Join us as we thank Marc Chalom for his years of volunteer service at Shomrei! Marc and all Shomrei volunteers will be recognized at “Honor Night” a dinner and talent showcase at Shomrei Emunah, Saturday, Mar 7, 2015, 7:30pm. Click here to reserve tickets. (deadline, Sun, Mar 1)
Marc Chalom
What is Marc Chalom’s first goal for Shomrei in the future? To find someone to replace him!… But it won’t be easy.
“When the alarm goes off at 2 a.m., they call me from ADT,” says the VP of Building and Grounds, since 2002. He is proud of the fact that he was in charge of renovating the kitchen in the YAC (formerly the Social Hall), daring to use red for the kitchen cabinets, created new office space out of closets on the first floor, restructured the seating to be more intimate in the sanctuary, replaced the ‘leaning wall’ outside the building, renovated the bluestone walkways at the entrance to the Sanctuary, and chaired the first ‘World Wide Wrap’, among other projects at Shomrei. “I found a way to handle most of these challenges without spending a lot of money!” he added.
Marc has always been dependable. “One of my earliest memories is when I was about 3 ½ years old. I was living at the time in Alexandria, Egypt (where I was born) with my parents and little sister. Suddenly we were enemies of the state in Egypt, which was previously a British protectorate. It was just after Nasser came to power in the 1950’s. We were British (father) and French (mother), and Jewish. After decades of a comfortable life in Egypt, my family had to leave Alexandria and seek refuge through Greece. My parents left me briefly alone on the dock with our luggage when they went to check on arrangements. A group of thugs came around, threatening to take our belongings. I stood over the bags and told them, “You can’t have these!”
Marc says that the experiences of his childhood have remained with him throughout his adult life.
“I have an immigrant’s mentality,” he explains, noting that his family emigrated via Marseille, France to a small town near Lyon, named Roanne, where they lived throughout the remainder of the 1950s. “It was a decade after World War II, and we lived among a community of Jews who had survived. Everyone loved the fact that my mother was having a new baby,” he recalls. Eventually, the family grew to include 8 children, with Marc as the oldest.
“My family was traditional; I am a product of those times,” he says. Today he has relatives in Israel, France, Italy and Brazil. His siblings are all in the New York – New Jersey area, with the exception of his youngest brother, who made Aliyah to Israel several years ago.
Marc and his family eventually left France and moved to New Jersey in 1960. His native tongue was French, with some Hebrew that he learned from Hebrew School. “All I knew about America was from cowboy movies! I was looking for John Wayne, horses and cowboys,” he recalls with a laugh. He learned English by watching TV.
He graduated from Sholom E. Rogosin High School in Jersey City, which also had a small Sephardic community. He also has roots in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, a summer community that was popular with Jewish families from the Boston area and French-Canadians from Quebec. His father had a small motel and a couple of stores there. “The community had a Kosher butcher, 3 Jewish hotels (a little bit like the Catskills) and a small synagogue. That’s where I had my Bar Mitzvah”, he adds.
Marc and his wife Lisa, an artist who worked in leaded glass, were married in 1994. “A friend introduced us. We had much in common, especially since I found out she had lived in France for many years.” They were Manhattanites until they bought an old Victorian house in Nutley. When the triplets arrived, they went “synagogue shopping”. According to Marc, “We went looking for a place to join when the boys were old enough to sit and read a book!” They affiliated with Shomrei Emunah in 2001 after Gerry Blume welcomed them to our congregation. The bar mitzvahs of René, Gabriel, and Mayer took place in 2008.
Burt Lancaster and Marc Chalom at A&E Network in the 1980s
In his professional world, Marc is a television producer and Production Executive. Among the highlights of his career are the “Dance in America” series with Twyla Tharp and Merce Cunningham, the “MacNeil/Lehrer Report”, “Sesame Street”, and as the creator of the “Biography” series. He was also one of the founding executives of the A&E Cable Networks. Marc has also worked on many hours of original television programming. A graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University, he also holds a Masters degree from NYU School of the Arts.
Shomrei plays a major part in his life. “I am not defined by what I do, but by how I treat others”, Marc explains. One of the aspects Marc appreciates most as an active Shomrei member, is that “people here care about each other.” Marc acknowledges that Shomrei is populated by many smart people who don’t always agree! “Everyone has an opinion,” he notes. He is active on the Ritual committee, and frequently serves as ‘gabbai’ during services, welcoming new faces and greeting long-time friends.
In the future, he thinks that several building projects will be addressed, such as outside lighting and lighting in the sanctuary, renovating the Park Street entrance area, installing security cameras, refurbishing the classrooms, and upgrading the carpeting in the Social Hall. But the most important topic for Shomrei in the years ahead is “Membership”. “This is our spiritual home,” he said. He wants everyone to know that, “we are the synagogue.”
When it comes to speaking at the awards dinner, he likes to point out that he’s usually a better extemporaneous speaker. “I want to capture the mood and energy of the evening. Basically I want to honor Shomrei. I see the award as a reflection of my family and community!”
Additional information on Marc:
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- Book Club: The Immortalistsby Chloe Benjamin - Thu, Feb 21, 2019
- Book Club: The Panther in the Basementby Amos Oz - Thu, Jan 31, 2019