MARCHING ON
a publication for the alumni and friends of
Broward County
March of the Living
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HANUKKAH 5781 DECEMBER, 2020 |
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HAPPY HANUKKAH TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES |
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DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE
I hope this newsletter finds each of you and your families healthy. We are all making accommodations and inventing new ways to accomplish our goals. Thinking out of the box to adapt our lives to the various adventures we are so used to having. Zooming has become the word of the day and virtual has entered our vocabulary like never before.
We, at the March of the Living, both Broward County and International, have had to adapt as well. Hopefully, you have participated in the many virtual opportunities afforded by both our groups and often together with the Southern Region, to hear from many different survivors as well as learn about International Alumni who have used their March experiences to promote Holocaust education. The Kristallnacht program and our "Let There Be Light" Campaign were phenomenal successes - you can check them out at the International March of the Living website We have hold from survivors who were hidden children; hidden in the forest; escaped Europe and "landed" in Manila only to have to deal with the Japanese; and camp survivors among others.
This newsletter contains many life cycle events - showing that life goes on despite the pandemic. True, celebrations may have been different from what was planned, but celebrations continued, nevertheless. Unfortunately funerals and shivas were nothing like we would have wanted, but many were able to Zoom the services and shivas so we could be with them. Please share your simchas and not so happy news with us as well. We've caught up with some more of our Alumni and I urge you to email me your update to be included in future issues of our Alumni Newsletter. We love pictures too. We have received numerous comments about how our Alumni love to catch up with their March friends and others they know.
We are still looking for mailing addresses so we can send your a birthday card at the appropriate time. Most importantly, stay in touch. See the information below on our Zoom reunions. Hope to see you at one.
Hanukkah is a time for dedication. At this time we need to dedicate ourselves to being kinder, more compassionate, more mindful and more intentional. May the lights of Hanukkah shine brightly for continued health to all.
Rochelle
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WEDDINGS
Rabbi David Cohen (17 Staff) on his marriage to Henchy Weizberger.
Ben Rouah (10) on his marriage to Christine Hathaway. They live in Ft Myers, Florida with their new dog. Ben is Assistant Athletic Director at Florida Gulf Coast University and Christine is a client manager at Alight.
Briana Spatz (08) on her marriage to Brian Blumof. They are living in Philadelphia, Pa and are both working in health care. Mazel tov also to parents Mark and Judy (17A) Spatz and sister Emily Spatz (12).
ENGAGEMENTS
Chelsa Gober (08) on her engagement to Yoni Dykan. Yoni works in digital marketing with a small private company in Herzliya. Catch up with Chelsa below.
Alan Birmacher (10) on his engagement to Sydney Weinstein. Sydney is finishing her degree at UCF in mechanical engineering. Catch up with Alan below.
Melanie Baer (10) on her engagement to Jon Schwartz. They met in Israel in 2012 and both went to the University of Michigan. Jon is a software engineer at Stock X. Catch up with Melanie below.
Rachel Lesnik (14) on her engagement to Zachary Cherna. See Rachel's update below. Zach works as a Project Administrator at Oradell Construction Company.
Jordan Bristol (14) on his engagement to Glenn Frank. Jordan is a kindergarten teacher and Glenn managers a Subaru store. They currently live in Virginia, but are looking to move to DC with their cat, Ursula.
BNEI MITZVAHS
Nikki Packer (10 Staff) and husband Michael on their son Lucas becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Mazel to to brother Gabe Packer (19).
Rabbi Roni Keller (94) and wife Lisa on their son Aviv becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Catch up with Roni below.
Manuel (Manny) Mesa (98) and wife Rachel on their son Jacob becoming a Bar Mitzvah.
Paul Seider (94) and wife Stacey on their daughter Olivia Morgan becoming a Bat Mitzvah.
Brett Spector (00 Staff) and wife Shira on their son Andrew becoming a Bar Mitzvah.
BIRTHS
Stephanie Freeman Zucker (08) and husband Dustin on the September 30, 2020 birth of a son, Arlo James, 7 lb 8 oz and 20 inches.
Russell Kotch (08) and wife Amy on the August 29, 2020 birth of a daughter, Bella Rae, 9 lb 4 oz. Mazel tov to grandparents, Ava Kotch (08) and husband Ira.
Evan Zuckerman (00) and wife Heidi on the November 22, 2020 birth of a daughter, Sydney Juliet, 8 lb 12 oz and 20.3 inches.
Lauren Katz Martenfeld (06) and husband Bobby on the December 1, 2020 birth of a daughter, Lily Avery, 6lb 13 oz.
HONORS, ACHIEVEMENTS, NEW JOBS
Belated wishes to Natalie (16) and Kevin (12) Shrock on celebration of their 30th wedding anniversary.
