New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., in conjunction with the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of NY and the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, recently convened his annual celebration of Jewish Heritage at New York’s City Hall.
Following the program’s invocation by Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie of Manhattan’s Edmond J. Safra Synagogue, The Ramaz Lower School choir sang the national anthem and Hatikvah. This year’s awardees were recognized after greetings from JCRC President Janice Shorenstein and Met Council CEO William Rapfogel.
(L-R) Standing: Janice Shorenstein; Nachum Segal; Richard Rabinowitz; Comptroller Thompson; Lynda B. Kaplan; and Rabbi Dr. Eli Abadie. Seated: Barbara Ribakove Gordon; Michael Halpern; Fyvush Finkel; and William Rapfogel.
(L-R) Mental health expert Joseph Lazar; New York City Councilman David Weprin; Rabbi Yeruchem Silber, vice president, Metropolitan Jewish Health System; Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind; and Michael Miller, executive vice president and CEO, JCRC of NY.
Honored for their promotion of Jewish causes were: Barbara Ribakove Gordon, executive director of the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry; Michael Halpern, founder of JFKidsport, a day-care center for children whose parents work at JFK International Airport; American History Workshop Media Director Lynda B. Kaplan and that group’s founder and president, Richard Rabinowitz; Nachum Segal, the popular Jewish music and talk radio host; and Yiddish theater star and Emmy Award-winning actor Fyvush Finkel.
Rabbi Abadie delivered the program’s benediction.
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