Shames JCC

I Love Lucy: How Lucille Ball Became The Most Powerful Businesswoman in Hollywood with Evan Weiner
2022-02-14 10:00 - 11:00 (America/New_York)
Lucille Ball should never have been a Hollywood studio mogul. She was told she didn’t have it to be an actress, she ended up proving herself in a Three Stooges short. She was a B movie star who married Desi Arnaz and nearly divorced. Her movie career was done by she was 35. She went into radio, had some success and was offered a chance at TV. There were more obstacles and the Lucy show nearly never got on the air. There was a communist scare, the divorce all of which led her to a starring role. The most powerful businesswoman in Hollywood.
Evan is a speaker, author, with a radio and TV background. He has about 25 topics and has spoken globally. In 2007, the Department of State sent him to talk to foreign nationals at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas to speak about the politics of sports business in America. Evan Weiner started his journalism career at the age of 15 by hosting a Spring Valley High School talk show on WRKL Radio, Mount Ivy, N.Y. in 1971. Read more about Evan.

Millionaire’s Row on the Palisades: A Glimpse of the Gilded Edge
2022-02-07 10:00 - 11:00
Artists, captains of industry, showmen — all were among the men and women who, from the time of the Civil War through the Great Depression, had unique and often lavish homes built upon the precipices of the New Jersey Palisades. Using newly discovered letters and diaries they have transcribed from the Miles family, historical interpreter Eric Nelsen will bring the story of the grand estates — and the families and servants who lived at them — into vibrant focus. Eric Nelsen was hired as a seasonal employee at the Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey in 1992. He earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Montclair State University in 1997, and the next year became a full-time historical interpreter at the park. He oversees the park’s historic Kearney House, where he’s helped to develop a unique “living history” program based on the house’s role as a nineteenth-century Hudson River tavern and homestead. In the office, he supervises park publications, including the njpalisades.org website, brochures, and interpretive signs. On days off, Eric enjoys being outdoors, getting into or onto the water, cycling, and time travel.

Meet the Town of Greenburgh Clerk Judith Beville and Get Involved in Your Community!
2022-01-31 10:00 - 11:00
Civic Engagement – Greenburgh Town Clerk Judith Beville will discuss the various boards and committees through which residents may become engaged in local government and the Greenburgh Town Hall Summer Internship Program.

Nature As a Sanctuary: Seeking Refuge in the Pandemic
2022-01-24 10:00 - 11:00
Pamela-Kolber Zicca will share the pathway of healing through her stories and photography displayed in her book, Nature As a Sanctuary: Seeking Refuge in the Pandemic. Her little gem of a book is a reminder that life is all around us if we only know how to look. Pam is a passionate lover of nature, a photographer, and a swim and aqua aerobics instructor. In addition to her job as a swim instructor, the pandemic allowed Pam to explore her love of both nature and photography. For her, nature was a true sanctuary during the pandemic giving her peace, inspiration and hope when she was furloughed from work in March of 2020. Her experience of nature as a sanctuary further inspired her to create a facebook group Nature Through the Senses on April 23, 2020.
People from all over the area post their beautiful nature images and have become part of a community that stays connected through love of nature and photography. Pamela Kolber-Zicca is a proud sister, aunt, wife and mother living minutes away from the Hudson River where she can be found very early in the morning , camera in hand, photographing nature.

Special MLK Renard: The Book of Esther in Art: Race, Religion and Resistance
2022-01-10 10:00 - 11:00
In anticipation of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, this slide lecture exams the various images inspired by the Book of Esther in terms of racial difference, religious doctrine, and activism in Jewish and Christian art, from Dura Europos Synagogue (c. 244 C.E.) to contemporary works. Beth S. Gersh-Nešić, Ph.D. is an art historian and the director of the New York Arts Exchange, an arts education service. She specializes in 19th century, modern and contemporary art. Currently, she teaches art history at Mercy College. Her most recent publication is Pablo Picasso and André Salmon: The Painter, the Poet and the Portraits (Za Mir Press, 2019¬). Beth is a staff writer for Bonjour Paris, an online magazine.

