Thousands in South Brunswick for Jewish food, music

By Michele Alperin

September 26, 2008

Sausages with pepper and onions (glatt kosher), deep-fried zeppoles, curly fries, and an array of top-quality musicians, vendors, and booths from synagogues and community groups entertained 3,000 participants at the Rejoice! Jewish Culture and Music Festival Sept. 15, at Woodlot Park in South Brunswick.

A Jewish event that brings out a big crowd on a hot, muggy day in mid-September speaks to the vibrancy of the central New Jersey Jewish community. The president of the Highland Park Conservative Temple-Congregation Anshe Emeth, Sam Kamens, who was manning his congregation's booth, was happy to see a festival outside of typical North Jersey venues. "It's nice to have a festival like this in Central Jersey," he said, "where we can showcase what we have here."

A dedicated committee from Congregation B'nai Tikvah in North Brunswick developed an idea that congregant Aaron Rosloff, the committee chair, brought back from Syracuse, N.Y., which this year celebrated its ninth Jewish Music and Cultural Festival. He had attended a festival twice while visiting friends and family and broached the idea of creating a similar festival locally with his friend Danny Greenberg, then president of B'nai Tikvah.

Greenberg liked the idea and told Rosloff he would help him out when his term as president ended. "Little did I know that he would remember," joked Greenberg, who helped Rosloff together a committee of about 20 B'nai Tikvah members to plan the event.

The planners had a vision in mind and even the type of food, provided by Exquisite Caterers, was carefully selected.

"We set out to provide a carnival type of atmosphere for people who wouldn't ordinarily be able to eat that kind of food," Greenberg said.

Also critical to the feel of the day were the types of musical groups, carefully selected by Cantor Bruce Rockman of B'nai Tikvah. The Keyna Hora Klezmer Band represented the Syracuse festival that inspired Sunday's event, and the Robyn Helzner Trio, from Washington, D.C., was a long-time favorite of Rockman's, and B'nai Tikvah congregant Jerry Silver in the Sons of Tikvah Band had once played with Helzner.

Rockman was also intent on displaying the musical riches of central N.J., and invited the Klez Dispensers from the Princeton area and Makhelat Hamercaz, the Jewish choir of Central New Jersey.

Rockman's introduction of Makhelat Hamercaz also attested to the deep roots of the Jewish community in Central Jersey. He referred to the Hillel Academy class of 1968, which included the choir's conductor, Anna West Ott, cantor at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick, and choir member Jerry Langer of Highland Park. Also part of the class was Rockman's big brother, New Jersey soccer pioneer Spencer Rockman, who was also at the festival.

Another focus of the event was keeping the children involved. The Sesame Street character Elmo was in attendance as was a juggler on stilts, and the musical lineup included the well-known mr. Ray as well as the Mama Doni band, which had reached out to Rockman and he described as "cowboy Jewish and funky."

To round out the music Chris Howatt opened the afternoon with show tunes, and Rockman's own band, Sons of Tikvah, closed the day's lineup.

Rockman called his involvement "a work of joy."

"It's the real deal," he said. "Everybody chipped in."

Rabbi Robert Rolkoff, who just completed his first year at B'nai Tikvah, thought the day was phenomenal. "It's what Jewish life is supposed to be all about -- alive, rich, and multigenerational," he said. "It really represents what B'nai Tikvah is all about."

The event drew people of diverse ages and included religious as well as more secular segments of the Jewish community. Chabad Rabbi Levi Asimov blew the shofar in the middle of the afternoon from the music stage, reminding people that the month of Elul is a time for repentance.

Planning committee member Shelly Talmud was happy that so many Jewish groups were represented at the event -- another of the committee's goals.

"It's always exciting, and very touching, when the community comes together," she said.

As the day came to a close, the germ of an idea that Aaron Rosloff had brought back from Syracuse had blossomed into a living testimony to the thriving Jewish community of central New Jersey.

As committee member Danny Greenberg observed, "We wanted everybody to come out and celebrate Jewish culture and music." And they did, so he plans to do it again: "We hope to do it twice as big and twice as better next year."