Avi Marcovitz (96,08,17A,18A) on his new position as Director of Education and Youth Engagement at Congregation Kol Tikvah in Parkland
Stephanie Rosner (13) on passing the Florida Bar. She will be working at Greenberg, Trauig in Miami.
Sandra Veszi Einhorn (98), Executive Director of the Coordinating Council of Broward, an organization of Senior Executives from across business, government and non profits that collectively represent the largest health and human service stakeholders in Broward County, was honored with the Leadership Award from the Alliance 2000 Partner and Entrepreneurship Council.
CONOLENCES
Josh Entin (94) on the passing of his father, Richard Entin.
Rabbi Sam (98, 04) and Melinda (96-18) Kieffer on the passing of his brother, Rabbi Mordechai Kieffer. Condolences to nieces and nephew, Aviva Kieffer Goldstein (98), Elana Kieffer Ginsberg (00) and Aryeh Kieffer (94)
Daviah Rimboeck Kasten (06) on the passing of her father, Peter Rimboeck.
Morgan Siskind (15) on the passing of his grandfather, Sy Chadroff.
Amanda Entin Nicols (00) on the passing of her father, Alvin Entin.
Sari Kirschenbaum Arnall (94) on the passing of her father, Howard Kirschenbaum.
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Rony Keller (94) attended Taravella High School and then on to the University of South Florida. He then went to Rabbinical School in Los Angeles, California. For thirteen years he served a congregation in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area and a little less than four years ago returned to South Florida to become the Senior Associate Rabbi at Congregation Bnai Israel in Boca Raton. Rony is married to Lisa, a teacher at Donna Klein Jewish Academy where their 2 sons, Aviv and Leor go to school.
Mitchell Rosenstein (98) and wife Brooke have been married for nine years and currently live in Delray Beach, Fl. They have two boys, Julian, age 4 and Spencer, age 2, along with a big, old English sheep dog named Theo. About a decade ago, Mitchell co-founded Green Mill Group, a real estate development company focused on affordable and workforce housing throughout Florida.
Gavin (Barksy) Leighton (98) currently lives in Los Angles, California where he works as an investigator for a national security background investigation firm while pursuing a creative career in filmmaking and acting. This year Gavin started his own production company where he creates cinematic films for families that tell their story. It's like family photos but in a movie version. His work can be seen at www.originstoryfilm.com
Jan Yoepp (00) is married to Renen Bassik and works in a pediatric emergency room in the Boston area. She recently finished a major construction project on their home and is enjoying decorating since being home so much. She loves being a mom to son, Jonah.
Ben Dach (02) is married to wife Eliza and lives in Englewood, New Jersey, along with his two children Olivia, age 8 and Henry, age 5. He is an IP litigator at Quinn Emanuel's New York Office.
Brian Margolis (02) lives in Lake Mary, Florida with his wife, Shana and two daughters, Maya and Sadie, ages 5 and 2 1/2. He is the Founder and Managing Partner of Crank Communications and Crank Enterprises. Crank Communications is a full service ad agency and as the website (crankcommunications.com) says "Our process is uniquely collaborative. We’re never far - think of us as your very own in-house marketing department. Together we create a marketing machine that captivates your audience and launches your business to its full potential". As Brian explains, Crank Enterprises is a Venture Marketing Company which operates like Shark Tank. Bring them an idea and see if they have investors. (crankenterprises.com). They work with clients across the county with both companies.
Drew Kushnik (04) moved to Cleveland after living in Chicago for eleven years. He has been married to Stephanie for the past nine years and they have two daughters, ages 3 1/2 and 1. He enjoys cooking at home and running.
Chelsea Gober (08) is finishing her first year of her doctorate at Tel Aviv University. Her project will lead to an enhanced computerized training intervention that will prevent post-combat syndrome (PTSD, depression, etc) in soldiers. Recently engaged to Yoni Dykan, they live in Ramat Gan with their dog, Paul.
Melanie Baer (10) currently lives in Detroit with her finance, Jon Schwartz. She is the Director of Sales for Library Street Collective, a art gallery specializing in contemporary art.
Sydney Schneider Laurence (12) and husband Tyler live in Miami. Sydney is a Partners Solutions Manager at Fanatics. Fanatics offers the largest assortment of licensed export merchandise across all major professional leagues and colleges, including NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, PGA and so much more. She works to help connect brands with the large audience of passionate, sports-minded fans, all in the purchasing mindset.
Sari Babkes (13) lives in Ft Lauderdale. She is a speech language pathologist for Mirror Lake Elementary School in Plantation for the ASD clusters with EBS Health.
Victoria Levy (14) is a second year Medical Student at New York Medical College
Rachel Lesnik (14) is working at CLEAR as a Senior Member Care Specialist. CLEAR is a biometric secure identity platform that links your personal information to biometric data and allows you to bypass the document checker process at airports, sports stadiums, and more. She has been there for 2 years now and loves it. You may have seen it in airports!
