BY MAURA DOWGIN
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Eva Aronson, 98, Edison, lights a candle on the township’s menorah at the Jewish Community Center during the township’s pre-Hanukkah celebration Dec. 18.
EDISON — The township’s Hanukkah celebration brought some homegrown celebrities back to town.
Along with Mayor George A. Spadoro and Rabbi Yossi Hirsch, former Edison residents David Bryan (a founding member of the rock band Bon Jovi), and Jeff Caplan of WCBS News Radio 880 lit one of the township’s four menorahs on Thursday.
Bryan, who now lives in Colts Neck with his wife and three children, was born and raised in Edison, and is a 1980 graduate of J.P. Stevens High School.
Bon Jovi, with Bryan on keyboards, has sold 90 million albums, traveled around the world playing music to millions of people in 42 countries, circled the globe 13 times and has released a new greatest hits album.
Children listen to the words of Rabbi Yossi Hirsch at the 10th Annual Lighting of Edison’s menorah at the Jewish Community Center on Dec. 18.
Bryan is the keyboard player and songwriter for the rock band.
"Luck comes with hard work," Bryan said.
Bryan’s mother still lives in Edison. He said he is in the township often to see her. "I was born and raised in Edison, New Jersey. It’s home," Bryan said.
Caplan is the host of the morning radio show on WCBS News Radio 880.
A 1976 graduate Edison High School, he then continued his education at Rutgers University.
He has been a broadcaster in Princeton, Indiana, Philadelphia and now in New York City, he said.
"I’ve always been proud of being a home-town boy from Edison," Caplan said.
The Hanukkah celebration was held at the Jewish Community Center on Oak Tree Road on Thursday.
Other special guests included Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg of the Congregation Beth-El in Edison and Eva Aronson, a 98-year-old woman who helped build up the JCC more than 20 years ago.
Four township menorahs, including one in front of the Jewish Community Center, one on the corner of Inman Avenue and Grove Street, one in front of the municipal building, and one near ShopRite on Route 1, will be lit during the celebration of lights.
Having the menorahs throughout town shows that Edison "respects and enjoys" its religious diversity, Spadoro said. "We’re very proud of that."