Home Care In Cheltenham, PA

The photo above from the 1967 El Delator yearbook shows current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu playing soccer for Cheltenham High School.

Netanyahu graduated fourth in his class and was a National Letter of Commendation winner. In addition to the soccer team, he was a member of the chess club and the debate team.

He and his family belonged to reform Congregation Temple Judea on North Broad Street in Philadelphia. Netanyahu, a Tel Aviv native, was unable to attend the June 1967 graduation ceremony due to enlisting in the Israeli Defense Forces during the Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Netanyahu has been serving as the prime minister of Israel since December 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021.

In 2015, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that 1973 graduates sent Netanyahu his class yearbook. The article also mentions our very own local historian Chuck Langerman:

In April, 1973 classmates David Gorewitz, Sam Katz, Bonnie Mason and Chuck Langerman collaborated via an active class Facebook site. While none of the four knew Netanyahu personally, the alumni of the Montgomery County high school sent him a note on behalf of their class congratulating him on winning a fourth term.He played left wing for the soccer team and Langerman joked, “That was the exact opposite of his political views.”

From The Jewish Exponents’ 2015 article:

To most of us who knew him back in the mid-1960s in Cheltenham, he wasn’t Bibi. Just Ben. Different in many ways from the average suburban kid who seldom paid attention to the world around him. A young man with a purpose, disinterested in the cliques and social mentality that preoccupied many of his schoolmates.Now that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just won a fourth term in office, it would be silly to think any of us could have predicted this tall, good-looking boy with the thick accent would grow up to become the leader of his country. Yet, if you looked hard enough, there were signs during his four years in the region that Netanyahu was destined for something big.

From Wikipedia‘s entry on Netanyahu :

Between 1956 and 1958, and again from 1963 to 1967, his family lived in the United States in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, while father Benzion Netanyahu taught at Dropsie College. … He and his brother Yonatan grew dissatisfied with a perceived superficial way of life they encountered in the area, including the prevalent youth counterculture movement, and the liberal sensibilities of the Reform synagogue, Temple Judea of Philadelphia, that the family attended.

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Yearbook photo and information partially provided by Chuck Langerman, local historian

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Cheltenham Township Board of Commissioners unanimously passed an ordinance Wednesday night which bans the sale or distribution of single-use plastic bags at local retailers.

The ban calls for any paper bag alternatives to contain at least 40% recycled content. There’s also a $0.10 fee on non-reusable alternative bags. Any retailer who violates the ordinance is subject to fines.

The new law takes effect in January 2024, but retailers will have a 90-day adjustment period. With this move, Cheltenham became the first municipality in Pennsylvania in 2023 to enact legislation to reduce plastic use, following a flurry of similar bans across the suburbs in 2022.

Faran Savitz, a Zero Waste Advocate with PennEnvironment, said the township is the 16th municipality in Pennsylvania to take action to reduce the usage of single-use plastics. The organization has been assisting communities, like Ambler and Radnor, in enacting plastic restrictions.

“It’s a great first step. We know there are a bunch of other townships and boroughs that are looking to do similar actions, but it’s awesome to see them join,” Savitz said.

PennEnvironment, which worked with Cheltenham to write legislation, estimates that township residents use 13.7 million single-use plastic bags each year. Many of these bags end up as harmful pollution in the environment.

Lower Merion, Swarthmore consider single-use plastic bag bans

Savitz said even more suburban communities — like Lower Merion — have drafted similar legislation and will likely vote in the near term.

“There’s a bit of a flurry of action going on in the next couple of weeks, next week. Lower Merion Township is having a preliminary discussion about their plastic bag ban and they’ll potentially be voting on that in the next few weeks. It’s a great step. Lower Merion Township was part of a lawsuit against the state legislature over the preemption law a couple of years ago, the ban on local plastic bans. So they’ve been out in front of this issue before and it’s good to see them finally passing a plastic bag ban,” Savitz said.

Swarthmore Borough officials in Delaware County are currently discussing a ban not just on single-use bags, but polystyrene products as well.

“As it stands right now, it could be one of the most in-depth and comprehensive laws we’ve seen in the state. So it would be great to see it passed. There are other communities, too, in Bucks County, both Newtown Township and Newtown Borough have been working on crafting their own plastic bag bans, working with their business community,” Savitz said.

Savitz believes that the momentum will compel more communities to take steps to reduce plastic waste.

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Rebecca Creskoff, a 1988 graduate of Cheltenham High School, is an actress who has guest-starred in a number of notable television series including: “Law & Order,” “The West Wing,” “Mad Men,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Hannah Montana,” “Justified” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.

She has also claimed recurring roles in “The Practice,” “Girlfriends,” “Jonas,” and the HBO series “Hung,” with whom she co-starred with Anne Heche. She can be seen in the films, “Finding North,” “Friends and Family,” “Stroller Wars,” and “Libertyville.”

