Our Award Winners, Beryl & Gary Cohen
Beryl and Gary are from Johannesburg, South Africa. After they got married, they moved to Portugal where they lived in a fishing village near Lisbon for two years before moving to San Francisco. It was in San Francisco that their son, Daniel( NYHS 2014), was born. Soon after, Gary got his dream job with Boeing in Wichita, Kansas. They eventually made their way to Seattle where their daughter, Ariella( NYHS 2017), was born.
Neither Gary nor Beryl attended Jewish day schools growing up, but when it was time to choose a school for their kids, they decided to enroll Daniel at JDS and Ariella soon followed.
Photo by Meryl Alcabes Photography
“ Coming from South Africa to the US, we didn’ t quite feel the same sense of community as we easily felt where we grew up. Joining the day school community became our family. We watched our kids blossom [ in day school ] and become proud to be Jewish.”
Daniel graduated from NYHS in 2014 and spent two years in Israel. Now he is studying at Yeshiva Tomchei Temimim outside of Paris. Ariella will graduate this year.
Beryl and Gary have been wonderful volunteers for NYHS. Beryl hosted class parties, chaired two galas and serves on the NYHS Board as secretary. The Cohens are active in Hadassah and Kline Galland. Beryl and Gary have made the Shabbos Project Challah Bake a family affair. This year, over four hundred people gathered in November to bake challahs and connect Jewishly.
“ We look for opportunities to connect people. If we each stopped thinking just of ourselves but rather focused on the needs of the community, we’ d be a stronger and prouder community. That’ s our hope for the future.”