The annual Essex County Jewish Heritage Celebration recognizes the positive impact and cultural contributions of Jewish residents to the economy and society of Essex county. It is annually hosted by Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. and the Essex County Board of County Commissioners. Initiated in 2013 by Commissioner Patricia Sebold, the Essex County Board of County Commissioners hosts a separate annual ceremony specifically highlighting grassroots activists, rabbis, and civic leaders. Recent honorees from their Jewish Heritage Month events include a local rabbi who demanded a domestic violence survivor’s silence and a woman who partipicipates, to this day, in erasing her children’s Jewish heritage.
Kerri Berson Levine, of Fidelco Realty, is guilty of elder abuse and gaslighting her own children.
After requesting the criteria for how these recipients are chosen, neither Mr. DiVincenzo nor Ms. Sebold have ever replied.
The young lady who won the Jewish Heritage Award and has, so far, erased her children’s Jewish heritage on their Greenbaum side(my maiden name) is my daughter in law. And those children are my grandchildren, whom she will not allow me to meet.
I am part of my grandchildren’s Jewish heritage. I should not be erased.
Here is a letter I wrote Kerri Berson Levine, my daughter in law. It is only one of dozens written over the years. This particular letter was written after I was presented with a demand to remove my presence from all social media platforms and never share my history of domestic violence and abuse with anyone. I would not agree to that. I know more than ever that abuse thrives in silence. And my silence almost killed me years ago.
I was, as always, more than kind.There is never a reply.
May 23, 2021
Hi, Kerri,
I hope all is well – or at least as well as can be during this pandemic. I think of you, Jared, Chase and Lara always.
There are not many days when you aren’t in my thoughts or prayers, and I am finally gathering my emotions to write to you at this time. Chances are you will toss my letter in the trash without so much as reading a word, but what is life without taking chances? I hang on to the possibility that you may actually read my words. And feel what they try to convey.
I’d like to tell you how proud I am of you. Over the last year, I have repeatedly seen your name and face in the local New Jersey media. You are an amazing woman as you raise two young children, pursue a career, and still take on so many charitable causes. On so very many occasions, I have said I am beyond proud to have you as a daughter in law and the mother of my grandchildren.
There’s an old expression called “wrapping up loose ends.”
Sometimes, it can bring you closure.
Sometimes, it allows you to confront something painful or hurtful, lightening its weight on your shoulders and in your heart.
And sometimes, it does both.
I’ve thought so much about what I wish I could say to you – for too long. All through the pandemic and even before that....All the days I’ve contemplated writing this, are turning into years.
Throughout my experience of writing, I’ve learned something invaluable. When you write – the words/experiences can lose their power over you. For me, writing also makes things easier to carry.
I’ve read various articles on your achievements and have even seen you being interviewed on the Steve Adubato show, New Jersey News 12. I can’t help but look at you on the screen and wonder what my grandchildren look like. I wish I knew – and I wish they knew me, too.
Just last week, I was invited to a ceremony on Zoom. It was to award a local rabbi with the Jewish Heritage Award of Essex County, New Jersey. An honor. And all I could think about was how I read that you, Kerri, were a previous recipient of that award only 3 years ago. An honor that encompasses so much irony.
Your face is shown proudly on Essex County pages as you accepted the county’s award for Jewish Heritage. I’m not quite sure what that award is for, though, as I had never heard of it before (and I pride myself on being active in our Essex County Jewish community). I do not know you personally in order to speak your praises – all I do know is what I have read...and how you have treated me.
Through the last seven years, I have had faith in you and made excuses for you. You see, I was married to someone who prohibited me from thinking on my own, being my own person, and who in many instances prohibited me from doing what was right according to circumstances within my grasp. It has always haunted me – losing my voice for two decades. I know only too well the influence a partner can have on one’s own judgement and decisions.
Lately, I’ve been thinking how my own silence has been deafening. Thus, this letter. I’m speaking up for two young souls...my grandchildren who are prohibited from even knowing I exist.
I’m positive your philanthropy regarding our Jewish faith has benefited many. “Heritage” – a legacy. It’s our past, our present and our future as Jews. Our lineage.
And of course, here comes my predicament. Dear, Kerri, I am your children’s Jewish heritage. I am their grandmother. And at 4 and 2 years of age, you will not let them even meet me. I have never even been sent photos of my beloved grandchildren. So what does that truly say about your stance for Jewish Heritage? It leaves me rather perplexed.
I have wondered what the mission statement is for the Jewish Heritage Award. No one has been able to tell me. Friends have even asked and searched for it. I do not know what it includes, but I can bet it does not include selectively erasing any part of a child’s Jewish heritage. Or anyone.
I can guarantee that you did not disclose our tragic situation nor history in truth. My heart breaks over the parental alienation of my son, who has grown to be a man repeating a cycle of such alienation. And unfortunately, you got pulled into its turmoil. As did my grandchildren. You have the power to make this generational curse stop if you break the cycle.
