The 22nd annual Ben Zakkai Honor Society (BZHS) NCSY National Scholarship Reception took place on Sunday, January 29, 2017 at the Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan, with close to 300 people in attendance. The dinner, chaired by Vivian and David Luchins, presented awards to longtime outstanding NCSY trailblazers.
The dinner’s leading honorees were Dr. Marian Stoltz-Loike (Dean of Touro’s Lander College for Women) and Dr. John Loike (Professor of Bioethics at Columbia University) of Jamaica Estates, NY, honored with the Rebbetzin Ella and Rabbi Aharon Soloveichik Memorial Award, and Joey Bodner of Teaneck, who received the Enid and Harold Boxer Memorial Award; Joan and Dr. Alan Weinstock of New Haven, CT, who received the Ezra Ben Zion Lightman Memorial Award; and Dr. Louis Cooper A”H of Silver Spring, MD, whose memory was honored with the Rebbetzin Elaine and Rabbi Pinchas Stolper Service Award. The dinner included a memorial tribute to Steven Billauer A”H.
The 2017 inductees for BZHS were Lillian Strauss Aharon of Boca Raton, FL, and Miriam Borenstein (who will be inducted on February 12 at the OU Israel Center).
NCSY is the international youth movement of the Orthodox Union. Every day, countless Jewish teens connect to their heritage through NCSY’s innovative programs.
BZHS was founded in 1965 to recognize the achievements of NCSY alumni who have demonstrated personal Torah growth and the promise of future meaningful service to the Jewish people and the Orthodox community. The society raises critical funds to provide direct scholarships for NCSYers to continue their Jewish education after high school or to participate in various NCSY programs.
Dinner co-chairman David Luchins explained, “The vitality and success of NCSY is largely a tribute to the devotion, dedication and passion that our inductees and honorees bring to every aspect of their personal and communal lives.”
Prior to the dinner, a shiur was given by Rabbi Dr. Edward Reichman, noted author and lecturer.
For more information about the BZHS 2017 dinner, contact Elaine Grossman at 212-613-8350 or salvite@ou.org.