Escaping Nazis and the Taliban: We Are All Refugees
2022-01-03 10:00 - 11:00
Join us for a special program on the Afghan refugee crisis, featuring Holly Rosen Fink, President and Co-Founder of Westchester Jewish Coalition for Immigration (WJCI), Manny Lindenbaum, Holocaust survivor and former refugee; and Sameem and Fari Samyousuf, two Afghan refugees who served for the American military and came to America on Special Immigrant Visas.
Find out more about their lives and their work and learn how you can help improve the lives of refugees within our own borders.
Holly Rosen Fink is President and co-founder of the Westchester Jewish Coalition for Immigration. She is a psychotherapist and lives in Larchmont with her family.
Fariha Taaj is from Afghanistan and came to the United States through SIV program in 2020. Currently working at the White Plains Hospital.
Sameem Yousufzada is from Afghanistan and came to the United States through SIV program in 2020. Currently working at the White Plains Hospital.
Manny Lindenbaum survived the Holocaust and was on the Kindertranport. HiIAS resettled him in America.
This event costs $5 to attend in-person and free on Zoom.

Music of the 50s Part III with David Cheney
2021-12-20 10:00 - 11:00
Music of the 50s was in some ways more revolutionary than 60s music in that it blew away centuries of accumulated racial and social proprieties in America and around the world. US pop charts in the early 50s were dominated by remnants of 40s big band era, with simple and melodic ballads by such vocalists as Patti Page and Frank Sinatra. But everything changed in 1955 with the release of Rock Around the Clock. The new R&R, the birthright of the baby boomers, united black and white teens in a common culture and softened their prejudices–while dividing teens from their parents, the mass media, and even the govt. Join us as trace the evolution of 50s music in three sessions (early, mid, and late 50s) and share memories of a seemingly simpler and happier time.

Music of the 50s Part II with David Cheney
2021-12-13 10:00 - 11:00

Music of the 50s Part I with David Cheney
2021-12-06 10:00 - 11:00

Cemeteries of Westchester with Patrick Raftery
2021-11-29 10:00 - 11:00
Patrick Raftery, WCHS Librarian, is considered one of the leading authorities on the The Cemeteries of Westchester County and the Bronx, and has authored 6 volumes on the subject. In this 60-minute illustrated slideshow he describes the different types of burial grounds, tombstones and funeral customs, while detailing some of Westchester’s many and fascinating “final resting places.” 50 minutes.

American Myths and Stories: A response to Immigration with Laura Chmieleski
2021-11-22 10:00 - 11:00
Dr. Laura M. Chmielewski is an Associate Professor of History and Chair of the History and Museum Studies programs at the State University of New York at Purchase, where she teaches early American, Atlantic World, and public history. She received her Ph.D. from City University of New York. Laura is the author of The Spice of Popery: Converging Christianities on an Early American Frontier (University of Notre Dame Press, 2011), The Atlantic Experience: People, Places, Ideas (with Catherine M. Armstrong: Palgrave McMillan, 2014), and Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet: Exploration, Encounter, and the French New World (Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2017), as well as several book chapters and anthologized essays. She was a Historian-in-Residence at History Hudson Valley, a consortium of historic properties, and part of the team that created the award-winning, National Endowment for the Humanities-funded “People Not Property: Slavery in the North” web resource.

Her current scholarly project is a study of the intersections of early American religion and maritime commerce, an exploration of Colonial Williamsburg’s rhetorical uses, and a social history of Catholic people in colonial America. Laura’s presentation today focuses on the Colonial Revival movement of the late 19th – early 20th centuries and the ways its creators sought to recast – and in some cases rewrite completely – the nation’s colonial past. New interpretations of its buildings and artifacts were designed with the special goal of educating immigrants from eastern and southern Europe on what it meant to be an American. This was also a consumer movement meant to create new “markets” in historical materials, and its evidence can be seen in multiple aspects of American life ranging from furniture and home design to travel and theatrical experiences!

Separation of Church and State with Larry Hine
2021-11-15 10:00 - 11:00
Join us and JCC Member, member of the Old Guard of Westchester, and member of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State to discuss and learn more about the recent efforts to erode the Constitutional principle of the separation of church and state.

