Jewish Unity Live expected to draw 1,000 to celebration of study
by Enid Weiss, NJJN Staff Writer

Organizers say some 1,000 Jews from all walks of life are expected to attend Jewish Unity Live, a celebration at the Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick on Sunday, March 12, to mark the completion of a course of Torah study by Jews around the country.

This is the second annual event of its kind, explained Rabbi Yehuda Farber, administrator of Torah Links, one of the organizations in the loose coalition of outreach groups that is sponsoring Jewish Unity programs around the United States and Canada. Torah Links is a Marlboro-based program that offers family programming, holiday activities, and Jewish education courses for children and adults. More than 5,000 Jews at five sites participated in last year’s event, Farber said.

This year 10,000 Jews are expected to participate at the celebrations, with about 1,000 attending the program in New Brunswick. The day’s schedule includes a siyum, or completion ceremony. Readers will complete the final portions of the text they have chosen to study as part of “10,000 Jews in the Know,” an educational outreach program that matched participants with study groups, one-on-one mentoring, and home-based curriculum.

Three generations of one family will be showcased at the March 12 event. Lenny Finkel, his 11-year-old daughter Alanna, and his father, Menasha, are Russian immigrants who were uneducated about their Jewish heritage until they began participating in Torah Links activities, said Ella Finkel, Lenny’s wife. Alanna has been studying a book about lashon hara (laws regarding gossip and slander); her father and grandfather have been focusing on a book of Torah commentary in the original Russian by Rabbi Yitzchok Zilber, the late halachic authority and founder of the Russian-speaking religious community in Israel.

Alanna suffers from dysautonomia, a genetic disease that causes a dysfunction of her autonomic nervous system. Symptoms vary but often include pain, sensory loss, or paralysis of a limb. Farber said the Finkels have told him their Jewish studies have helped the family cope with their difficulties.

“We’ve learned and developed a different life,” Ella Finkel said in a telephone interview with NJ Jewish News from their Marlboro home. “My daughter has written a biography of herself and how important Torah has become in her life.”

Participating in last year’s Jewish Unity gave the family “an amazing feeling,” said Finkel. “To be with so many Jews and feel we’re all one — it was very exciting.”

This year the program also includes a motivational speaker, entertainment by Israeli singer Yoel Sharabi and the screening of an inspirational film about Jewish learning produced for the event.

Sharabi’s “forte is getting the crowd involved,” Farber said. “That’s what we’re all about — getting Jews involved. We’re losing a lot of Jews — we’re assimilating at alarming rates. Our goal is to help and perpetuate Judaism.”

It’s difficult to break down the misconception that only scholars with a background in superior Jewish education study Torah, he said, adding that it is fulfilling to see the response of thousands of Jews across the United States to the Jewish Unity program and to “10,000 Jews in the Know.”

“We hear people’s memories are of a boring Hebrew school,” said Farber, but there is so much to explore beyond the basics of an elementary Jewish education. “People should want to walk in. It’s incredible stuff.

“Torah learning is the first step of linking Jews to their heritage…. This is a chance for every Jew to stand proud of his accomplishments in Torah study,” said Farber. “Jewish Unity Live 2006 is not only a celebration of the completion of a unit of Torah study, but a tribute to all the participants who have taken the time and effort to include spirituality in their lives. Their accomplishments should be an inspiration to us all.”