December 1, 2000
Honoring
the Past, the Present and the Future
Boston
Resident To Be Inducted into the OU’s
Ben Zakkai Honor Society
The
Orthodox Union is pleased to honor long-time affiliates of the Orthodox
Union’s (OU) National Conference of
Synagogue Youth (NSCY), Sarah Beth and Rabbi Ari Solomont with the
Ezra Ben-Zion Lightman Memorial Award at the annual Ben
Zakkai Honor Society Dinner, Sunday, December 10, in Manhattan.
Both
Sarah Beth and Ari come from families steeped in the traditions of
communal service and Jewish values.
They both served as NCSY officers with rare distinction, and
became advisors while attending Touro College.
Mrs.
Solomont grew up in Frederick, Maryland, where she served as chapter
president while in 10th grade, regional vice president in 11th and
regional president as a high school senior.
After two years at Bnot Torah in Jerusalem, she attended Touro
College, and was graduated in 1988 on her way to a Masters degree in
Expressive Arts Therapy. The
mother of four -- Dov Baer, Malka Bracha, Nechama Elkeh Drazeh and
Elysheva Meira -- she is also the mentor and ad hoc big sister to a
generation of New England NCSYers who have learned to cherish her
integrity, verve and compassion.
Rabbi
Solomont grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts, a proud son of the Orthodox
Montefiore Synagogue, which his family has supported for decades.
Lowell is a unique community in NCSY history because it was the
hometown of Ezra Ben-Zion Lightman, for whom this award is named.
It was Ezra Lightman who came to Ari’s parents in the spring of
1970 and convinced them to enroll their five-year-old son in the
community's new Hebrew day school.
Rabbi
Solomont attended high school at the New England Academy of Torah in
Providence, Rhode Island, and studied at Yeshivat Ohr Dovid in Jerusalem
before returning to attend Touro College where he received a degree in
Nursing Home Administration. He
became program coordinator of the New England Region while still in
college, complementing an exceptional NCSY career that had included
service as a regional and national officer.
In
1994 Rabbi Solomont assumed the directorship of the NER
Region.
The
OU honors Ezra Ben-Zion Lightman's historic legacy by bestowing the
award that bears his name on this exceptional couple who have kept alive
the very standards and dreams that its namesake exemplified to all of
NCSY.
OU
President Mandell I. Ganchrow, M.D., explained, “Over the last two
decades, Rabbi Ari and Sarah Beth Solomont have demonstrated tireless
dedication to the youth of the New England Region and have provided them
with a supreme example of Torah scholarship and commitment to kiruv
(outreach). We are very proud to recognize this dedicated couple for
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 Ari and Sarah Beth Solomont have lived up to that mandate
and epitomize 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
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 Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations
of America
Department of Public Relations
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Phone: 212-613-8321 Fax: 212-564-9058
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