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SPOTLIGHT ON ALUMUS
BEN KAPLAN
Following the 2000 March of the Living, Ben went to college at the University of Florida. He briefly studied Engineering before deciding that playing guitar in a band at a top party school was more fun, and graduated with a degree in History instead.
Upon graduating, he moved to Washington DC, and began a 14 year career providing Facility Design, Engineering, Construction, Assessment, and Portfolio Management consulting services as a contractor to NASA and the DoD. Buy him a drink and he'll tell you a cool story that involves space shuttles, fighter jets, 5 star foreign hotels, infamous blacksite prisons, deserted Mediterranean beaches, and a Morrocan hash den.
Early in 2020, he moved from contractor to civil-servant and is doing essentially the same thing for the State of Maryland's public schools. He now has fun being able to sanctimoniously say things in conversation like "Every day I wake up and work to make sure the children in Maryland have the best schools possible."
Outside of work, and in a time when people could gather in groups, Ben was involved in the local art and music scene performing in various bands, and improv troupes. Now he sits around watching too much TV like everyone else and marvels that it is nowhere near as much fun as "March of the Living age Ben" thought it would be.
He lives just south of Baltimore with his Aussie mix, The Dude.
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1992 ZOOM REUNION
We had a great reunion of our 1992 Alumni. Everyone gave us an update and enjoyed seeing and hearing from their fellow Marchers. We sent out an email list and friendships have been renewed and new ones created.
Let me know if you want to help out with your March year Reunion
(96 has had some response!)
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We are updating our database and have no contact information for the following individuals. (this is just a portion of the list) If you have the information, please send it my way. If you know of individuals who have not been getting our Newsletters, either send me their info or have them contact me at rbaltuch@jewishbroward.org Thanks in advance
1988: Erin Fruitman Goldman, Josh Messer, Beverly Needleman, Matthew Seslow
1990: Beth Armstead, Adam Cohen, Sara-Rae Dinerstein Gibi, Suzanne Dobkin, Andrea Bobrik, Rachel Goldenberg Sherman, Allison Malz Sepielli, Andrea Levin, Leo Purvis II, Jodi Shapanka
1992: Anna Genet, Jason Kemper, Jordana Konovitch, Samuel Koren, Geni Mittman, Elana Rosengart, Jonathan Schreiber, Alexa Sherr, Healther Solomon, David Taylor.
MORE TO COME IN NEXT NEWSLETTER
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INTERESTING READ/WATCH:
Play a game of dreidel
Some oldie songs for Hanukkah
The Maccabeats - It's All About the Nes
Six13 - Bohemian Chanukah
The Maccabeats - Candlelight
And new ones
Daveed Diggs - A Puppy for Hanukkah
The Maccabeats - Candlelight 2020
Holocaust survivor meets sister of man who saved him
Saul and Ruby's Holocaust Survivor Band - trailer of documentary
(towards bottom of page)
Stonehill Jewish Song Archive
Paddington Bear was inspired by Jewish refugee children in WWII
Not many people know the story of Miep Gies, friend of Anne Frank who found, kept and then gave the diary to Anne’s father, Otto.
Grandson of Nazi who took over Jewish store tracks down owner's descendants to apologize
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Christine and Ben Rouah (10) |
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Aviv, son of Lisa and Rabbi Roni
Keller (94)
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Jacob, son of Rachel and Manuel (Manny) Mesa (98) |
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Lucas, son of Michael and Nikki Packer (00 Staff) |
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Olivia Morgan, daughter of Stacey and Paul Seider (94) |
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Andrew, son of Shira and Brett Spector (00 Staff) |
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Arlo James, son of Dustin and Stephanie Freeman Zucker (08) |
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Bella Rae, daughter of Amy and Russell Kotch (08) |
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Sydney Juliet, daughter of Heidi and Evan Zuckerman (00) |
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Lily Avery, daughter of Bobby and Lauren Katz Martenfeld (06) |
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January 6, 2021 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Nearly half of all Americans have never heard the term “antisemitism” or are not sure what it means. With the rise of multiple forms of antisemitism in the United States, what are the implications of this growing threat to American Jewry and what can be done to counter this evolving menace?
The JCRC of Broward County proudly presents Holly Huffnagle, U.S. Director for Combating Antisemitism for the American Jewish Committee (AJC), who will share important take-aways from their first-ever State of Antisemitism in America report, based on parallel surveys of American Jews and the general public about antisemitism in the United States.
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REMEMBER TO CHECK OUT THE INTERNATIONAL MARCH OF THE LIVING FACBOOK PAGE EVERY MONDAY FOR ALUMNI IN THE SPOTLIGHT
WATCH FOR UPCOMING PROGRAMS INCLUDING
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PLEASE STAY IN TOUCH
STAY HEALTHY
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