From the February - March 2001 Edition 

Synagogue Fundraiser       Congregation Ahavat Achim, located on Saddle River Road near Glen Rock, will hold its 18th Journal dinner on March 3 at the Hilton Hotel on Route 17 in Hasbrouck Heights. The honorees will be Elyce and Steve Smedresman, who moved here in 1984. Elyce is a CPA and chairs the calendar committee and sits on the constitution committee of the synagogue. Previously, she served as president and fundraising vice president of the Sisterhood and for the congregation filled the post of financial secretary. Steve is an attorney and manages his own practice in New York. He has served as president of the congregation and also was head of the refreshments and house committees. They both have been trustees on the synagogue's Board of Directors. The dinner, which is an important fundraising event for the congregation, is being organized by Esther and David Moskowitz, Ilana and Nathen Schwitzer, Lori and David Garfunkel, Cheryl and Seymour Wigod and Michal and Barry Weinraub. The price per couple is $360 in donations or ads, and ads range from $30 for a listing to $1,800 for a Diamond page. Congregation Ahavat Achim was formed 23 years ago with a commitment to the values of modern Orthodox Judaism and to the support of Israel while encouraging and welcoming Jews from all backgrounds and affiliations. Its formation was encouraged and supported by Yeshiva University in New York and the Orthodox Rabbinate of Bergen County as well as by Congregation Shomrei Torah, a large Orthodox synagogue located in the center of town. Congregation Ahavat Achim, which now has about 80 member families, recently affiliated with the Orthodox Union, a nationwide network of similar synagogue. In September, Rabbi Menachem Rosenfeld and his wife, Karen, were welcomed to head the religious life of the congregation and have been actively upgrading the spirituality of its services and the content of its classes. Ahavat Achim has grown tremendously in its first two decades. It started in a private home that has since become the rabbi's residence. Now its activities are housed in a two-story modern building with a gray facade that fronts on a main thoroughfare without disturbing the neighborhood's quality of life. In December the congregation completed a refurbishment that came on top of a significant expansion. Its new decor is simple and dignified, with soft lighting and accents in blond wood and deep blues that lend it a contemplative aura. For its members, Ahavat Achim provides daily religious services, ongoing learning sessions, scholars-in-residence programs, guest lecture series, social get-togethers and youth activities. Its yearly schedule includes a weekend for disabled Jewish children, Holocaust commemorations and a celebration of Israel Independence Day and the reunification of Jerusalem. Charitable activities led to the recent donation of a Shabbat/Yom Tov Hospitality Cart to Valley Hospital in Ridgewood to help with the special needs of observant patients and their families. Ahavat Achim also participates in communitywide charity projects and frequently collects food and coats for the needy. Its Web site refers visitors to the various assets and special services Fair Lawn provides. Announcements of upcoming events and an archive of past newsletters also are offered on its Web site along with details about the congregation. For more details about the dinner, call Barry Weinraub at (201) 791-3611. For further information about Ahavat Achim, at 18-25 Saddle River Road, call 797-0502 or visit the Web at http://www.ahavatachim.org