newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2008/1217/front_page/013.htmlJewish museum hosts pair of special events
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — The Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County is hosting several events this month.
On Dec. 25 at 1 p.m., the 2006 awardwinning Israeli film "Live and Become" (with English subtitles) will be shown.
The film tells the story of Shlomo, a refugee Christian Ethiopian boy placed by his mother, in sheer desperation, with an Ethiopian Jewish woman about to be airlifted from Sudan to Israel during Operation Moses in 1984. Shlomo's birth mother's charge to her 9-year-old son as he boards the plane is "Go, live, and become."
The film traces Shlomo's life as, posing as a Falashian (Ethiopian Jew), he is adopted, overcomes racial prejudice and the agony of exile. It is an inspirational story of a man's search for religious identity and an ethical life.
The film is recommended for adults and children 12 years and up. There is a $7 fee for nonmembers, $5 for museum members. Prior registration is requested. Call 732- 252-6990.
On Dec. 28 from 1-3 p.m., the museum will be presenting an afternoon of Jewish composers, compositions and folk songs, featuring pianist Alan Wasserman and friends.
Wasserman is a musician with an eclectic background. An accomplished pianist, his main focus has been on classical piano, yet he is also well versed in genres of jazz piano, folk, new age and meditational music. In addition, he has long maintained an interest in working with young musicians.
As president of the Cecilian Music Club of Freehold, he participated in the 2004 Shanghai International Children's Cultural Arts Festival in China. One highlight was a "Monster Concert" for 100 pianos featuring 40 American students and 60 Chinese students. In the 2007 festival he returned with a troupe of young piano and orchestral performers.
Wasserman is past president of the Music Education Society of New Jersey. His Guided Listening Series CDs showcase his unique style of audience engagement.
Wasserman and friends will present a mix of classical music from Mendelssohn to Offenbach, tunes from the Yiddish Theater, and American classis by Copland and Bernstein. The Great American Songbook will be presented by such musical masters as Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, and Stephen Sondheim, and pop icons Simon and Garfunkel. Classic Jewish folk tunes will also be part of the program.
The concert will be followed by a "meet and greet" with the artist. Light refreshments will be served, courtesy of the Jewish Heritage Museum. The fee for this afternoon of entertainment is $12 for museum members and $15 for nonmembers. For reservations, call the museum at 732-252- 6990.
The Jewish Heritage Museum is in the Mount's Corner shopping center, 310 Mounts Corner Drive, at the intersection of Wemrock Road and Route 537 in Freehold Township.
The museum will be presenting several exhibits, including Jacob Landau: Humanist and Visionary (extended through Dec. 30); From There to Here, children's immigration posters (through February 2009); a Children's Hanukkah menorah exhibit (through February 2009); and Hanukkiyot from the Diaspora (Dec. 21 through February 2009).
