ROSALIE & MORTY WEINSTEIN, HONOREES
Morty and Rosalie Weinstein are deeply grateful and excited to be honored this year at this wonderful celebration. Temple Israel Center has become an important part of their daily lives. They love TIC, which, under the leadership of its extraordinary clergy, has made them feel welcome and at home, and they genuinely cherish the fact that TIC offers them a warm, supportive environment filled with spirituality and intellectual vibrancy.
Morty and Rosalie joined Temple Israel in 1991. Once Morty began to attend the daily minyan every day, he never really stopped. He still refers to the daily minyanim as the “bookends of his day.” Morty is quick to welcome newcomers to TIC with a warm smile, a quick chat about what brings them to TIC, and an offer to participate in the service. According to Rabbi Tucker, Morty has become the “face” of the minyan, reaching out to everyone and welcoming not only the people but also their “souls” into the minyan. In his 24 years at TIC, he has guided and instructed many visitors and guests, newcomers, mourners, and Bar/Bat Mitzvah families through the details of daily davening and observance. Morty is proud of his active role in the minyan and happy to be doing a service for both TIC and the surrounding community. Rosalie became a bat mitzvah at TIC in 2003. She is his Shabbat partner, and regularly attends many of the classes and programs offered at the synagogue.
Morty, a retired dentist and a professional musician in his youth, also stepped into the role of shofar blower. He is the Ba’al Tokeah, not only in the main sanctuary for Days of Awe services, but he has also taught dozens of aspiring shofar blowers of all ages the techniques that he has honed over 50 years of shofar blowing.
In addition to the daily minyanim and shofar blowing, Morty played with the Temple softball team for several seasons back in the day. He belongs to the Brotherhood, where he served as a Board Member. He served for three years on the Temple Israel Board, was a member of the recent Assistant Rabbi Search Committee, and is currently a member of the Ritual Committee.
Morty was born and raised in Washington Heights, where he attended George Washington High School, playing baseball on the varsity team and saxophone and clarinet in the school band. After graduation in 1946, Morty attended LIU for one year and then enlisted in the US Army in 1948. There he became the battalion bugler at Fort Sill, Oklahoma and blew reveille every day at 5:30 AM. After being discharged in 1949, he returned to LIU, graduated in 1951 and moved on to attend the NYU College of Dentistry, where he received his DDS in 1956. He practiced dentistry in both Yonkers and Washington Heights for 44 years until his retirement in 2000.
Rosalie was born and raised in Brooklyn, where she attended Abraham Lincoln High School and then Brooklyn College where she graduated in 1956 when she was only 20 years old. She also received a Master of Science in Education from Manhattan College in 1978. Rosalie taught English for many years for several different school systems, finally retiring from Ramaz Upper School in Manhattan in 2001.
So how did the Manhattan guy and the Brooklyn girl find each other? In the Catskills, of course! In the summer of 1953, Morty was working as Captain of the Busboys and waiting tables at the Swan Lake Hotel. Rosalie worked as the switchboard operator in the hotel office. Their very first date was late after his evening shift, over coffee ice cream cones. After a magical summer together, they returned home to NYC to continue attending college and dental school. In order to see each other, Morty would travel every week from Washington Heights to Brooklyn, studying for two hours each way on the subway. Both graduated in June 1956, and in December 1956 they married. They moved to Yonkers, where son Sam was born in 1962 and daughter Vicki in 1966.
Rosalie & Morty are the proud grandparents of Danielle, David, Dalia and Douglas Weinstein, children of their son Samuel and his wife Amy, and Rachel, Elan, and Alexandra Wenger, children of their daughter Vicki and her husband, Russell Wenger. They have been thrilled to attend the bat/bar mitzvahs of Danielle, Rachel, Dalia and Lexi, David and Elan. They are looking forward eagerly to the bar mitzvah of Douglas next year!
Morty and Rosalie are delighted to have been chosen as the honorees for the next Temple Israel Gala on March 5, 2016. They wish the very best, always, to Warren and Julie Breakstone and Michelle Steinhart.
JULE & WARREN BREAKSTONE, YOUNG LEADERSHIP AWARD
Julie and Warren Breakstone are honored to celebrate the Gala with the Temple Israel Center community. Their first experience with Temple Israel Center was when their oldest child entered the Nursery School twelve years ago. Soon after that they became members of the synagogue and have enjoyed many wonderful programs, services and celebrations at Temple Israel Center along with their children Carolyn, 15, Leah, 12, and Mitchell, 9.