Holocaust Education with Shelley Greenspan
2021-11-08 10:00 - 11:00
Shelly is a member of the Shames JCC and a speaker with the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center in White Plains. “As a daughter of 2 survivors, I tell my parents’ stories from a second-generation perspective. My goal is to increase awareness of the Holocaust and its lessons- to fight antisemitism and bigotry against all marginalized people”

The Mound Builders of the Eastern United States
2021-11-01 10:00 - 11:30
The Mound Builders of the Eastern United States
with Eugene Boesch
Native American cultures in the Midwestern United States developed elaborate ritual and settlement systems increasingly center on the construction of earthen burial mounds. Over almost two millennia this ritual activity gradually became more complex incorporating not only sacred or religious meaning but economic aspects including the rise of craft specials and extensive region-wide trading networks. What began during the Late Archaic period (3,000 years ago) as small mound sites associated with small hamlets and low populations climaxed with Mississippian culture a thousand years ago into large urban centers with hundreds of mounds multiple stories high that had diverse functions and served scores of thousands of people. Soon after the climax, the entire Mississippian system including mound construction collapse leaving large parts of formerly heavily populated areas almost entirely devoid of people.
Eugene Boesch has undertaken archaeological investigations in the Hudson Valley area for over 30 years. He received a Ph.D. and other graduate degrees from New York University. Dr. Boesch’s work has primarily focused on Pre-Contact period cultures and adaptations in the Eastern Woodlands of North America and on early Euro-American settlement in the Hudson Valley region. He also has worked in Israel, California, and throughout the mid-western United States.

Great American Standards Song Book with Nicole Pasternak & Hiroshi Yamazaki
2021-10-25 10:00 - 11:00
The duo will explore The Great American Song Book, featuring tried and true standards, as well as revealing some of its lesser-known “hidden gems”.
Nicole Pasternak – Vocalist. Built an appreciative audience in the Northeast and beyond with her honest swinging voice and effortless attitude. In the spirit of singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Rosemary Clooney, and Anita O’Day, she shines on traditional swing songs, renders heartfelt ballads, is a natural improviser, and performs her own compositions. Download her full bio here. She will perform with Jazz Pianist Hiroshi Yamazaki.
Hiroshi Yamazaki: Music Conservatory of Westchester: Faculty since 2002
Performances and Distinctions: A native of Japan, Hiroshi Yamazaki gave his first professional jazz performance at age 22 at the popular S.A.B. Hall in Osaka. Shortly after completing college, he moved to NYC where he studied with the great pianist Buddy Montgomery and forged his own voice as an improviser, composer, and arranger. His New York debut took place in 1988 at the Jazz Center of New York where he appeared with bassist Paul West and drummer Leroy Williams. He has appeared at some of the most popular jazz venues in New York City including the Village Gate, Bluenote, and Birdland. In 1996, he released his debut recording, Sketch Of Bridge, with Ron Carter on bass and Lewis Nash on drums. A second album, We May Say Love, followed in 2000. Currently, Hiroshi performs in the New York region and in Japan with Rufus Reid, Akira Tana, Tony Jefferson, Steve LaSpina, and Andrew Beals. He leads his own jazz groups and serves as a sideman with the Bill Crow Trio.

Creative Aging Workshop with Barbara Stern
2021-10-18 10:00 - 11:00
A workshop associated with the Partnership Innovation for Older Adults Program. Here is an opportunity to explore new options in your life. Learn about supports that are available in Westchester so you can enjoy aging.
Click here for Barbara’s bio.

Introduction to the Alexander Technique Workshop
2021-10-14 11:30 - 12:15
What is the Alexander Technique?
A set of skills for releasing tension, improving posture and movement, and increasing well-being.
Dancers, singers, and actors at Julliard all study the AT 2-3 times a week for their entire training. It’s taught at the Mayo Clinic and used by many athletes to improve performance and reduce wear and tear.
How effective is it? Very! Please read more about the proven benefits in the articles below.
Dozens of scientific trials: https://www.amsatonline.org/aws/AMSAT/pt/sp/research
British Medical Journal – https://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a884
For more information, please reach out to Lisa Bruskin at lbruskin@shamesjcc.org.

