Bedarchei HaTorah Winter 2020 | Page 8

DINNER PREVIEW Rabbi Joel Beritz ARCHITECT OF JEWISH EDUCATION AWARD Recognizing a Lifetime of Jewish Educational Leadership in America In his role as vice president of the Gruss Life Monument Funds and the Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education, Rabbi Joel Beritz has played an integral role in the contin- ued development and growth of Torah institutions throughout this country, including Yeshiva Darchei Torah. He has proven himself to be a dear friend of and champion for thousands of Jewish children. Rabbi Beritz is a native of Malden, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, where his parents, Jack (Yaakov Chaim) and Blanche (Baila) a”h were pillars of the community and of their shul, the Young Israel of Malden, under the leadership of Rabbi Hershel Brazil. Even after relocating to other cities on the East Coast, Joel would return to the Young Israel for many years to serve as the ba’al tokeah on Rosh Hashana. Joel attended Boston University and received his graduate degree in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania, after which he became a professor of Slavic Languages and Judaic Studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Today, he resides in Brooklyn, where he is a longtime, val- ued member of Agudah of Avenue H, now led by Rav Dovid Gibber. Rabbi Beritz also maintains a close connec- tion with the shul’s previous rav, Rav Aharon Zuckerman. He particularly en- joys traveling to Eretz Yisrael, where he dedicated the Shuvu School in Rechovot in memory of his mother. Rabbi Beritz began his career of dedicated service to the community in his role as director of education servic- es for Russians at the Board of Jewish Education (BJE) in New York. He later became director of the Division of School Services at the BJE and ad- ministrator of the Fund for Jewish Education. One of his most valuable and far- reaching endeavors in his post at the BJE has been the kashrus program for kosher commodities in the National School Lunch Program. In conjunc- tion with the ‘613’ vaad hakashrus, kosher commodities are produced and made available for Jewish schools na- tionwide. For over twenty-five years, Rabbi Beritz has impacted the education of Jewish children through his work at the Gruss Life Monument Funds. Yeshiva Darchei Torah in particular has been a grateful beneficiary of the Funds’ generosity many times over, and Rabbi Beritz has been one of the main catalysts behind our fruitful re- lationship. He has always taken a special interest in the Yeshiva’s suc- cess and that of our talmidim. Some of the developments made possible by the Funds include new state-of-the- art playgrounds; enhanced science and technology labs; and annual sci- ence and engineering curricula in the eighth grade and high school. Yeshiva Darchei Torah is continuously reap- ing the benefits of Rabbi Beritz’s sage counsel and efforts on its behalf. It is an honor for the Yeshiva to recognize Rabbi Beritz’s dedication and impact on decades of growth in Jewish education with the inaugural Architect of Jewish Education award. Mr. and Mrs. Carmi and Katie Gruenbaum on his childhood as the inspiration for his extensive community in- volvement. His parents, Nathan and Bernie Gruenbaum, encouraged his chesed activities, including visits to the nursing home and deliveries for Tomchei Shabbos. After graduating high school, he spent several years at Yeshivas Neve Tzion in Eretz Yisrael and later became a talmid of Sh’or Yoshuv in Far Rockaway. There he gained lifelong connections to the rebbeim and to his longtime chavru- sa, Rav Azi Bodner. He is also privi- KESSER SHEM TOV AWARD Carmi and Katie Gruenbaum are known throughout the Five Towns community as exemplars of chesed and Torah values. How fitting it is to crown them tonight with Yeshiva Darchei Torah’s Kesser Shem Tov Award. Carmi is a native of Los Angeles, where he attended Yavneh Hebrew Academy and YULA. He looks back 6 BEDARCHEI HATORAH WINTER 5780/2020