Anna & Dr. Steven Kirshblum
Keter Shem Tov Award
Anna and Steve first met… at a funeral, and it has been uphill from there. They married and moved to Chicago where Steve went to medical school. After three years they moved back to the New York area to Riverdale where Anna had grown up.
In 1990 Steve accepted a job at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation and in 1993, Anna and Steve moved to West Orange. West Orange was a game changer for them as they put down roots in a tight knit, supportive community known for its Chesed. Those roots also included Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy where their three children, Aryeh, Rena and Max, attended elementary school, middle school, and high school. Aryeh, after a year of learning in yeshiva joined the Israeli army, made Aliyah, obtained smicha and created a business. He and his wife, Sepha live with their 3 children in Efrat. Rena (Eskowitz) attended Stern college and received Masters degrees from Azrieli and Touro. She and her husband, Jonathan moved to West Orange and have two children. Morah Rena teaches kindergarten at JKHA. Max attended Yeshiva University and Wurzeiller for graduate school. He, his wife, Deena, and daughter recently made Aliyah and are living in Ramat Bet Shemesh.
Over the thirty years Anna and Steve have lived in West Orange they have been engaged in communal work. Both have served on the Board of AABJ&D, and Anna served as co-president of Sisterhood and Amit. Anna, a licensed social worker, has committed her work to serving the Jewish community, previously at Daughters of Israel, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, Jewish Board and currently at the Jewish Family Service of Passaic Clifton. Steve serves as the CMO for Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, Chair of the Department of PM&R at Rutgers NJ Medical School, and CMO of Kessler Foundation, as well as serving on the Board of Directors of numerous not for profit organizations.
They both ascribe a tremendous hakarot hatov to the school for partnering with them and their community in raising their children with a love of Torah and Israel.