Saturday ~ January 24, 2009 ~ 7:00 p.m.
Story Teller ~ Art Shapiro
“ Growing Up in a Jewish Utopia ~ Roosevelt, New Jersey”

Since May of 1991, when the entire borough of Roosevelt, New Jersey was designated as The Jersey Homesteads Historic District on both the state and national registers of historic places, Art Shapiro was appointed and has served as the first and only official Town Historian. As the historian Art has given over eighty presentations on the community’s history and culture to groups across the United States. A special educator for over forty years and Professor Emeritus at Kean University, Art has a gift for capturing the spirit of the story and taking the audience along for an historic tour.

Saturday ~ January 31, 2009 ~ 7:15 p.m.
Story Teller ~ Sandy Sutain
“The Sarajevo Haggadah”

The astonishing and unique Sarajevo Haggadah was created in the 14th century, the golden age of Spain. We still do not know the exact date and place of the book’s creation or the name of the artist who illuminated it. Was it perhaps a
wedding gift on the occasion of the marriage of members of two prominent families called Shoshan and Elazar, since there are two coats of arms in the bottom corners, one representing a rose ( shoshan) and the other a wing ( elazar)? Perhaps we will never know.

Sandy Sutain, winner of the Hannah Goldberg Award for Adult Jewish Education will speak about her research on the Sarajevo Haggadah. A New York native, Sandy has won rave reviews for her work and lecture on the true story of the famous Haggadah. By special permission from ABC News, the Nightline program about the Sarajevo Haggadah will be shown following the lecture.

The book "People of the Book" will be available for purchase.