From left: Milken Family Foundation (MFF) Chairman Lowell Milken; JEA recipients Cherie Friedman, Chana Zauderer, Natalie Williams and Yoav Ben-Horin; MFF Executive Vice President Richard Sandler; and BJE Executive Director Gil Graff. Courtesy of the Milken Family Foundation On May 23, the Milken Family Foundation (MFF) and Builders of Jewish Education (BJE) held the 31st annual Jewish Educator Awards (JEA) luncheon at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel.
BJE Executive Director Gil Graff and MFF Vice President Richard Sandler welcomed the 2021 JEA recipients to the luncheon, which drew educators, community leaders and the families and friends of the 2021 JEA winners.
The JEA honorees were Natalie Williams, principal at YULA High Schools girls’ division; Chana Zauderer, principal general studies at Yeshiva Rav Isacsohn; Cherie Friedman, associate director, K-8, and elementary school general studies at Kadima Day School; and Yoav Ben-Horin, director of global Jewish education at de Toledo High School.
The annual JEA luncheon is an inclusive event that brings together leaders across Los Angeles’ Jewish community, from the most secular to the most Orthodox. It is held in celebration of the annual JEA recipients.
The JEA recognizes excellence in the teaching profession at BJE-affiliated schools. A committee of educators, professional and lay leaders from the Jewish community select winners based on several criteria. Honorees are surprised with $15,000 awards.
Additional attendees at the luncheon included MFF Chairman and Co-Founder Lowell Milken, Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles Hillel Newman and YULA High School Head of School Rabbi Arye Sufrin.
On June 3, a Shabbat service at Stephen Wise Temple was held in celebration of women rabbis.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the historic ordination of Rabbi Sally Priesand, the first woman in the world ordained by a rabbinical seminary, women rabbis from across Los Angeles came together for “70 Faces of Torah,” an evening of music, meaning, and learning at the Bel Air synagogue’s Katz Family Pavilion.
Participating clergy included Stephen Wise Temple’s Rabbi Sari Laufer, Senior Cantor Emma Lutz and Rabbi Karen Strok; Temple Isaiah Rabbi Jaclyn Cohen; Congregation Kol Ami Rabbi Denise Eger; Rabbi Heather Miller of Keeping It Sacred; Rabbi Leah Kroll, who spent decades at Wise; Rabbi Michele Lenke; and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion rabbinical student Jessica Jacobs, all paying tribute to Priesand.
Lutz added a layer of meaning to the service’s accompaniment, with the Stephen Wise Temple band playing music composed and arranged by women.
In addition to honoring Priesand’s legacy, Cohen, Miller, Kroll, and Lenke each spoke of their deep connection to the Wise community in which they were raised.
In a stirring and emotional tribute video produced by Rabbi Laufer, the clergy offered testimonials on the impact Priesand has had on their lives.
Courtesy of Simon Wiesenthal Center
During a special naturalization ceremony at the Museum of Tolerance, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas administered the Oath of Allegiance and provided congratulatory remarks to 50 new citizens.
According to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the citizens originated from 25 countries including Argentina, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey and Ukraine.
SWC Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper provided welcoming remarks at the June 8 program.
“This morning’s ceremony has profound meaning for each of us at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, starting with our founder and dean Rabbi Marvin Hier, whose father escaped persecution after World War I to arrive on these shores,” Cooper said.
Rabbis Cooper and Hier then presented Mayorkas with a replica of the Mauthausen flag, secretly sewn by inmates of the Mauthausen concentration camp in anticipation of their liberation by US forces.
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