A ‘Premier’ Jewish holiday celebration

Every Thursday at 11 a.m., the Marion and Gural JCC in Cedarhurst hosts a group of Holocaust survivors. Many are well into their 80s, and the program offers them an opportunity to socialize, receive entitlement assistance or group therapy and to celebrate the holidays with others.

On Sept. 27, the group attended a Sukkot celebration hosted by The Premier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Woodmere. The holiday lasts eight days for those outside of Israel, and commemorates the end of the yearly harvest, as well as the Exodus of the ancient Hebrews from Egypt.

A traditional kosher lunch was served, albeit with a couple of more modern inclusions like quinoa, cooked by the Premier’s chef, Josh Aaron. Greetings were offered by Rabbis Herschel Reisz and Levi Lieberman, and traditional Jewish music was played.

More than 40 survivors attended, and Ben Landa, the owner of the Premier said why this event in particular means a lot to him. “I take this very personally as the son of two survivors,” he said. “They were in a unique situation as Hungarian Jews. The government had sided with the Axis powers and while they discriminated against Jews, they didn’t begin genocide until 1944.”

According to Landa and Joseph Benden, a Premier administrator, the facility has worked to also become a place where community organizations can meet. Benden said they would, “Absolutely” like to have the survivors back for next year’s Sukkot, and that they’re also planning on opening a coffee shop on the premises that will be open to the public. “By hosting these organizations, we can show off what we have to offer while giving back to the community,” Benden said.

Cathy Byrne, the associate executive director for Older Adults and Special Needs, said that she too would love to bring this group back to the Premier for other events “The survivors were so excited to be here,” she said. “The staff really rolled out the red carpet for them.”

Some survivors danced on the outdoor patio where the celebration had been set up, but most attendees simply socialized. Bernie Igielski survived Auschwitz, at the celebration he thanked Landa for hosting the event and shared some of his story. It turned out that he and Landa’s father were both liberated near Dachau. In July, Igielski met the nephew of the doctor at Auschwitz who kept him from being murdered in one of the infamous concentration camp’s gas chambers.

The Premier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, at 1050 Central Ave., opened in January, and is more than twice the size of the previous location, which stood nearby at 121 Franklin Place, which was about 75,000-square-feet. The new venue is 183,000-square-feet, and has 280 beds, each with its own flat-screen television. There are recreation areas, an outdoor patio, a synagogue and even its own beauty parlor.

It is also equipped to provide residents with treatment without having to leave the premises, with 14 dialysis machines, a rehabilitation gym and the first two floors have tubes suspended from the ceilings with piped-in oxygen, which helps residents move throughout the building without having to carry around heavy and bulky oxygen tanks.