By Mica Soffer, Publisher of COLlive.com
Photos by Yossi Percia / COLlive.com
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, an outspoken and often controversial author and activist, has shown his powerful network of contacts and influence at a small reception in New Jersey Sunday morning.
The location of the event was nothing close to modest: a 25,000 square foot property in an enclave just off of Truman Drive in Cresskill, NJ.
The owners of this English Manor-style mega mansion are James and Lisa Cohen. He is the president and CEO of Hudson News, which is the operator of 500 newsstands and specialty shops in airports and other transportation terminals.
In attendance were the Cohens, US House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Chairman of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, and hedge fund manager and philanthropist David Slager and his wife Lara.
The occasion: An inaugural benefit for The National Institute of Jewish Values, Slager’s brainchild to train young rabbis to advance Jewish values in the mainstream culture.
“Jewish values are a force and I believe they are the answer to many of the ills in today’s world,” said Boteach, a former Chabad Shliach in Oxford, England.
Slager said Boteach is “a true communicator of Judaism” and will be heading the initiative that will help develop young Jewish leaders.
Cantor, the only Jewish Republican currently serving in Congress, said: “We have to engage ourselves in world issues, like U.S. foreign policy, Israel’s security, health care etc. We can’t sit by and not get involved.”
Getzy Markowitz of Crown Heights, who is helping to develop the initiative, told COLlive.com they will be recruiting “young bright people” from different communities.
Others in attendance: CEO of the OU Kosher Division Rabbi Menachem Genack, Director of the Jewish Learning Institute Rabbi Ephraim Mintz, Rabbi Shmaya Krinsky of Machne Israel, Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky of Merkos, and Wayne-NJ Shliach Rabbi Michel Gurkov.
Also there were Algemeiner newspaper director Dovid Efune, and Avi Lesches, an assistant for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
