November 2 - 17, 2024

Mentalist | Jason Suran

8:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall 

Sponsored by: 
Platt Memorial Chapels

Get ready for an unforgettable evening of laughter and intrigue with acclaimed mentalist Jason Suran, whose groundbreaking illusions and virtual hit Reconnected have captivated audiences worldwide, from Carnegie Hall to the Pentagon.

Member: $40 • Guest: $50

Dr. Jonathan Reisman and Dr. Anna Wexler

11:00 am • Lahn Social Hall

Sponsored by: Healthcare Quality Strategies, Inc (HQSI)

Dr. Jonathan Reisman and Dr. Anna Wexler explore healthcare's frontiers in Exploring New Frontiers in Healthcare: Overcoming Access Barriers in Remote Wilderness and Your Home, with Dr. Reisman sharing insights from remote medicine and Dr. Wexler focusing on DIY and direct-to-consumer healthcare innovations.

Free & Open to the Community with Pre-Registration Required

Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat

1:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall 

Sponsored by: 
The Heart House

A riveting diplomatic history praised by global leaders, The Art of Diplomacy is a compelling, expansive work that chronicles international negotiations shaping modern America, aimed at inspiring future diplomats.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Audrey Galex

2:00 pm • Classroom 205

Join author Audrey Galex and Tuckerton the Turtle for a fun-filled afternoon of reading, art, and a lesson on turtles from Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge, all inspired by the whimsical children’s book Turtle Rocks.

Member: $15 per child 

Guest: $18 per child

Adults Free of Charge

Jason K. Friedman

10:00 am • Lahn Social Hall

In Liberty Street, Friedman embarks on a personal journey through letters, diaries, and hidden histories to explore the Cohens' family struggles with love, duty, and political conflicts in a transforming city.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Ronald H. Balson

1:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

Sponsored by: Hyland Levin Shapiro, LLP

In Ron Balson's National Jewish Book Award-winning novel, Teddy and his girlfriend Sara adopt an orphaned girl and, amid escalating oppression, he joins underground resistance groups, using his position to rescue others in a perilous time.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Appel Art Gallery Opening

5:00 pm • Appel Art Gallery

Artist: Alan Brooks

Sponsored by: Mindel Kaufman Lifelong Learning Art Institute Endowment Fund of the JCF, Inc. 

Alan, a former award-winning graphic designer with a passion for vintage-themed and whimsical art, now creates pop art and custom commissioned pieces, with his classic rock artwork currently on display at SoundPlex in Pennsauken. 

Free and Open to the Community

*Purchase a raffle ticket during The Festival to win Alan Brooks's Artwork.

Joe Posnanski

6:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

6:00 pm | Tailgate
7:00pm | Presentation

Sponsored by: Double Nickel Brewing Co. and Super Buy Rite Wine & Liquor

Joe Posnanski, a #1 New York Times bestselling author, explores football's rich history through 100 pivotal moments. Highlighting legendary games, players, and decisions that have shaped both the sport and its cultural impact on America.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Benyamin Cohen

10:00 am • Lahn Social Hall

Sponsored by: Miriam & Stan Meltzer / Elaine (z”l) & Bart Greenspan

Benyamin Cohen, news director of The Forward and manager of Albert Einstein's social media, explores the genius's lasting relevance in his new book The Einstein Effect, sharing funny and fascinating insights from his global quest, including interviews with two Rabbi Einsteins.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Film | All About the Levkoviches

1:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

Sponsored by: The Faktorow Family Endowment Fund of the JCF, Inc. 

When Tamás' estranged son Iván returns from Israel with his grandson for Shiva after Tamás' wife dies, the father and son confront old conflicts. They help Ariel navigate his grief and belief that his grandmother’s spirit lingers in the house, leading to unexpected self-reflection and reconciliation.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Susan Blumberg-Kason

10:00 am • Lahn Social Hall

Fritz, a Jewish salon host in 1930s Shanghai, attracted prominent figures from politics, arts, and Hollywood, eventually founding the International Arts Theater to showcase avant-garde performances, bringing inspiration and cultural vibrancy to the city.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Donna Freed

1:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall
Moderated by Amy Stanley, Sari Isdaner Early Childhood Center Director

Sponsored by: Davis Enterprises

Donna Freed's birth parents were infamous con artists at the center of one of the US's biggest crime investigations of the 1960s. Donna set out to find her birth mother, uncovering a shocking truth. This gripping memoir tackles motherhood, identity, and nature vs. nurture in a fast-paced and moving narrative.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Joan Nathan

4:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall
Moderated by Dr. Andrew Mulberg,
JCC Vice President

Sponsored by: The Betty Mulberg Memorial Culinary Program at the Katz JCC

Joan Nathan, a renowned food expert and cookbook writer, weaves her passion for food, global travel, and personal stories into her latest book, sharing her in-depth knowledge of ingredients and recipes gained through on-the-ground research and guest visits to kitchens around the world.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Dan Slater

7:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

In the early 1900s, New York City's Lower East Side was rife with vice and corruption, prompting affluent German-Jewish uptowners to form the off-the-books vice squad known as the Incorruptibles. Their efforts to combat crime inadvertently empowered a new mobster class, a saga Dan Slater reveals in his exploration of crime and redemption that shaped modern society.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Marcia Zug

10:00 am • Lahn Social Hall

This book critically examines marriage as a uniquely American institution, tracing its evolution from the Colonial era to the #MeToo age and arguing that society's portrayal of marriage as a solution to societal problems allows the government to avoid addressing broader injustices directly.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Local Authors Panel

1:00 pm • Cherry Hill Public Library
Moderated by Barbara Leap, Writer

Mindie Barnett, You Don't Need to Be a Bitch to Be a Boss

Davon Loeb, The In-Betweens

Dr. Steven Pfeiffer, Parenting From the Heart

Gail Priest, Soul Dancing

Member: $15 per family
Guest: $18 per family

Challah Bake with The Challah Fairy

3:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

Sponsored by TD Bank

Join us for an intergenerational afternoon of baking and books, where toddlers to grandparents will prepare challah dough, enjoy a reading of The Challah Fairy, and help solve the mystery of the magical baker who delivers homemade challah with heartfelt notes each Shabbat.

*Limit 2 challahs per family. 6 people per family.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Film: The Catskills

7:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

With archival footage and colorful stories from proprietors, guests, and entertainers, The Catskills explores the famed mountain getaway that was both a refuge for Jewish immigrants and a playground for affluent Jewish families, capturing vibrant 20th-century American Jewish life, with director Lex Gillespie, a three-time Peabody Award-winning journalist, joining for a post-film discussion.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Micah Siva

10:00 am • Lahn Social Hall

Sponsored by: Soom Foods

Nosh is a vegetarian cookbook for the modern Jewish kitchen, blending historical inspiration with a 21st-century perspective through 80+ plant-based recipes, stunning photography, and enlightening sidebars; join author Micah Siva as she demos one of her delicious recipes with us.

Member: $30 • Guest: $36

Amir Tibon

8:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

Sponsored by: Ravitz Family Foundation

Amir Tibon, Haaretz's award-winning correspondent, shares the gripping story of his family's October 7, 2023 rescue from Kibbutz Nahal Oz by his father, a tale revealing the tensions behind Hamas's attacks, featured on 60 Minutes and optioned for film by Fauda creators Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Fiction Author Panel

1:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall
Moderated by Zibby Owens

Sponsored by: Valerie & David Gladfelter, Endowment Fund of the JCF, Inc. 

Zibby Owens, Blank

Anna Bliss, Bonfire Night

Debra Green, Mahjong at Mara's

Rochelle Weinstein, What You Do to Me

Community-Wide Kristallnacht Observance 

11:00 am • Lahn Social Hall

Held in partnership with Raab/Goodwin Esther Raab Holocaust Museum & Goodwin Education Center

A Conversation with Paula S. Apsell, Executive Producer
and Co-Director of Resistance: They Fought Back.

Free & Open to the Community with Pre-Registration Required

Lawrence P. Levitt and
Stephanie Smartschan 

1:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

Before World War II, there were 200 Jewish children in Humenné, Czechoslovakia, but only six survived, including Evitchka, whose survival was a testament to her parents' resilience, a brave Catholic couple's courage, and a story spanning continents and decades, culminating in the unlikely opportunity to repay an unpayable debt.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Robin Judd 

10:00 am • Lahn Social Hall

Historian Robin Judd examines the marriages of Jewish Holocaust survivors to Allied soldiers, exploring their journey from courtship to immigration and the impact on officials, blending romance, survivor's guilt, and the challenges of rebuilding their lives.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Steven Ujifusa

1:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

Between 1890 and 1921, 2.5 million Jews fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe, many from Hamburg, were able to migrate to the United States thanks to the efforts of businessmen Jacob Schiff, Albert Ballin, and J.P. Morgan, with descendants including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Estée Lauder, George Gershwin, and the author's great grandparents.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Larry Tye with Music by Gary Negbaur

1:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

Sponsored by: Fox Rothschild, LLP

The Jazzmen explores the lives of three African American bandleaders, their role in the civil rights movement, and the Black-Jewish alliance through their Jewish managers and bandmates, with Larry Tye interviewed by pianist Gary Negbaur, who will perform jazz, blues, and American roots music.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Arthur Smith

10:00 am • Lahn Social Hall

Arthur Smith, known for his innovation in unscripted television with hits like Hell’s Kitchen and American Ninja Warrior, shares his adventures, triumphs, and lessons in Reach, detailing his rapid rise to become the youngest-ever head of CBS Sports and offering anecdotes about figures like Marlon Brando, Gordon Ramsay, and Magic Johnson, highlighting the power of hard work, risk-taking, and following your dreams.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Fiction Authors Panel

1:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall
Moderated by Minna Siegel, Librarian

Sponsored by: Needleman Management

Shira Dicker, Lolita at Leonard’s of Great Neck and Other Stories from the Before Times

Lynda Cohen Loigman, The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

Sara Goodman Confino, Don’t Forget to Write

Free & Open to the Community with Pre-Registration Required

A Musical Play|
Freedom Song

6:30 pm • Lahn Social Hall
Dessert Reception to Follow

Sponsored by Gregg B. Wolfe in loving memory of his 21-year old son Justin Matthew Wolfe

In partnership with Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Southern New Jersey

Freedom Song interweaves a Passover Seder with personal stories of recovery, featuring real addicts who use song, dance, and discussion to explore the fight against self-bondage, while Beit T'Shuvah provides care to those battling addiction, never turning anyone away for inability to pay.

Luncheon with Emily Matchar

11:30 am • Lahn Social Hall

In conversation with Marcy Dash Friedman, owner, Dashing Designs Inc., past JCC President

Sponsored by: Dashing Designs Inc.

In the Shadow of the Greenbrier is a poignant multigenerational Jewish family saga set against the backdrop of West Virginia's Greenbrier Resort, where four generations of the Zelner family navigate love, loyalty, and identity over the course of ten decades, as historical events shape their lives and relationships.

Member: $40 • Guest: $50

Daniel Schulman

7:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

Sponsored by: Townsend Press Foundation/
Judith Nadell and John Langan

The Money Kings chronicles Jewish immigrants like Joseph Seligman, the Lehmans, and Marcus Goldman, who rose from peddlers to founding major investment banks, shaping America's financial power amid Gilded Age antisemitism and global upheaval.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Talia Carner

10:00 am • Lahn Social Hall

From the acclaimed author of The Third Daughter comes an epic historical novel of love, loss, and courage, spanning from postwar France, where Israeli agents rescued hidden Jewish orphans, to the daring 1969 escape of the Israeli boats of Cherbourg.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Robert Steinfeld

1:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

Sponsored by: Creative Print Group

Emmy Award-winning producer Robert Steinfeld shares his journey in sports television, producing events like the Olympics and World Cup, and working with stars like Cal Ripken and announcers Bob Costas and Jim Nantz.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Noah Rinsky

7:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

Moderated by Art Abramowitz & Art Simons

This humorous and stylish guide celebrates Old Jewish Men (OJMs), offering tips on how to eat, dress, schmooze, and embrace the OJM lifestyle, with insights into deli culture, jargon, and archetypes, making it a perfect gift for fans of classic Jewish humor—whether or not you're old, Jewish, or a man.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Heather Dune Macadam

10:00 am • Lahn Social Hall

Sponsored by: Virtua Physical Therapy

Star-Crossed is an epic WWII love story by the award-winning author of 999, blending historical drama with a tribute to Paris and its people, as it follows the doomed romance between a Catholic Resistance fighter and a Holocaust victim whose love is torn apart by war, prejudice, and family disapproval.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Film: 999: The Forgotten Girls of the Holocaust

11:30 am • Lahn Social Hall

999 uncovers the hidden story of 999 young Jewish women falsely registered for government service, only to be sent to Auschwitz as part of the First Official Jewish Transport, with survivors like Edith Grosman revealing their harrowing experiences in this overlooked chapter of women's history, now explored in a documentary based on the international bestseller.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

David & Susan Schwartz

2:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

Join the Schwartz’s on a whimsical A to Z journey through over 225 Costco warehouses worldwide, offering behind-the-scenes insights and product samplings, all while celebrating their love for Costco from one of NYC's smallest apartments.

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Comedian|Taylor Williamson

8:00 pm • Lahn Social Hall

Sponsored by: Resintech and the Gottlieb Families

Taylor Williamson, a proudly Jewish comedian and America’s Got Talent runner-up, has headlined globally, performed for US troops, and hosted events for Jewish organizations, with his latest standup special streaming on YouTube.

Member: $40 • Guest: $50

Champagne Brunch with Eddie Shapiro and Rita Neidich

10:00 am • Lahn Social Hall

Sponsored by: Classic Cake in partnership with Super Buy Rite Wine & Liquor

In Here's to the Ladies, journalist Eddie Shapiro offers intimate conversations with Broadway's greatest female performers, exploring their careers in-depth, while brunch features Rita Neidich’s one-woman cabaret Far from Our Home, highlighting Jewish heroines in musical theater and Neidich’s own journey as a Ukrainian Jewish refugee.

Member: $40 • Guest: $50

Member: $15 • Guest: $18

Susan Blumberg-Kason

10:00 am • Lahn Social Hall

Fritz, a Jewish salon host in 1930s Shanghai, attracted prominent figures from politics, arts, and Hollywood, eventually founding the International Arts Theater to showcase avant-garde performances, bringing inspiration and cultural vibrancy to the city.