Haddonfield Jewish Center "We Definitely Have the Seeds"

HADDONFIELD JEWISH CENTER “WE DEFINITELY HAVE THE SEEDS OF A COMMUNITY”

Haddonfield Jewish Center will bloom in the years ahead because "We are not yet flowering but definitely have the seeds of a community" according to Founding Cantor Scott Borsky.

Fledgling efforts to put together an organizational structure will soon be underway in the months after this summer to provide a place to be comfortable being openly Jewish somewhere in Haddonfield nj so that Jews and non Jews alike can enjoy the future benefits of a flourishing Jewish perspective and it's wonderful culture in the small Haddonfield community. Everyone is welcome to participate in creating and building this new vision of a diverse religious life in Haddonfield.

"I am overjoyed at the response" said Dr Ilise Levy Feitshans "so many people have written to me with wonderful supportive ideas. And one lady , Rita Karpo had lent her artwork to decorate our meetings already".

Eager to see the important values of Jewish daily life regarding eating clothing and principled action take their rightful place among the recognized values of the rich Haddonfield cultural tapestry Ilise has temporarily allowed her home to be an accessible place for meetings about all things Jewish in Haddonfield noting" I would love to hear prayers during services and I dream of having celebrations of holidays right in Haddonfield in a place anyone who wants to experience judiasm can consider their home"

For this reason Founding President of the Haddonfield Jewish Center Dr Ilise Levy Feitshans JD and ScM and DIRe WelcomedCantor Scott Borsky to the cosseted Haddonfield community. As you may have read in the Haddonfield Sun and other media outlets Cantor Borsky is the very first Jewish clergy to take on the unenviable and nonetheless prodigious task of starting the early embryonic efforts of maybe someday creating a future Haddonfield Jewish Center.

At this time these early efforts to grow an important cultural Jewish Center in Haddonfield are merely the germs of an idea… not yet sprouting bylaws or finalized articles of incorporation; with vacancies awaiting board of directors.

" We don't have an organization or structure yet. What the Jewish Center does have is: dozens if not hundreds of cheerleaders in the local area who have written to us with praise and words of encouragement and also their requests for help and...... most rewarding of all their very creative ideas for events and activities celebrating the richness of Jewish culture" she said.

For example, Rita Karpo, who also attends painting classes at the Haddonfield Mable Kay Center proclaimed that the organizers of the fledgling Jewish Center have already accomplished something very special, “What a mitzvah you gave to your community for Purim! It was educational and entertaining. … Thank you for your efforts to bring together the Jewish community for the reading of the magilla ( the story of esther)”

Haddonfield has 13 churches and no synagogues, therefore no place to ask questions or be Jewish. For the young people like students in Haddonfield Middles School establishing a place designated for Jewish activity means that Jews are not excluded as outsiders anymore, despite the history when covenants against selling real property to Jews gave Haddonfield a monochromatic view of America's religous heritage

"Cantor Borsky walking in the door of the National Day of Prayer breakfast was a path breaking first step along a road that bringing joy and celebration to our entire town ". Dr Feitshans continued.

With so many families having so called mixed marriages in the Haddonfield vicinity (including the children of one beloved former mayor of Haddonfield and so many prominent Jewish families from Haddonfield growing weary of a closeted approach to Jewish ritual and therefore leaving Haddonfield when their children have grown ( including the town's retired administrator and his wife the chair if the board of education and his wife and a currently sitting nj supreme Court Justice and his wife) Cantor Borsky is bravely ready to lead a group of dedicated people to attempt to fill Haddonfield's communitarian unmet need to include Jewish culture in its rich culture.

The plans for what can be done, however, are very far from developed No one has put formal tasks onto paper to create committees or a timeframe for a strategic plan or committed any specific resources; at this time the Haddonfield Jewish Center remains an embryonic idea

But an important idea.

First the idea that “this land belongs to you and me” rang true when Cantor Borsky arrived for the first time as a guest of Pastor Michael Feict at the national Day of Prayer Breakfast with the Haddonfield Council of Churches at the First Baptist Church of Haddonfield Thursday May 3 2018. Next a collaboration with Indian King Tavern Museum to Show a Slice of Colonial Jewish Life Sunday May 20 2018

Were there Jews in Colonial USA?

History books teach millions of students that the colonies were founded by settlers who ran away from religious persecution in Europe: Puritans who sailed on the Mayflower and founded New England, Catholics who ran from bloody civil wars in England and France to found Maryland, Quakers who fled England to found New Haven, Conn, Providence Rhode Island and also Haddonfield.

Were there Jews among those colonials who eventually participated in the USA revolution, and if so what were their daily life traditions?

Several scholars have written about the Jews of Philadelphia and their role in the revolutionary war. In New York \City, the Spanish and Portugese synagogue is several centuries old, dating to the early colonial era there. In Newport Rhode Island, the Touro Synagogue, now a National treasure was founded in the 17th century. Savannah also has a strong community with colonial roots that thrives in the 21st century.

Mindful of this important strand of USA history that has been tucked away in the crevices of archives if not hidden entirely, these themes were sung and discussed Sunday May 20 2018 at 2pm offering a fresh historical perspective on the Jewish life at the time when the America was being born.

