The Orthodox Union’s Ben Zakkai Honor Society (BZHS) of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth will induct five new members – four currently or originally from the New York area – and present three esteemed awards, when it holds its Tenth Scholarship Reception, Sunday, January 15 at 5:00 p.m. at Lincoln Square Synagogue, 200 Amsterdam Avenue, Manhattan.
Rabbi Zev Leff will deliver a shiur (lecture on Torah). Rabbi Leff is Rav of Moshav Mattityahu; a lecturer at several Israeli seminaries and at the Seymour J. Abrams OU Jerusalem World Center; and is a member of BZHS along with his wife, Roberta (Rivkah) Minkoff (NCSY National Vice President 1966-67). Rabbi Leff was a founding member in 1961 and President from 1964-65 of the Miami Chapter of NCSY,
BZHS is an alumni society whose new members are nominated by and voted on by its current members based on their service to NCSY. The Society’s main function is to raise funds for scholarships for all NCSYers for summer programs. “Ben Zakkai does a wonderful job in its fundraising, and its members are instrumental in our new initiative to create an alumni association for all NCSY participants,” declared Martin Nachimson, Chair of the OU Youth Commission. “It is practically impossible to discuss Ben Zakkai without mentioning Dr. David and Mrs. Vivian Luchins who, among their many other wonderful projects, have devoted their hearts and souls to Ben Zakkai and NCSY.”
Dr. and Mrs. Luchins are Dinner Chairs, as they have been every year since the event has been held.
NCSY will hold its first Alumni Reunion Shabbaton President’s Weekend, Friday, February 17 – Sunday, February 19 at the Holiday Inn Plaza Hotel in Edison, New Jersey.
The Ben Zakkai honorees are as follows:
The Enid and Harold H. Boxer Memorial Award to Esther and Rabbi Solomon Freilich of Mount Vernon;
The Ezra Ben-Zion Lightman Memorial Award to Shari Greenberg-Gold of New Rochelle; and
The Rabbi Pinchas and Rebbetzin Elaine Stolper Alumni Service Award to Linda and Steven Brizel of Kew Gardens Hills.
The newly elected members are:
Rebecca (Breite) Hochster of Great Neck;
Batya (Spiegelman) Medad of Shiloh, Israel, formerly of Great Neck;
Nahum Zak of Kew Gardens Hills; and
Hillary Zimmern of Merrick.
In addition, Irwin N. Lowi of Los Angeles will be inducted into the society.
For information about attending, contact Malka Laks at 212-613-8144, or malkal@ou.org.