Kerri, when you erase a part of my grandchildren’s heritage, you are essentially eliminating a great part of who they are. I am a part of my son’s history, and am Chase’s and Lara’s. Regarding my son – he knows how to reach me. Regarding my grandchildren...until my last breath, I’ll be waiting for them to find me some day. With all my heart, and with arms wide open. They are all a piece of me. That’s heritage.
I appeal to your sense of conscience. Children deserve more love. Not less.
Life only moves forward. In it’s path, I have followed your wonderful volunteer work during the Covid pandemic. All you have done for the essential workers in our hospitals and communities is to be applauded. Outstanding work.
Last January, I observed you on New Jersey television discussing the program you installed to afford “young girls opportunities.” You referred to a program you developed in Newark. However, as you spoke of the necessity for allowing young girls to have various opportunities in life, the young girl that I brought to mind was Lara.
My granddaughter. My granddaughter who does not know I exist. Because she was not afforded the opportunity to know me. As I stared at the television screen, seeing your image, all I could do was wonder what my granddaughter looked like.
I haven’t been permitted to meet Lara nor see a photograph of her. I do have a two-year-old text from Jared informing me that Lara looked exactly like me. In hindsight it was part of the manipulation he orchestrated – but I wonder how true it could have been. When I asked to see a photo of her, the conversation went dead until the demand to sign away my voice.
But I digress.... getting back to your television interview....You spoke of the importance of exposing young girls to various experiences – opportunities they should have. I believe the goal was to empower these young girls whom you were referring to. That is without doubt an integral and important endeavor. Kudos to you for realizing that and trying to act upon it.
As you spoke, so many thoughts ran through my mind. You must understand that the voices of young women everywhere matter and are vital to a healthy outlook and future. You must realize that no one should be bullied into silence. You must know that each and every girl owns her own truth and has the right to stand up and speak out about it. Choices. Not under control of others demands and opinions. But knowing they have choices – that is their right.
When I turned off your segment, I prayed for Lara. May no one ever try to steal sweet Lara’s voice. Please teach that to your own daughter. Never let anyone try to bully her into silence. Never let anyone attempt to manipulate her into removing all her presence on social media venues. Teach her that no one should try to make her sign away her voice, her rights, her truth. Don’t let anyone do to her...what her parents tried to do to me.
And may Lara always know her worth, her value, and her own heart without ever having to prove it to anyone else.
Those are wishes and prayers that should be afforded to young girls everywhere, as they are exposed to endless opportunities. What someone may consider their ceiling, let these young women consider their floor.
Kerri, you are a very strong role model for your daughter. That is absolutely wonderful. But you are also teaching her things that I don’t believe you are aware of. By eliminating her chance to know her grandmother, you are sending a message of disconnection, judgement, even bullying and disregarding her God given right to have her loving grandmother in her life.
As I watched your beautiful persona being interviewed by Mr. Adubato, I carefully listened to each and every word you spoke. The importance for personal growth and exposure to different venues affords the young girls in your program “opportunities” that all young girls should experience. It should not be looked at as something rare, but should be normalized. What a wonderful world it would be.
My granddaughter deserves opportunities that her own parents are not allowing her to have. When you next speak of granting, awarding, sharing opportunities with young girls in your programs again...I ask you to look into your own daughter’s eyes and think of what you have taken from her, what opportunities she is not allowed. I ask you to reflect on the mother I was to your husband as he was growing up...the memories he chooses to bury because I, too, have learned that the good memories can sometimes hurt our heart more than the unpleasant ones.
Well, I thought of these points many times over the last few weeks. I can’t talk to you, but I can write. Whether you are receptive or not, all I can do is try. And hope. I know that each day brings me closer to when my grandchildren will look for me. I’ll be waiting.
And when you do grant opportunities to other young girls, remember your daughter deserves so much. She deserves more love, not less. And I pray she will know to be her own person, follow her own heart, do what is right (even when it’s not easy), and never let anyone bully her into silence.
Some day, I hope you will afford your own children their heritage and opportunities that they are forbidden today. It’s never too late. As long as we have breath within us.
I pray every day for Jared’s awakening and healing. That’s a tougher subject to conquer and I know it can’t be done alone. I had set boundaries, and as soon as I saw that paper he demanded I sign – I saw that all my boundaries were disregarded.
Thank you for reading this far. This letter is not meant to place blame, but about what happens next. It’s about Lara. It’s about children. It’s about all that we are and the next generation.
I know only too well that children do not learn by words alone, but by example.
Stay well.
Lovingly,
Julie
Read the article about Kerri’s Jewish Heritage Award here:
https://patch.com/new-jersey/belleville/essex-county-jewish-heritage-awards-honor-njit-prez-re-exec
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