The Seeds have been planted

Local Jews especially but not only in Haddonfield are thirsty to be included in the interpretations of Haddonfield History. In a town known nationally for its Historic Distric that graces both the National Register of Historic Places and the New Jersey Register of Historic Places, few would imagine that there was a proper place for Jewish daily life in this well preserved history.

As Karpo wrote to the leaders of the embryonic efforts to have a Jewish Center in Haddonfield, “You are an innovator and inspiration to your local community; … it is an example for me to take one spark of my life's experiences and share with other to encourage people not to put off desires of the heart regardless of age; my experience was a soul find and a soul wash. You created a mitzvah (a religious concept of a very good deed that brings blessings to the person who performed the deed)”

Two months after his musical rendition of the Story of Esther called the magilla for the holiday called Purim, Cantor Borsky brought again his spiritual power of music and love to Haddonfield. Using traditional music from the colonial era as a guide, Cantor Scott Borsky led songs from traditional rituals that existed for the harvest holiday of Shavout, a time when the Old Testament called the Torah was given to the people at Mount Sinai. Cantor Borsky lexplained some of the traditions and describe the role that these traditions played in shaping contemporary Jewish activities that remain vibrant today. The event was free of charge and open to everyone of all faiths.

Do you know the song “God Bless America”? Many people cherish this song as if it were the National Anthem and it has been quoted by every President since it was written. The catchy tune with memorable lyrics was written by the Jewish Broadway composer Irving Berlin. His music conveys the soul of a nation that mixes religious belief with concepts of home.

When President Eisenhower created the National Day of Prayer he was conscious of this mix between religious beliefs and love of homeland. Eisenhower recognized the State of Israel and approved adding the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. Thus Eisenhower set in motion a series of traditions that, consistent with the First Amendment of the US Constitution, recognized a religious force in USA society without selecting any one particular religion for the nation's government.

Whether Berlin's vision of God blessing America, “my home sweet home” or Woodie Guthrie's promise that “This Land is Your Land”, Jewish composers have written some of our nation's most powerful patriotic statements in songs that people hold dear. So too, songs from Broadway and Hollywood have shaped a definition of Jewish-American life, sometimes real and sometimes as fictional as theatre and movies are intended to be.

Last year, the Haddonfield Jewish Center successfully launched an open discussion series that welcomes people to explore Jewish values which are the underpinning of USA daily life, as part of the National Day of Prayer. Jews and non-Jews came together to ask questions and hear an answer from a Rabbi on a wide range of topics that they chose to discuss.

The Second Annual Lecture for the National Day of Prayer took a musical turn, to explore the role of Jewish life and patriotism in the USA. Join us on a musical journey of reflection and a high note of fun as the Haddonfield Jewish Center welcomes Cantor Scott Borsky to sing the praises and discussed the meaning of Jewish perspectives on patriotism for the National Day of Prayer. “ON BEING JEWISH AND A PATRIOTIC AMERICAN”

In the USA We are a religious country, we reference our trust in a higher deity on our money and in the Pledge of Alliegence to our Flag, but the US Constitutional compromise requires that we do not exclude any religion and we do not kill each other about religion as people did in the past and as people in some other nations still do. We in the USA are a religious people but e have not designated any single religion to govern us all.

Furthermore, this love of the USA and its laws and constitution in partnership with a diverse and rich mix of religion is patriotic throughout our history.

Dr Feitshans hopes that immediate tasks such as formalizing articles of incorporation and finding people to serve on committees will begin to take shape in the months ahead with a core group emerging in early 2019.

Reprinted Here is the Mission Statement

The Haddonfield Jewish Center is hereby established to provide a place of comfort, peace, serenity, education and spiritual inquiry for Jews and Non Jews of all faiths and all levels of religious belief in Haddonfield, its local communities and the rest of the world

The Haddonfield Jewish Center offers space for open dialogue, exchange of ideas, spiritual awareness, Jewish prayer and performance of Jewish rituals and ceremonial celebrations, training and study in Judeo-Chiristian religious questions including Torah and the commentaries of the sages, celebrations of Jewish shabbat, holidays and creation of related cultural events.

As a place of learning and exchange of ideas among Jewish people and between Jews in communication with non Jews, the house on 21 Walnut Street shall be available and open to children, benai mitzvot students, visiting rabbis and religious scholars and any or all people who have religious questions or wish to pray until such time as any additional or alternative home for the Haddonfield Jewish Center is available to the community

The Haddonfield Jewish Center shall be available for minor holidays, some shabbat, High holidays and also secular holidays such as the USA National Day of Prayer and the Israeli Independence Day, and such other times and events as may be needed.

With this Mission of enlightened outreach, prayerful and ecumenical exchange of ideas in a place where it is comfortable and encouraged to discuss, learn about and express all things Jewish, the Haddonfield Jewish Center aspires to bring tolerance and end a dark history of an absence of Jewish perspective in the Haddonfield circle of organizations and thereby provide a counterweight presence that will undo prejudice rooted in ignorance, with its attendant loss of Jewish talents and perspective to solve the problems that face the community at large.

Haddonfield jewish Center events are always free and open to everyone... but reservations are required for security reasons. The next event at a date and time and location to be determined in the months ahead. Questions? Contact Cantor Borsky at 267-971-8799 or Dr ilise L Feitshans JD & ScM & DIR charoywedding@gmail.com 856 3087573.