December 1, 2000
Honoring
the Past, the Present and the Future
Atlanta Resident To Be Inducted into the
OU’s Ben Zakkai Honor Society
The Orthodox Union is
pleased to honor long-time affiliate of the Orthodox Union’s (OU) National
Conference of Synagogue Youth (NSCY), Rabbi Mordechai Pollack, by
inducting him into the Ben Zakkai Honor Society at the annual Ben
Zakkai Dinner, Sunday, December 10, in Manhattan.
As
a child, Rabbi Pollack attended day school in Montreal and later in
Atlanta. He was a superb
student in public junior high school but felt something was missing, so
he enrolled in the Yeshiva High School of Atlanta where his love for
Torah and interest in helping others convinced his rabbis that he would
both benefit from and be a valuable addition to NCSY.
His
NCSY experience complimented his yeshiva years, leading to a year of
study at Israel's Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalayim and several years of
intensive learning at Baltimore’s Ner Israel Rabbinical College where
he became a fixture at NCSY's Camp
Sports. A superb
teacher and caring friend, he has served as educational and head advisor
at the camp, involving himself in every aspect of NCSY's premier kiruv
program.
Not
only did Rabbi Pollack become an outstanding advisor, but in 1996 he
married fellow NCSYer Jennifer Slavin, of the West Coast Region. After two years at Ner Israel's Kollel (and the publication
of a book on blessings), Rabbi Pollack, his wife and their two
daughters, Elana and Yael, headed home to Atlanta where he became a
rebbe at his alma mater, the Yeshiva High School of Atlanta, while
serving as an NCSY community coordinator.
OU
President Mandell I. Ganchrow, M.D., explained, “Rabbi
Pollack is blessed with exceptional intellectual and interpersonal
skills and is graced with the gift of a contagious smile and friendly
wit. He represents the potential and promise of what NCSY can and
should do for Jewish communities. Rabbi
Pollack has
demonstrated tireless dedication to the youth of NCSY and has provided a
supreme example of Torah scholarship while instilling in countless NCSY
teenagers a deep love and enthusiasm for Judaism.”
Since it was founded in
1954, NCSY has pioneered the
Jewish outreach movement and today is the world’s largest Jewish youth
program. With chapters in
39 states, 215 communities across the nation and 3 Canadian provinces,
NCSY reaches 40,000 boys and girls annually by offering 750 major
educational events and programs and 10 summer camps – in the U.S.,
Israel and the Ukraine.
When the Ben Zakkai
Honor Society was created in 1965, its mandate was to honor those
exceptional men and women who “have demonstrated personal Torah growth
and the promise of future meaningful service to the Jewish people and
the Orthodox community.” Rabbi Mordechai Pollack has lived up to that
mandate and epitomizes those very qualities.
The Orthodox Union, now
in its second century of service to the Jewish community of America and
beyond, is the world leader in youth
work, advocacy for the
disabled, synagogue services,
adult education and political
action. Its kosher
supervision label, the
 , is the
world’s most recognized kosher symbol and can be found on over 250,000
products in 68 countries around the globe.
###
www.ou.org
Comments?
Requests? Questions?
 Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations
of America
Department of Public Relations
Sharyn Perlman, Director
Main Office:
11 Broadway, New York, NY 10004
Phone: 212-613-8321 Fax: 212-564-9058
E-mail: media@ou.org |
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