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Lawmakers taking White Haven fight back to Harrisburg

<p>KINGSTON &#8212; &#8220;Isn&#8217;t it exciting?&#8221; Beverly Nachlis, of Kingston, said as about 20 people interested in the Jewish art of paper cutting gathered around a table at the Friedman Jewish Community Center on S.J. Strauss Lane on Thursday afternoon. &#8220;I want to see what I can do.&#8221;</p><p>Art educator Avigayle Adler, visiting from Jerusalem, offered the class some inspiration by playing a brief video that featured extremely intricate examples of the art form &#8212; deer and lions, people and temples, trailing grapevines, and birds with long, graceful feathers, all rendered in cut paper.</p><p>Naturally, the beginners started out with simpler designs, most of them opting to cut flower petals, or hearts or Stars of David into the paper that would frame a house blessing written in Hebrew characters that each of them would take away from the art class.</p><p>Explaining the blessings are especially appropriate to display at the entrance to a home, Adler said she had distributed a variety of them, with slightly different translations but all reflecting such sentiments as &#8220;there should be only joy and peace in this house&#8221; or &#8220;let there be no despair.&#8221;</p><p>Participant Dr. Barbara Bell, of Shavertown, said she plans to display her decorated blessing in a sukkah &#8212; a temporary hut constructed outdoors for the week-long Feast of Sukkot, which begins this year at sunset on Oct. 13.</p><p>Participant Suzanne Lynn, of Kingston, said while she isn&#8217;t Jewish, &#8220;my granddaughter is going to marry a Jewish fellow and I would love to give this to his mother.&#8221;</p><p>Speaking of religious affiliation, you don&#8217;t have to be Jewish to become a member of the JCC or enjoy its programs.</p><p>You can learn about the new facility and its activities &#8212; fitness classes, a book club, a bridge club, an early learning center, a weaving room and more &#8212; during the official Grand Opening of the new center, set for 2 to 5 p.m. Sept. 22. Admission is free to the event, during which the Harlem Wizards will be on hand for an interactive basketball demonstration and visitors will have a chance to win a flat screen TV.</p><p>&#8220;We want the whole community to feel comfortable here,&#8221; board member Taly Kornfeld, of Kingston, said during a recent cooking class that featured Indo-Chinese cuisine in the kitchen of the new JCC. Future cooking classes will cover all sorts of ethnic food traditions, she noted.</p><p>&#8220;We want that gym to be booked 24/7,&#8221; she added.</p><p>With programs available for every age group from infants to seniors, it seems like there&#8217;s always a new adventure to try at the JCC. And, it&#8217;s OK if you&#8217;re not an expert.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not very artistic,&#8221; said Pat Dobrowolski, of Trucksville, sounding apologetic as she worked on cutting shapes into her paper during Thursday&#8217;s class.</p><p>&#8220;Everyone&#8217;s an artist,&#8221; Adler, the instructor, encouraged her. &#8220;The problem is, as we grow up, sometimes we forget.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Florence Kornblatt, 94, draws a design Thursday afternoon during a Jewish paper cutting art class at the Sidney &amp; Pauline Friedman Jewish Community Center in Kingston. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091419paper3-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Florence Kornblatt, 94, draws a design Thursday afternoon during a Jewish paper cutting art class at the Sidney &amp; Pauline Friedman Jewish Community Center in Kingston. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091419paper4-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Art educator Avigayle Adler, visiting from Jerusalem, teaches participants in a Jewish Paper Cutting workshop at the JCC. Aimee Dilger|Times Leader </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091419paper4-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Art educator Avigayle Adler, visiting from Jerusalem, teaches participants in a Jewish Paper Cutting workshop at the JCC. Aimee Dilger|Times Leader </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091419paper6-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Marilyn Stilp of Wilkes-Barre and her sister Suzanne Lynn of Kingston work on their paper-cutting projects at the JCC. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091419paper6-2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Marilyn Stilp of Wilkes-Barre and her sister Suzanne Lynn of Kingston work on their paper-cutting projects at the JCC. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091419paper5-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Instructor Avigayle Adler helps students Beverly Nachlis and Charlotte Cutler in a Jewish Paper Cutting workshop at the JCC on Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091419paper5-2.jpg</photo3><caption3>Instructor Avigayle Adler helps students Beverly Nachlis and Charlotte Cutler in a Jewish Paper Cutting workshop at the JCC on Thursday. </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>JCC plansgrand openingfor Sept. 22</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mary Therese Biebel</p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Instructor from Jerusalem teaches art of paper cutting at JCC