Germany’s Two Summer Olympics On The Global Stage
2021-10-04 10:00 - 11:30
Glickman, Stoller, Bergman, Spitz and Cosell. Germany’s Two Summer Olympics On The Global Stage
With award-winning journalist Evan Weiner
There are a few people in Germany who want to see Berlin bid for the 2036 Summer Olympics to mark the 100th anniversary of the Hitler-Nazi Games. The proponents think it could be a teachable time for the word in how propaganda was used to promote the Games and the Nazi regime. The 1936 Olympics in Berlin was described as the finest ever by Avery Brundage who was involved with the Olympics first as an athlete and then the President of the International Olympic Committee. Germany has hosted two Summer Olympics in 1936 and 1972. There was a stain on both athletic competitions.
The 1936 Berlin Olympics was where Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller were denied an opportunity to run and Gretel Bergman was not allowed on the German Olympic team because they were Jewish It is also the story of how some Americans wanted to boycott the Games so it would seems they were not going to legitimize the Nazi regime. It is the story of how an American American athlete Jesse Owners ruined Hitler’s coming-out party. In 1972, the Black September attack. Mark Spitz won his gold medals at Munich and was considered a high-value target as the terrorist attack in the Olympics Village was unfolding. Spitz was whisked out. The International Olympic Committee did not acknowledge the tragedy until 2016.
About Evan Weiner
Evan Weiner Bio: is an award-winning journalist and recognized global expert of the “Politics of Sports Business”. He has a daily video podcast called The Politics of Sports Business. In the United States, he has been a radio commentator, TV pundit on MSNBC, and ABC. He is also an author of 11 books and is a frequent college speaker. He has been a regular on BBC radio as well as Talk Sport London and has been quoted in Bolivian and Australian newspapers. From 1988 until 1992, Evan was a member of the Minnesota North Stars radio broadcast team. In 2007, Evan was selected by the United States Department of State to speak at Texas A & M -George Bush Presidential Library to explain how the American government partners with sports addressing 16 hand selected foreign nationals. He won the 2010 Ronald Reagan Media Award from the United States Sports Academy. In 2015, Evan was featured on the documentary, “The Sons of Ben” about the economic fall of Chester, Pennsylvania and how the city thought a soccer team would be a key to economic revival.

Salt on a Robin's Tail: An Unlikely Jewish Journey Through Childhood, Forgiveness, and Hope (Book reading & Discussion with author Andrea Kott))
2021-09-20 10:00 - 11:00
The daughter of a single mother whose depression and drinking pitched them into poverty, her stormy life looked nothing like that of the Jewish kids she knew: It defied every stereotype she associated with being Jewish—having an intact family and material wealth, and becoming a bat mitzvah.
Alienated and ashamed, Kott felt ineligible to be Jewish, yet hungered for connection to the tradition and to God. It took a near-fatal accident, her mother’s death, marriage and motherhood, and losing a beloved brother for her to find her Jewish home.
Salt on a Robin’s Tail: An Unlikely Jewish Journey Through Childhood, Forgiveness, and Hope is a true story of love and loss, struggle and survival, despair and possibility. It shatters stereotypes and inspires reconciliation with the painful past. Robin will bring copies of her book for purchase for $16.

Leadership, with Timothy Lupfer (In-person at the JCC and virtual on Zoom)
2021-06-28 10:00 - 23:30
Leadership, with the author of Leadership Tough Love, Timothy Lupfer
Leadership Tough Love will be available to purchase at the in-person event for $20
To attend this presentation in person, please RVSP to Stacey Merchant
We talk about leadership all the time, but do we stop and really think about what leadership is – and isn’t? Tim Lupfer will speak on some thought-provoking ideas about leadership:
Not everyone is a leader, not everyone wants to be a leader, and not everyone should be a leader.
There is a big difference between an expert or specialist, and a leader
We want our leaders to have the best character, but to be effective leaders, they must show competence first.
Character is very difficult to assess, and it can be faked
Leadership is not magic; the basic tools are influence and authority, and successful leaders know when, and how, to use each tool.
About the Author
Tim Lupfer’s dark secret is that he grew up in New Jersey. Once you get around the New Jersey jokes, his life is pretty interesting. He entered West Point at the age of 17 in 1968, and four years later he graduated first in his class. He entered an army whose culture had been severely damaged by the tumult of the recently ended Vietnam War. He served in various combat-ready units in the US and Germany, and he attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, where he studied history. He also served as an Assistant Professor at West Point, where he taught military history. In 1990 and 1991 he commanded a reinforced tank battalion (over 700 soldiers and 58 M1A1 Abrams tanks) in combat in Desert Storm.
After retiring from the army in 1992, he entered business. He served as an executive at R.H. Macy and Company while the company emerged from bankruptcy, and then became a management consultant, starting his consulting career with McKinsey. During his 20+ year consulting career, Tim worked with several companies and organizations in organizational change, leadership, and ethics/compliance, to include the City of New York, several financial institutions, companies in various industries, global not-for-profits, and federal agencies.
After the Enron crisis, Tim focused on ethics and compliance, leading that effort for Deloitte Consulting in the US. He helped numerous companies from a wide variety of industries in establishing ethics and compliance programs and in developing codes of conduct. He has given numerous presentations on ethics and compliance throughout his consulting career. He retired as a Managing Director in Deloitte Consulting in 2011, and then continued doing individual consulting for the next seven years.
Tim now spends his time writing and speaking. He recently published a book on leadership entitled Leadership Tough Love. He enjoys traveling with his wife (and high school sweetheart) of over 46 years and trying to keep up with their seven grandchildren.

