Purim Carnival, Parties Coming Up at JCC and Chabad

Carnival and party with food, games, masquerades and more to celebrate a festive Jewish holiday.

The Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center in Bridgewater will be holding its annual Purim Carnival this Sunday to celebrate a very festive holiday. The family Purim Carnival will be the JCC's biggest event of the year, and will be held at the center from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The Chabad Jewish Center in Basking Ridge, which serves the Somerset Hills, Warren Township and other communities, has scheduled its Purim party and masquerade for the weekend of Feb. 23-24. Purim celebrates Queen Esther, who foiled the plans of the king's royal vizier, Haman, in his plot to kill all the Jews in Persia thousands of years ago. In the Jewish calendar, the holiday is celebrated on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar. At 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb…

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Invite to 'First Friday' Services at Chabad Jewish Center

Open invitation extended to free Friday services and socializing.

Chabad Jewish Center in Basking Ridge is inviting area families to its First Fridays at Chabad, is a monthly opportunity for the community to come together for a service of appoximately 45 minutes followed by a social gathering and traditional Shabbat fare.  The next scheduled First Friday is at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 1 at Chabad at 3048 Valley Road in Basking Ridge. Now in its third month, First Fridays at Chabad has been attracting a crowd of families with young and old alike participating. "The idea behind the program is to give busy families an opportunity to come together once a month — on an easy date to remember — for a taste of a tradition, prayer, learning, socializing and unwinding," said Chabad Rabbi Yitchok Moully. Families are …

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Chabad's Menorah Lighting Brightens Local Landscape

Party and official menorah lighting marked the fifth night of Hanukkah, which continues through this weekend.

Anyone driving by on Valley Road in Basking Ridge on Wednesday evening at about 6:30 p.m. would have seen the ceremonial lighting of a giant menorah that was part of that evening's Hanukkah festivities at the Chabad Jewish Center in Basking Ridge. The menorah lighting was next to a giant dreidel that is a landmark at the Chabad property at 3048 Valley Road. The lighting took place during a party with the "Hoop Wizard" that invited children to a basketball display, along with crafts, games and donuts and latkes. The center also had held a party for adults on the previous evening, along with an earlier childrens' party as part of its activities during the "Festival of Lights." The first night of Hanukkah, an eight-day holiday, was last …

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Iconic Dreidel—Believed to be World's Largest—Up for Hanukkah

Freestanding 18-foot dreidel will be part of holiday celebration.

A sure sign that Hanukkah is on the horizon is the annual appearance of the giant 18-foot tall freestanding dreidel alongside Valley Road outside the Chabad Jewish Center in Basking Ridge. The structure has become a landmark in the community. The dreidel, built 16 years ago by students at the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, is assembled and disassembled each year in the weeks leading up to and after Hannukah. The dreidel will be part of Chabad's scheduled events to celebrate Hannukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, which this year begins at sundown on Saturday. The Chabad center proudly points to its dreidel as the largest in the world. Youth Rabbi Yitzchok Moully said he has scoured the Internet looking for other examples, …

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Outdoor Summer Concert Returns to Chabad in Basking Ridge

Acrobats, BBQ, singer-songwriter duo, jazz-punk-jam band, all with a Jewish flair.

Everyone loves an outdoor summer concert, and the Chabad Jewish Center in Basking Ridge is inviting everyone to the Mercedes Feldman Summer Kick Off Concert & Acrobat Show from 3 to 7 p.m. this Sunday. The Jewish Center has been gearing up for an event that will appeal to families, offering two live bands, an exciting acrobat show, games, crafts, two kiddie bounce houses and a kosher barbeque, said Rabbi Yitzchok Moully, Chabad's program director. “For the last few years, we've held a full-day Jewish Music and Art Festival,” Moully said. “This year, we are returning to our roots with an afternoon concert and acrobat show." The Acrobat show will be performed by the talented circus quality group ‘Cirquetacular,' he said. The main musical …

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Community Passover Seder Planned at Chabad

Lavish traditional Seder to be prepared on second night of Passover at Chabad Jewish Center in Basking Ridge.

The Chabad Jewish Center in Basking Ridge is hosting a traditional Community Passover Seder at 8 p.m. on Saturday, the second night of the Passover holiday. Jews of all affiliations are invited to participate in an evening replete with traditional handmade Matzo, Four Cups of wine, lively dialogue, and an exquisite Kosher Passover dinner, said the invitation from the center at 3048 Valley Road. “This Seder is an opportune time to bring unity to the community, and just get together to enjoy each others' company,” said Rabbi Mendy Herson, spiritual director of the Chabad center. The theme of the Seder will be how to overcome the limitations prevalent in society today, the rabbi said. “The concept of ‘freedom’ is needed and relevant in …

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Bites Nearby

Tastings: Passover Wines Can Be Tasty and Blessed

Kosher wine tasting again hosted at Chabad at Basking Ridge for those preparing their Seder table for Passover.

I've been to a number of Passover Seders over the years, many in New York state, some in New Jersey, and one in California. As part of the ceremony at each, I've sipped wine that either was kosher, or fine wine. But not both. The Chabad Jewish Center in Basking Ridge, which will hold its own Community Seder on the second night of Passover on Saturday, April 7, has been trying to change all that for local Jews who are preparing their own Seder tables. Last Thursday night, for the fourth year, Chabad hosted another kosher Passover wine tasting in its bright atrium at the Jewish Center off Valley Road. This is a great get-together for wine tasting as well as a way to stock up for Passover. Three bars were set up — one for red wine, one for …

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Linda Sadlouskos

11:56 am on Friday, April 6, 2012

UPDATE: After three days, I finally gave in and bought that kosher sweet potato vodka. I wonder if there's anything that could be mixed with it. Or must it be drunk straight? Perhaps a dash in this November's Thanksgiving stuffing...   more ›

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Tastings: Zimmer & Olam Schools Providing Healthy Food Choices

Students plant vegetables, and both kids and adults have an opportunity to obtain organic vegetables through partnership with community-supported farm.

The following information is provided Mindy Rodden, Director of Outreach for Zimmer Preschool and Olam Academy, which are at the Chabad Jewish Center in Basking Ridge, off Valley Road. The preschool and early elementary academy students grow vegetables and, more recently, have begun partnering with an organic farm from Pennington. The Basking Ridge Patch welcomes submissions to our new weekly "Tastings" column, with information about restaurants, food and drink at in the township and the Somerset Hills Community. The Zimmer Preschool and Olam Academy have recently partnered with Honey Brook Organic Farm as a means to provide alternative access to healthy food choices for the community. At the Zimmer Preschool and Olam Academy, located at …

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