COMING FULL CIRCLE Rogens honored at 120th b’day of Jewish organization

Among the more popular Yiddish expressions is “May you live to be 120,” and for a popular Jewish organization dedicated to social activism and cultural inclusion, that day has come.

To celebrate its upcoming 120th anniversary, The Workmen’s Circle, a secular Jewish association founded on the principles of progressiveness and justice, has become The Workers Circle. The name change is a nod to the group’s gender-neutral mission to empower men and women — and the generations that follow.

Executive Director Ann Toback, the first woman to lead the organization, couldn’t be more proud. “I’m thrilled the day is here,” she said. “I can start saying ‘Workers Circle’ in earnest. We wanted our name to be more inclusive. We’re taking the next step.”

Toback got plenty of opportunity to try out the new name Monday night at the organization’s annual benefit, at which she presented fatherand-son actors Mark and

Seth Rogen with its Generation to Generation Activism Award. The event, at the JW Marriott Essex House along Central Park South, was titled “Rights, Camera, Activism,” and honors the pair for their advocacy and contribution to Jewish culture.

Mark Rogen, 66, a veteran of nonprofit organizations, was an assistant director of the Workmen’s Circle in Los Angeles. His grandparents were Labor Zionists who performed in the Yiddish theater. He met his wife, Sandy, on a left-wing kibbutz in Israel in the 1970s.

Their son, Seth, has played Jewish men in most of his films. His latest, “An American Pickle,” due next year, opens with a scene involving the anti-Semitism that drove Rogen’s character to immigrate to the U.S. in 1918. He even spent time studying Yiddish for the role.

But what impressed Toback most was how the Rogens made activism a family business.

“They really represent the passing of generation to generation activism,” Toback said. “The entire Rogen family has been involved in progressive causes and giving back to the world. Seth has followed in Mark’s footsteps. You really see the Jewish experience on screen with all the bells, whistles and challenges.”

Toback said her group, new name and all, has plenty to keep them busy.

“We’re seeing attacks on immigrants, workers and civil liberties,” Toback said. “We’re also seeing a rise in bigotry, racism and antisemitism. All of these attacks are serious.”

The group’s nonpartisan doctrine keeps Toback from laying the blame at the feet of any politician. It also tempers her reaction to the presidential campaign of a certain Jewish former mayor, Michael Bloomberg. “We can’t and don’t get involved in presidential politics,” Toback said.