How Music Works: Baroque music and beyond with Barry Weisenfeld
2021-06-21 10:00 - 11:30
“How Music Works: Baroque music and beyond”—Barry will discuss jazz from its origins in the Deep South during slavery and its migration north and evolution through various styles including big band and bebop and cool jazz.

Improv Showcase with Improv Innovation
2021-06-17 18:00 - 19:30
Join us and Ellen Flaks of Improv Innovations (a JCC Affinity Fellow) outside for a free improv show featuring an inter-generational cast of performers along with plenty of audience participation. FUN & LAUGHTER!
This community event is made possible with an Affinity Fellows grant with the Shames JCC on the Hudson, the UJA Federation NY, and by the Dobbs Ferry Public Library.
About Ellen
Ellen Flaks is a facilitator of creativity. She is the director/owner of Improv Innovations. She is a creative drama instructor, improvisational theater specialist, a scene study, monologue and audition coach, an educational puppeteer, a director, a stage manager, a birthday party savior and a supporter of the Arts. She has worked with many of the local children’s theater companies and has taught enrichment programs in dozens of schools and senior centers in Westchester, Rockland, and NYC. Ellen creates a super safe and comfortable environment where her students have a blast “stretching their imagination muscles.” She works with all age groups from 3-103! She is currently teaching ZoomProv and providing acting and audition coaching privately online.
​Ellen holds a B.F.A. in Theater from Syracuse University, a Masters in Teaching from Manhattanville College, and has completed the Core training program at the New York School of Playback Theatre.
​For more information, email Rabbi Ben Newman at bnewman@shamesjcc.org.

Brag Party & Creative Networking
2021-06-16 09:30 - 11:30
Experience Naomi Vladeck’s Brag Party and harness your courage for transformation by sharing your accomplishments with others!
Over the past year, I’ve seen friends accomplish high wire feats of mothering, boundary setting, career-boosting, life-altering big-time change, often on multiple fronts and at the same time. (Drop mic, BAM!) But we often resist celebrating these shifts with others. When we share our hard-won (and heartfelt) accomplishments with receptive others, the potential for meaningful change multiplies for everyone. If we are to be truly free to live into our potential, we must let our light shine for others to see!
Join me and a group of 15 other participants at the Shames Jewish Community Center in Tarrytown for a supportive talking circle to lift us out of isolation and into authentic connection. Our exploration will create:
Courage to talk about our brag-worthy moments with others so that we can multiply our collective potential for transformation.
Connection to others willing to share the underlying feelings we all yearn to have met when we express our true potential.
Awareness of how authentic connection creates courage to bring big brag-worthy moments into life for everyone’s benefit!
*In order to create a safe sharing environment for the purposes of this event, we are accepting registrations only from female-identifying individuals.
Naomi Vladeck is a creativity coach who has championed the work of independent artists for over two decades. A lifelong fundraiser, non-profit manager, planner and artmaker, she has a unique ability to think creatively and practically to support the work of artists and help them articulate their vision and overcome obstacles with loving attention, humor and curiosity. Naomi works with women in mid-life and mid-career who value the creative process and also those who are moving through the grief associated with major transitions and loss to find meaning and power in their lives. www.creativitymatterscoaching.com

In Memory: An Encore Video Airing of Jewish image in American Film” with Arthur Aldrich
2021-06-14 10:00 - 11:30
Please note there will be no in-person event for this tribute. In We are so sad to have to announce that Arthur R. Aldrich, frequent Renard Series lecturer and a longtime beloved member of our community has passed away on Monday, April 12. Arthur was known for his riveting talks on Jewish Image in American Film over many eras and genres. His last lecture with us was on March 15. He will be missed by our community and we send our deepest condolences to his family. To read his obituary, please click here.
We are inviting the community to watch his last lecture. His lecture from March 15 will be posted here soon. Check back to this space.
Arthur Aldrich is a media historian and founder, editor, and publisher of “Our Town” newspaper. In the 1950s, he worked in radio and was stage manager of an off-Broadway theater and technical director of the Folksbiene Theater on the Lower East Side. He was an adjunct professor at Rockland Community College and taught more than 60 Elderhostel and adult education courses. He teaches at the Learning Collaborative in Rockland County.

LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO FREEDOM with author Emil Draitser
2021-06-07 10:00 - 11:30
In his autobiographical trilogy, lively, evocative, and rich with humor, Hunter College Russian professor Emil Draitser describes his life as a Jew in the Soviet Union. Shush! Growing up Jewish under Stalin opens with the author’s startling discovery: many years after making his way to America from Odessa in Soviet Ukraine, every time he uttered the remark “Jewish”—even in a casual conversation—he lowered his voice.
This behavior was a natural by-product, he realized, of growing up in the anti-Semitic, post-Holocaust, Soviet Union when “Shush!” was the most frequent word he heard from his parents trying to keep a low profile. The compelling memoir provides a unique account of mid-twentieth-century existence in Russia as the young Draitser struggles to reconcile the harsh values of Soviet society with the values of his working-class Jewish family.
In the Jaws of the Crocodile covers Emil’s adult years in the Soviet Union, focusing on his work for Krokodil, a major satirical publication, which was allowed “to ridicule things the state apparatus has proved worthy of criticism.” The book explores what it means to be a satirist and a Jew in a country lacking freedom of expression. His experience provides a window into the lives of a generation of artists who could poke fun and make readers laugh, as long as they toed a narrow, state-approved line.
Farewell, Mama Odessa is devoted to the travails of Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union and adjustment to life in a different culture. Drawing on the rich tradition of Odessan humor, this autobiographical novel explores the most powerful innate motivation that drives many people to leave the country they were born and raised, about their hopes and dreams, their aspirations to achieve their full human potential.
If you’d like to purchase the book, the publisher is offering a 30% to Renard participants through the month of June with promo code: RENARD. Click here to purchase his book.
Emil also said the following, “As to the third title of the trilogy, Shush! Growing up Jewish under Stalin, by the time of my talk, the Amazon plans to offer their print-on-demand option with much reduced price.”

An Archaeologist’s View of European Mummies
2021-05-24 10:00 - 11:30
Come learn about Europe’s mummies from 4000 B.C. to medieval times and what they reveal about past lifeways with Eugene Boesch.

Shem Guibbory – Violinist
2021-05-10 10:00 - 11:30
Shem Guibbory – Violinist.

Architecture of Jewish Culture as reflected in Memorials & Museums
2021-05-03 10:00 - 11:30
Architecture of Jewish Culture as reflected in Memorials & Museums with Bruce Levy

Words, Symbols, and Acts of Hate
2021-04-26 10:00 - 11:30
The 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia and the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting were significant moments in recent United States history, as they revealed a persistence of hatred and overt discrimination that some Americans believed was a thing of the past. This presentation will focus on the recent increase in hate speech, hate symbols and hate crimes we are witnessing in our schools and communities. Issues such as First Amendment rights and limitations will be discussed as they apply to hate speech and nonverbal symbols. Julia Scallero served as a chairperson of the Social Studies department at North Salem High School for 8 years and taught in that district for 36 years. She is a recipient of the Louis Yavner Teacher Award for Teaching about the Holocaust and Other Human Rights Violations and she is a former president of the Westchester Council for the Social Studies. Ms. Scallero participated in an educator’s study trip to Germany and was a member of the HHREC’s committee which designed an interdisciplinary Holocaust curriculum for high school students. Sponsored by The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center.

When the War Came: Three Households on the Palisades Face the Civil War with Eric Nelson
2021-04-19 10:00 - 11:30
When the War Came: Three Households on the Palisades Face the Civil War with Eric Nelson
While no battles were fought in Hudson Valley, the effects of the Civil War were felt throughout the region. In the tiny riverfront settlement of Closter Landing on the New Jersey Palisades, around a dozen men from several families volunteered for the Union. Historical interpreter Eric Nelsen investigates three of these households, each headed by a widow, whose sons went off to fight. Eric Nelson has 11
been a historical interpreter for the Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey since 1992, full time since ’98. He has been fascinated with all aspects of the Palisades and the park, and still considers it an honor to share the legacy of conservation it represents. The “Ghosts” program is a particular passion. To realize that the park was once home to several hundred families is an incredible thought. Who were these people? What became of them? And, how do stories such as theirs seem to disappear from public knowledge? Those are the questions I hope to explore with this program.
