Sunday, November 13, 2011

Our 100th Anniversary Gala Journal Dinner


The Landy and Sadoff Family
The Old Broadway Synagogue celebrated its hundredth anniversary on November 2, 2011 with an elegant dinner at the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. The dinner honored four outstanding individuals who have made tremendous contributions to the Old Broadway Synagogue, the greater Jewish community, or both.

Gloria Sadoff Landy grew up in Old Broadway and her parents were deeply devoted to the synagogue and to helping others. Gloria has become a leader in Holocaust education at the United Nations and has taken leadership roles in the United Synagogue, the World Jewish Congress and other organizations. She and her husband have continued to support the Old Broadway Synagogue throughout the years and we are delighted to honor her.
Dale Brown, family & friends



Dale Brown also grew up in the shul. Dale's grandparents, Davis and Fanny Brown were among the founders of the synagogue and were its lay leaders for the rest of their lives. Dale father, Bernie, of blessed memory, and her uncles and aunts grew up in the shul and also took leadership roles. Dale, who is a ballet instructor (and a student of the ballet legend, Balanchine) has continued her family's dedication to the Old Broadway Synagogue. She manages the synagogue's cemetery section at the Riverside Cemetery in New Jersey, she was instrumental in creating a garden in the back courtyard, and she has been involved in many other projects at the shul. We are delighted to honor her as well.
Avi Terry, family & friends

Avi Terry is an extraordinarily warm and generous individual who has been associated with the Old Broadway Synagogue for the last 40 years. He arranges the baalei keriah (the Torah readers) and is involved in many other aspects of the shul. He is as wise as he is kind and he is a tremendous asset to our community. We are very pleased to honor him as well. Paul Radensky was elected president of the Old Broadway Synagogue in June 2001 and he is still plugging away. Under his administration, new bathrooms were installed, the stained-glass in the facade was restored, the boiler was replaced, the garden wall rebuilt, the sukkah was rebuilt, the chimney was repaired and the roof was completely replaced. Paul has also arranged monthly (more or less) speakers and arranged for weekly shiurim, including Daniel Fridman's wonderful Sunday morning shiur, which is now on its fifth year. We say mazel tov to Paul as well!
Rabbi Aryeh Mezei

Jay Worenklein did a lovely job as the master of ceremonies and invited each of the honorees to speak. Afterwards, Rabbi Aryeh Mezei spoke to the guests very movingly about the legacy of Rabbi and Mrs. Kret. Towards the end of the evening, we were delighted to have Senator Bill Perkins join us, and he presented a beautiful proclamation which now hangs in our kiddush room.

Paul Radensky, Bill Perkins & Jay Worenklein
We assembled a lovely journal to accompany the dinner. To visit the journal (and to learn more about our honorees) please click here.

We now must turn our attention to the next 100 years. We expect that the number of Jews living in Harlem will continue to rise. We hope that many of these will join us. We hope to continue with our shiurim and our speakers and maybe the various cards will come together to enable us to hire a rabbi who would be appropriate for our unusual community.

We also plan to continue to restore our beautiful historic building. On the agenda are retrofitting our doors with panic hardware, upgrading the electrical system, restoring or recreating our damaged tin ceiling, restoring the plaster walls, recreating the beautiful stenciling and rebuilding the lobby floor.

It is my prayer that just as Davis and Fanny Brown, Morris and Rachel Schiff, Sam and Riva Landy, Rabbi and Mrs. Kret and many others created our shul and then handed it to us, that we too should have the merit to pass on our kehilah kedoshah to the next generation.

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We would like to acknowledge the following advertisers and supporters who were not included in the anniversary journal:
 
West Side Market
2171 Broadway
New York, NY 10024

Beacon Paint and Hardware
In Honor of Dale Brown

Ruth Brown and Barbara Hawthorn
In Honor of Dale Brown

Jack Gordon
In Honor of Dale Brown

Gail Kachadurian McCallon, Esq.
In Honor of Dale Brown

Naomi Mark and Rabbi Tzvi Blanchard
In Honor of Paul Radensky

Gideon and Shara Schor
In Honor of Paul Radensky

Gal and Jessica Davidovitch

Ellen Stern
In Honor of Dale Brown

Muriel Hertan
In Honor of Gloria Landy