Julie has served in numerous roles at Temple Israel Center. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees and on the Education Council. Julie was co-chair of the Nursery School Board and served on the Nursery School Director search committee. She has volunteered with the Bikkur Holim committee, taking seniors to synagogue on Shabbat, and in 2013, helped plan a mitzvah fair for 7th graders. Julie co-chaired the annual Gala in 2014. Julie also regularly serves as an ambassador for new members of TIC and is a member of the Hungry and Homeless committee, having worked on the Kol Nidre Food drive for the past few years.
In addition to Temple Israel Center, Julie lends her time and energy to the larger Jewish community. In 2008, Julie started a Westchester young women’s chapter of Hadassah. More recently, she and Warren co-chaired a fundraiser for the non-profit organization Shalva, in support of their new state-of-the-art Jerusalem facility for children with special needs. Julie also regularly volunteers for Dorot visiting the homebound elderly. Julie serves on the Chesed committee at Schechter Westchester and also enjoys serving lunch and volunteering at Schechter as often as possible.
Julie graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University and received a Masters Degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. She worked as an editor at Scholastic before her children were born.
Warren is an active member of Shalva (Israel), AIPAC, and UJA Federation, where he served on the National Cabinet, and as co-chair for the Young Bankers and Young Couples group (with Julie, of course!). He recently completed a five-year term on the Scarsdale Library Board of Trustees. Warren also plays on the TIC Brotherhood softball team. Raised in Stamford, Connecticut, Warren attended the Bi-Cultural Day School. He is a graduate of Clark University and earned his MBA from the George Washington University. Warren is an executive at McGraw Hill Financial based in New York City.
Julie and Warren are proud to carry on the commitment to community involvement that their parents, Susan and Jeffrey Rudnick and Eileen and Bob Breakstone, have demonstrated over the years. They are grateful and delighted to be a part of this wonderful community and to be honored alongside the well deserving Rosalie and Morty Weinstein and Michelle Steinhart, and extend a mazal tov to them and their families! Julie & Warren thank the Temple Israel Center community for the privilege of being the recipients of this year’s Young Leadership Award.
MICHELLE STEINHART, SPECIAL TRIBUTEE
Michelle is truly honored and humbled to be recognized at this year’s Temple Israel Center gala, and she’s thrilled to be part of an organization that makes inclusion and acceptance the cornerstones of its mission.
Michelle Steinhart’s passion for Jewish education and community involvement took root early on, while she was growing up in Chicago. She moved to New York in 1990 to attend Stern College for Women, where she earned a BA in Education, and then Hunter College, where she earned an MA in Special Education with concentrations in learning disabilities and behavior disorders. She joined the TIC Religious School family 18 years ago, teaching one child with autism in 1997. That class grew steadily, and in 2000, Michelle was named Director of Special Student Services, a position that evolved into her current role, Director of Inclusion. Her passion for inclusion of all learners and community members motivates and challenges Michelle to build on TIC’s numerous successful efforts.
Today, TIC serves as a model for synagogue inclusion. Our children’s programming, Shabbat services, and classrooms support individuals with a myriad of unique academic, social and behavioral needs. Michelle credits the collaboration and hard work of TIC’s educational team and clergy for making these positive changes, and she works closely with the professionals, clergy, Education Council and Inclusion Committee to improve on this strong foundation and create more opportunities for inclusion.
Michelle serves as a Matan mentor, helping guide other synagogues in Westchester and across the country to increase their levels of inclusivity.
Michelle lives in Suffern, NY with her husband Yaakov, and their four children: Avi, Shaina, Shael, and Shaya – all of whom were born during her tenure at TIC. She credits the Temple clergy and educational team for creating a warm and supportive environment as her family grew and she raises her children, one of whom has special needs.
Michelle lives in Suffern, NY with her husband Yaakov, and their four children: Avi, Shaina, Shael, and Shaya – all of whom were born during her tenure at TIC. She credits the Temple clergy and educational team for creating a warm and supportive environment as her family grew and she raises her children, one of whom has special needs.
Michelle wishes a mazel tov, to the Breakstones and Weinsteins. Sharing this evening with exceptional honorees Julie and Warren Breakstone and Rosalie and Morty Weinstein makes it even more special for Michelle, and she accepts this honor on behalf of all the lay leaders, professionals, clergy and community members who work daily to set new standards of inclusion at TIC.