OU Presents 13th Annual Ben Zakkai Honor Society Reception, January 11

29 Dec 2008

BZHS is an alumni “hall of fame” whose new members are nominated by, and voted on, by its current members based on the nominees’ service to NCSY and the Jewish community. The Society’s main function is to raise funds for scholarships for high school NCSYers for summer programs in North America and Israel. The Society has helped pay tribute for more than forty years to esteemed NCSY alumni and community leaders who have demonstrated their dedication to Torah and their service to the Jewish people. Isabel Novak serves as Chair of the BZHS.

Vivian and Dr. David Luchins are Dinner Chairs, as they have been every year since the event was first held. Dr. Luchins is a Senior Vice President of the OU and Chairman, Department of Political Science, Touro College. Mrs. Luchins is on the OU Board of Directors.

At this year’s Reception, BZHS will induct its newest members, Behnam Dayanim, of Silver Spring, MD, the last president of the Virginia Region of NCSY (which ceased to exist in 1984) and an OU National Associate Vice President; Raizel Garfinkel, of East Brunswick, NJ, a former Chapter and Regional officer of both the Junior and Senior NCSY Board and Director of Programming for Southern New Jersey; Rebecca Greene, of Philadelphia, former NCSY Chapter President in her hometown and current NCSY advisor in New York, where she attends Touro’s Lander College for Women; and Rabbi Jonah Lerner, of Cherry Hill, former NCSY Chapter Advisor and current Assistant Regional Director of the New Jersey Region.

The evening will see the inauguration of the Julia Macy a”h Memorial Scholarship and will pay special tribute to Kreindel and Paul Pinkus by awarding them the Enid and Harold H. Boxer a”h Memorial Award. Kreindel and Paul met as teenagers at an NCSY event in 1966, which started a lifelong relationship between them and the organization. All of their ten childen are involved in learning, kiruv (outreach) or Torah education; their son, Binyamin, is the Director of NCSY in Montreal. Paul is currently an OU National Associate Vice President

The evening will also honor the legacy of Malka Stopler Kaweblum, a”h, with the Ezra Ben-Zion Lightman Memorial Award. Rabbi Avi Berman, Director of OU Israel, will be honored with the Rebbetzin Elaine and Rabbi Pinchas Stolper Alumni Service Award. Before moving back to Israel, where he was raised, Rabbi Berman had been a highly successful director of NCSY in Vancouver, Canada, building a chapter of 30 into 500. The Chapter became a Region, spanning American cities in the Pacific Northwest such as Seattle and Portland, to the Western Canadian cities of Edmonton and Calgary.

All dinner proceeds, after expenses, go towards direct scholarships for NCSY members to continue their Jewish education after high school, or to participate in national NCSY programs, such as Camp Sports for Boys, National Yarchei Kallah, and Summer Experience for Girls.