Honorees
Synagogue and community hold vital places in the lives of Jordon and Lesli Ross. It was in synagogue--Lake Shore Drive in Chicago--following a Shabbat morning service that the two met. One of the first members of that congregation, Jordon took on numerous leadership roles on behalf of it. After their move to Aventura in 1995 the couple continued their active participation as members of Williams Island Synagogue, serving on various committees and the board. At BJC/Shaaray Tefilla, where Lesli is immediate past president of the Sisterhood following a three-year term, they have sponsored Grand Prize nights of the Avos u’Banim program.
Both individually prior to their marriage and together in the years since, the Rosses have directed much of their communal service energies and resources to furthering Jewish education and Jewish continuity, supporting and taking key roles in organizations including Hillel International, Aish HaTorah, Chicago’s Board of Jewish Education and day schools. A former bar mitzvah teacher, baal kriah, and eleven-year attendee of Bais Medrish L‘Torah Yeshiva in Chicago (the forerunner of the Skokie Yeshiva), where he was within one year of completing smicha, Jordon dedicated the gymnasium in memory of his parents at Chicago’s Hillel Torah, and has been a long-term supporter of Ida Crown Academy, from where he, his children and grandchildren all graduated. Lesli, an alumna of the Wexner Heritage Foundation elite national Jewish leadership/education program, authored The Lifetime Guide to the Jewish Holidays, and developed curricula for and ran three consecutive nationally award-winning Hadassah study groups.
Jordon and Lesli have also long supported Kesher (where Lesli has served on the board, including as chair, and is in her eighteenth year as a classroom volunteer), North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry (for which Lesli holds an executive board position), and March of the Living (with Lesli serving on the Southern Region Advisory Committee and as the adult bus leader for the annual trip to Poland and Israel).
They are immensely grateful for the opportunities to serve and contribute, and for the blessings of a wonderful family and deep friendships.
Aishes Chayil Award
Proud mother of five married children: Shira, a maternal fetal medicine physician, married to David; Alana, teacher and reading specialist, married to Seth; Michael, financial analyst, married to Sarah; Zach, trauma orthopedist, married to Tara; and Adina, speech pathologist, married to Simon and I have 12 adorable grandchildren. It all began when I was a freshman at the University of Maryland. That summer I joined a Rutgers college trip to Israel where I not only received 6 college credits but also met my bashert – Joe z’’l. Four years later we married and started a family.
Proud mother of five married children: Shira, a maternal fetal medicine physician, married to David; Alana, teacher and reading specialist, married to Seth; Michael, financial analyst, married to Sarah; Zach, trauma orthopedist, married to Tara; and Adina, speech pathologist, married to Simon and I have 12 adorable grandchildren. It all began when I was a freshman at the University of Maryland. That summer I joined a Rutgers college trip to Israel where I not only received 6 college credits but also met my bashert – Joe z’’l. Four years later we married and started a family.
After graduating college with a degree in accounting and earning my CPA, we moved to Philadelphia. There, I worked as a defense contract auditor and earned an MBA from Drexel while Joe z’’l attended the University of Pennsylvania Medical School on an army scholarship program. After he graduated from medical school, the US army relocated us to the remote border town of El Paso, TX where I taught for the University of Texas and Joe z’’l did his orthopedic residency at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center.
With 3 kids but still young and seeking adventure, we requested a tour of duty in Seoul, Korea where Joe z’’l was 1 of 2 orthopedists at the 121 Evacuation Hospital treating army troops. When I was not shopping for Korean antiques, I taught accounting at the University of Maryland Seoul campus and worked for the Korean Ministry of Finance (benefits included a chauffeur!).
After 12 months in Seoul, we returned to El Paso where the last two of our five children were born and I continued to teach at the University of New Mexico. Joe z’’l returned to William Beaumont Army Medical Center as chief of the total joint service. Once his army service was complete, Joe z’’l spent the next 23 years in his own private practice where I served as CFO.
Years later we spent a wonderful Shabbat in Boca and decided to find a vacation home in this community. After growing more attached to the kehila we made this our permanent residence. It’s a place that all my children and grandchildren have grown to love and look forward to visiting!