She is married to Dr. Michael Glassner, and in 2012, was featured in The New York Times for her relationship with the Philadelphia-area fertility doctor. An excerpt:

For her sister, Lauren Kline, who is married with three children and living in Bryn Mawr, Pa., not far from Cheltenham, Pa., where they grew up, Ms. Creskoff’s stay in the Kline household represented yet another opportunity to find her a mate. Prior attempts at matchmaking for Ms. Creskoff, who is two years younger, had not gone well. “She would find ways to avoid going out with the guys I would find here,” Mrs. Kline said.When Ms. Creskoff was in her 20s and early 30s, she had had two long relationships with men, one an investment banker and the other an actor, but she just wasn’t ready to settle down, she said, partly because either she or the men were still concentrating on career goals. For many years, marriage remained a hazy prospect, and children, though they were not a “no,” were not an option without being married.

The couple was married at Rodeph Shalom synagogue in Philadelphia. They have two children.

For a 2010 “Exit Interview” with Philadelphia Magazine, you can click here.

Creskoff attended the University of Pennsylvania and received her Master of Fine Arts degree at New York University.

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Photo: IMDB.com

Stacey Smalls, a Cheltenham resident, 1999 Cheltenham High School graduate and former Temple University guard, (second from left above) was enshrined in the Philadelphia Big 5 Basketball Hall of Fame at a ceremony held at the storied University of Pennsylvania Palestra on January 21, 2011.

According to local historian Chuck Langerman, Smalls is the only former Cheltenham High basketball player, male or female, in the Big 5 Basketball Hall of Fame. The point guard played at Temple University from 1999-2003, scoring 1,258 points to become the only Temple Owl player ever to score 1,000 points and lead the team in assists for four straight seasons.

In 2002, Smalls was named tournament MVP when the Owls captured their first Atlantic 10 title. At Cheltenham, she was named The Philadelphia Inquirer Player of the Year for Montgomery and Bucks Counties in 1999, and she scored 29 points in a 62-54 state semi-final victory over Council Rock to put the Lady Panthers in the state final title game for the first time in school history.

From Temple University’s announcement:

Smalls, who played from 1999-2003, finished her four-year career with the Temple women’s team as the program’s sixth all-time leading scorer, amassing 1,258 points. She also connected on a still-standing school-record 154 career three-pointers.The Cheltenham, Pa. native (Cheltenham HS) is the only Owl to score more than 1000 points and lead the team in assists in four straight seasons. Smalls dished out 359 assists, fifth on the TU all-time list, and made187 steals, ninth all-time. As a junior in the 2001-02 season, she led the Owls to their first Atlantic 10 title and was named the tournament’s MVP.Smalls was a three-time first team All-Big 5 selection and a three-time second team all-Atlantic 10 Conference honoree. She also was a two-time A-10 all-Defensive team selection.

Smalls went on to become the assistant coach for the La Salle University Explorers. You can read her biography here.

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CHELTENHAM, Pa. (CBS) -- In our salute to Black-owned businesses CBS Philadelphia is highlighting Madelange Laroche Bridal.

Madelange Laroche has wanted to be a fashion designer since she was just a little girl growing up in Haiti.

"Since I was very young, fashion is always something that I like to do," Laroche said. "My mom and my sister they were seamstresses and watching them at a very young age and that led me to sewing."

She got the sewing bug by watching her family.

"I think about seven years old I made my first doll dress," Laroche said.

And she never stopped sewing.

She went on to attend fashion school in Haiti and then moved to the U.S. when she was just a teenager. Laroche continued on her journey by creating bridal dresses at the young age of 16.

"Come from like Haitian background, come to America with no English, no money," Laroche said.

Now she's living out her wildest dream of owning her own bridal salon in Cheltenham.

"When I thought about opening the bridal shop, my thing was like I wanted to do custom gowns cause there is so many dresses. Many places that sell dresses," she explained. "I was like I want to make it different."

Laroche masterfully creates one-of-a-kind, stunning dresses for her clients. Every detail is done to perfection.

Ronique Smith sought out a Black-owned business to make a gala dress for her. Plus another beautiful dress that won her a pageant.

"She created this beautiful royal blue gown for me, a detachable skirt that I am absolutely in love with," Smith said.

Smith is always happy to support Black-owned businesses.

"It is important for me to kinda lift up our people," she said. "Lift up the business, the Black-owned businesses in our community."

Madelange works tirelessly with meticulous detail in creating her custom designs. She never loses sight of her humble beginnings and looks forward to the future as a thriving Black-owned business.

"By creating one-of-a-kind wedding dresses, I am happy to be able to support my community and I am here to make everybody's dream come true."

Natasha Brown

Natasha Brown is the co-anchor of CBS News Philadelphia at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Prior to August 2018, the Emmy-Award winner was the weekend evening anchor of CBS News Philadelphia on CBS and Philly57.

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