One Minute With Ira Smelkinson
By Libby Barsky
Feb. 29, 2008

Name: Ira Smelkinson

Occupation: Works in bond business

Family: Married 25 years to Lisa. They have three daughters: Ariele, a freshman at New York University Tisch School of the Arts; Emma, a sophomore at Westfield High School; and Isabelle, a 7th grader at Edison Middle School. Mother Miriam Smelkinson lives in Baltimore Md. Sister Rena is married to Jeff. They have two sons and live in the Baltimore area. Brother Jeff is married to Deb and has three daughters. They live in Columbia, Md.

Community activities: Current president of Congregation Beth Israel in Scotch Plains, a two-year term that expires in June. Primarily active in congregation from board member to different positions progressing to the office of president.

Hobbies: "I like to run, exercise, and spend time with my family."

Self-portrait: "Good natured, dependable, thorough, stoic, and caring."

Motto: "It's not incumbent upon you to finish the task but neither can you ignore it," from Pirke Avot. Another is, "In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king."

Greatest accomplishment: "Successfully managing to juggle the demands of a professional life with an active community life and loving family life."

Bad habits: "Procrastination."

Favorite TV: "'The Office'. "It's very amusing, with many funny characters and some of the situations you can relate to."

Favorite Food: "Smoked fish -- like lox. I don't eat much of that food but I really enjoy it."

Best childhood memory: "I grew up in Baltimore and was a pretty big Baltimore Colts fan growing up. I remember going to the Colts games with my father and uncle. We would go seven or eight times a year. It was a whole ordeal. You would bundle up and I had to deal with the cold, by taking a thermos of hot chocolate or chicken soup to keep warm. I'm still a sports fan, but not as much as I did."

People don't know that I... "Am a good cook. I started when I was living on my own. I don't make anything that exotic. I'm just comfortable in the kitchen."

Last book I read: "'The World is Flat,"' by Thomas Friedman. There are a lot of different sides to complicated issues. You need to understand the different perspectives of different parties in order to come up with a solution."

The biggest asset in the local Jewish Communities: "The biggest asset is the energy and willingness on the part of members of our community to dedicate their time and resources to work together on local and world wide initiatives. You see that on Super Sunday."

The biggest problem in the local Jewish communities: "We have too few people who do too much. So we need to cast a wider net and get more people within our community to be active. You see that in the temple when the same core group will show up and step up -- and we need more members of the community to become active and participate."

If I had more time I would... "Try to develop more hobbies. For instance, I never learned to play golf."