Trenton's Jews

I mmigration Judge Gordon Was A Supermensch Last week, retired  Immigration Judge Nathan “Nate” Gordon  passed away.  At his funeral, dozens of immigration attorneys, judges and others shared their stories of this wonderful man. Judge Gordon changed many people’s lives in a very positive way. I have a lot of stories about Judge Gordon. Let me share one of them with you. Judge Gordon – Background Judge Gordon was born on Christmas Day in 1926 in New Jersey to Jewish immigrant parents from Eastern Europe.  He served in the US Army during World War II and graduated from New York Law School some years later. He was employed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) as an Attorney from 1962 to 1977. After that, he became an Immigration Judge, first in Newark, New Jersey, then in Los Angeles. I first met Judge Gordon in the mid-1980s, after I had left the INS and entered privat...

Trnetonian's owncame to Trenton in 1932 after marrying Ida Alexander of the Trenton Harry Alexander family. he rented a garage on  33 Market St. and opened a small maple shop which he ran for many years. When the old Morton house which Harry Alexander, his wife's father, had lost during the depression came up for sale Herman purchased it and converted the rooms from the Morton House into model rooms for his furniture showroom. Herman’s son Irwin joined the business in 1951 after graduating from Rutgers University. On the corner Herman rented to his brother in law Sully Alexander and his drug store. In 1954 Herman rented Mopar Auto parts on Warren Street from the Himmelstein family and there he opened a second furniture store handling only contemporary furniture and it was called Modern Manor. Herman’s youngest son, also a Rutgers graduate joined the firm In 1954 a furniture store featuring all modern furniture was unheard of. Herb left the firm in 1956 to become an Air Fo...

T ula Schnorbus Kurtz    Interview 11/27/2015 Went to school Herzl Zion Hebrew School with 4 students through 6 th grade: Tula, Ronald Weinstein, Gerald Foreman and Shirley Lev. When she lived above her Father’s store, Lisoot’s Deli in South Trenton, she went to Ansche Emes (People of Truth synagogue on Union Street facing Fall Street). She remembered her teachers: Rabbi Wolfson (Principal), Rabbi Dardik and Rev. Golub. Her father, Robert Schnorbus was president of the Herzl Zion Hebrew School in the 1950’s. His family was close to Rabbi Issachar Levin, Rabbi of Both Ansche Emes and Brothers of Israel. They shared many Seders in Rabbi Levin’s home. Robert Schnorbus was a partner in Lisook’s Deli. His brother-in-law, Meyer Lisook was his partner. Another brother –in-law, Max, operated another Deli on Clinton Avenue.   . Morris Kunes owned Kunes’ bakery on Market Street. He was the brother of Elizabeth Kunes Lisook, the original ...

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Why does the Jewish calendar have 13 months this year? Short answer: The modern Jewish calendar has 7 leap years containing an extra 13th month every cycle of 19 years. Longer, historical answer: There are two main types of calendars: A lunar one and a solar one. The Lunar Year The lunar calendar is where each year is a number of lunar cycles. The Muslim religious calendar is based on this. This lunar calendar is easy to observe. The downside of using this type of calendar however is that it does not stay synchronized with the solar calendar. Twelve lunar months of around 29.5 days each equals a lunar year of around 354 days. This means that each lunar year will be out of sync with the solar orbit of ~365.25 year by around 11 days. Thus using a lunar year of 12 lunar months means the seasons will shift through the calendar from year to year. For instance, the Muslim fast of Ramadan can occur in any season depending on the year. The Solar ...