We share a long history with Ayala and Yosef Helft – dating back to summer camp and yeshiva in Israel, getting married the same week in June of 1996, and traveling a shared path in life, forging a lifelong friendship along the way.  We spent our newlywed years at Einstein, migrated to Riverdale for several years, and moved along with several other close friends to New Rochelle in 2008.

 

Ayala and Yo have been contributing to our community from the time we arrived, and we are thrilled to pay tribute to them. There are a few traits that characterize the Helfts and underlie all they do. A strong commitment to ensuring our community’s growth and well-being. A quiet willingness to step up and do anything that’s needed to help.  Dedication to Torah values.  Incredible warmth and hospitality that extends to all, and a core embrace of family.

 

Ayala served on the YINR Executive Board as Recording Secretary for six of her seven years as a Board member, and continues to be deeply involved in the shul. During her Board tenure she helped YINR navigate key milestones including our assistant rabbi search and hiring of Rabbi Axelrod and managing the pandemic.  Ayala combines an amazing ability to get things done with an inherent graciousness and sensitivity to others. She applies these to build bridges, making sure that people across generations and backgrounds feel included in shul programming, and championing their diverse needs with tact and grace.  Ayala has helped lead signature YINR events like the Annual Dinner and ever-popular Panoply.  Whether as dinner chair or playing a more informal role behind the scenes, she invests countless hours to ensure that shul events are well-orchestrated, inclusive and successful.   

 

Ayala has contributed to YINR in many other ways, like packing and distributing Purim mishloach manot for the Women’s League, volunteering for the Shavuot bake sale, preparing candy bags for Simchat Torah youth programming, and cooking meals for new mothers or whoever needs them.  Beyond YINR, she’s actively involved with Westchester AMIT and the SAR community as a volunteer.  Ayala also serves the community through her work as a speech and language therapist at Sinai Schools at SAR Academy.

 

Yo is a true role model of Torah u-Maddah fused with chesed.  He is a daily minyan and Daf Yomi regular at YINR.  When Yo is on call over Shabbos, he makes sure to start the day with Hashkama minyan before heading to the hospital. He is often the first doctor to come running whenever there’s a medical emergency in the shul – and has jumped into an ambulance more than once to accompany someone to the hospital. Many members of our shul rely on Yo to care for them, and for their extended families, as their cardiologist.  He joined the YINR security team to ensure our shul is protected, and served on the Reopen the Shul Committee to guide how we safely reopen the building and enable communal davening amid the ongoing pandemic. When his son Andrew played on the YINR boys’ basketball team, Yo stepped up as coach and helped lead them to a Westchester shul league championship.  Beyond YINR, Yo contributes to the SAR school community as a member of its Education Committee and is a former member of the Parent Liaison Committee.

 

Ayala and Yo open their home to host everything from minyanim to cooking demonstrations and school or camp parlor meetings.  They welcome people who may otherwise be alone to their Shabbos table. They are a mecca for their friends and their kids’ friends – including two of our own kids who disappear there many Shabboses after lunch.  That may be because Ayala cooks and bakes up a storm of delicious food – and usually prepares a whole extra spread just for Friday night onegs or Shabbos kiddushes.  The Helfts’ great candy supply, football-field backyard and big basement also definitely help.  Most of all, their warmth, low-key style and genuineness draw everyone in. 

 

The Helfts are deeply connected to their extended families. They care for their parents, serve as the New York “home base” for far-flung siblings, nieces and nephews who often stay for days or weeks at a time, and bring together the Shapiro and Helft clans for everything from Yom Tovs to Thanksgiving dinner. Most of all, they are devoted parents to Millie, Andrew and Elizabeth, raising them with the love, education, values and skills that will help their children continue the Helft legacy and shine their own lights into the world as they grow into adults.

 

Ayala and Yo are wonderful friends and community leaders. On behalf of your New Rochelle friends and the entire YINR community, we thank you for dedicating your time, talent and passion to enhancing our lives in so many ways.  We feel blessed to be your friends!

 

Shani and Daniel Reich