Vol. 119 No. 39 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 September 28 - October 4, 2008 The DALLAS POST. Serving the communities of the Dallas and Lake-Lehman School Districts | www.mydallaspost.com Jews ready to greet new year By REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com Without herring, Rosh Hasha- nah just wouldn’t be the same for Sandee Cohn. Cohn, of Dallas, and her hus- band, Bob, celebrate the Jewish holiday by serving herring for dinner, an ethnic Polish custom. The Jewish holiday, Hashanah, begins at sundown on Monday, Sept. 29, and continues through nightfall of October 1. “Our tradition in the Cohn fam- ily is to serve certain foods,” Sandee said. “In our house, we have herring to welcome the New Year as a very special family tradi- tion that has been passed on to me from my parents. Every fam- ily comes with their own tradi- Rabbi Roger Lerner, of Temple B’nai B'rith in Kingston, says the occasion marks the Jewish New Year and the creation of the world according to the Hebrew calen- dar, which is based on a combina- tion of the solar and lunar calen- dar. Rosh Hashanah is held on the first day of the new moon of the month and may fall anytime be- tween late August and early Oc- The holiday also marks the be- ginning of 10 days of repentance leading up to Yom Kippur, a day of repentance to receive God’s forgiveness for sins and the for- giveness of others. Rosh Hashanah services are marked by the sounding of the shofar, a ram’s horn. Services are typically held both on the first evening of Rosh Hashanah and the following morning. Sandee brings out her best ta- blecloths and dinnerware, along with special holiday candles for Rosh Hashanah. The Cohns put on their very best clothes and have dinner for about six friends : or eight total people. In celebration of the New Year, Jews traditionally eat sweet ap- ples and honey which are associ- ated with the harvest season. In addition, it is traditional to serve round challah, a special kind of sweet bread with or without rai- sins, which also symbolizes the season and the cyclical nature of the year, as well as matzah ball soup, a chicken soup with balls made from matzah meal. The Cohns include apples and honey, challah and matzah ball soup in their Rosh Hashanah din- ner. Sandee says Ashkenazic Jews, those of Eastern European descent, including herself, often have tzimmes, a sweet vegetable dish with or without meat. The Cohns eat a tzimmes consisting of meat, prunes, carrots, pota- toes, spices, brown sugar and or- The family also always has two other foods at Rosh Hashanah dinner - honey cakes and tai- “My husband absolutely, abso- lutely cannot live without honey cake,” Sandee said. “And fny mother gave me the tradition of the dessert taiglach. It’s very hard crystallized candy nuts and rai- sins. And these two absolutely symbolize the sweetness of the New Year. That is a real impor- tant foundation that I think every family has where they bring tradi- tion with them and that tradition is passed down to the children and they pass it down to their children. It’s not religious; it is traditional.” See YEAR, Page 16 o 815120079 Run by Creative Safety Products in Hackensack, N.J., the Officer Phil Program gives presentations on safety, crime prevention, values and responsibility to elementary school children across the United States. CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Animator David Carr from Creative Safety Products does magic tricks during an assembly on safety at Dallas Elementary School. Assembling for safety Officer Phil Program teaches kids prevention, values and awareness By REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com ichael Krokowski pretended he lost a friend and had to de- scribe him to Selena Bren, who played the role of a police officer. Using a drawing of a face, Krokow- ski successfully depicted what the imagi- nary person looked like to Bren. Krokowski and Bren completed the role play exercise during the afternoon of September 17 as part of the Officer Phil Program at Dallas Elementary School where two identical assemblies were held. Students in a.m. kindergarten and grades one, two and four attended a morning assembly and students in p.m. kindergarten and grades three and five went to the afternoon assembly. Run by Creative Safety Products in Hackensack, N.J., the program gives pre- sentations on safety, crime prevention, values and responsibility to elementary school children across the United States. Officer Phil offers three programs: safety, fire safety and drug and alcohol aware- ness. Dallas Borough and Dallas Township Police Pepartments sponsored the pro- gram. “Officer Phil has been coming to us for along time,” Dallas Elementary Principal Tom Traver told his students. “And I wanted fourth and fifth grade to come this year because the new program covers internet safety.” Dave Carr, an animator from Creative Safety Products, presented the program using magic tricks and ventriloquism with a puppet turtle named Freddy Tur- bo. Carr focused on safety topics consist- ing of strangers, bullying and internet safety. The children were given internet tips like not giving out their real names, addresses and phone numbers and never agreeing to meet someone they met on- line. Carr feels the highlight of the half-hour program is implementing six value words — politeness, honesty, responsibility, friendship, kindness and respect. “They’re all words most likely the teacher emphasizes throughout the year, anyway,” Carr said. Six students were chosen to answer questions pertaining to a scenario related Selena Bren holds up the correct answer during an assembly on safety at Dallas Elementary School. ON THE WEB For more photos, go to: www.mydallaspost.com to one of the words. Those selected dur- ing the afternoon assembly were Domin- ick Angelicola, Samantha Mazula, Olivia King, Ryan Nelligan, Maria Ansilio and Tylar Miller. Each child received a grade-specific ac- tivity workbook to follow-up on what was taught in the program. Teachers also have the option of requesting character cards on Officer Phil's Web site to distribute to their students when they positively ex- emplify the six value words. Lake-Lehman Homecoming events are slated Plans are in the process for a communi- ty event for the Lake-Lehman School Dis- trict's homecoming. Many school and community organizations will host booths at a festival to be held from 11 a.m. until the kickoff of the football game at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4. A’semi-formal dance will be held on Fri- day, Oct. 3, for students in grades nine through 12. The dance theme will be “Countries of the World.” The gym will be decorated in the decor of several different countries including the USA, France, Mexico, Italy, China “Knight Country.” Along with the festival on Saturday, other events will be as follows: a Cow Pie Bingo sponsored by the Lake-Lehman Educational Foundation, a parade to be- gin at 2:30 p.m. at Lehman-Jackson Ele- mentary which will proceed to the high school, a performance in memory of Jus- tine Martin by cheerleaders and A.J. Mar- tin in the stadium after the homecoming court introductions, crowning of the king and queen and a football game versus Ho- ly Redeemer at 4 p.m. Anyone interested in participating in the parade, purchasing cow pie deeds or needing further information is asked to call Sandy at 831-5156 or 255-2719. pa 7 CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Members of the Lake-Lehman Homecoming Court are, from left, Kelsey Amy, Rachel Litchman, Jamie Wasky, Gabrielle Dragon, Christie Simoson, Leanne Grabski, Dave Heller, Joshua Brucher, Nate Volkel, T.J Stepanski, Cody Lamo- reaux, Roger Jayne, Jr Bl fs NS SE pe rs
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