Jewish Federation office before it - was the Federation office (at 28 Channing St.) sity of Hartford, led the group that went to Vilna. Three years ago,Dr. he Richard said in Freund,a telephone professor interview of Jewish with historyThe Forward at the Univerthat he was approached by Dr. Jon Seligman, a noted archeologist with the Antiquities Authority of Israel, who wanted to discover if any Family Bat Mitzvah photo! Judy, Kirk, Robyn, remnants of the Great Synagogue of Vilna might be found. Max, and David Engel, and Elsie Fetterman An architectural masterpiece built almost 400 years ago, the traveled to Israel to celebrate the Bat Mitzvah synagogue was destroyed by the Nazis and, after the war, the So- of Eden Gold, daughter of Bethami (yes, she did viets built a school on the site.