BCHSJS announces award recipients
The Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies, Bergen County’s only weekly Hebrew high school, will hold its annual gala dinner and largest fundraiser on Wednesday, June 5, at Congregation Beth Sholom in Teaneck.
Susan Tuchman, the director of the Zionist Organization of America’s Center for Law and Justice, will receive the L’Dor V’Dor award, which recognizes people who further Jewish continuity by supporting programs for Jewish teens. Drs. Lia Tsveniashvili and David Pichkadze are parent awardees. Dr. Daniel Rynhold, a longtime BCHSJS teacher, will be honored as educator of the year, and the Jewish Link of New Jersey is the Walter Ramsfelder Exemplary Service awardee.
The Forward named Susan Tuchman of Tenafly as one of the “50 most influential members of the Jewish community” based on her legal work on behalf of Jewish students. Under her leadership, the ZOA filed a groundbreaking civil rights complaint of anti-Semitism at the University of California at Irvine, and led a battle that included rallying other national Jewish organizations and finding bipartisan support from Congress. The outcome was that Jewish students now are protected from anti-Semitic harassment and intimidation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Ms. Tuchman has spoken to BCHSJS students and parents about anti-Semitism on college campuses. She is a member of the Jewish Federation for Northern New Jersey’s Jewish Community Relations Committee and of Beth Sholom in Teaneck.
Parent honorees Lia Tsveniashvili and David Pichkadze of Fort Lee both were born into the tightknit Jewish community of Tbilisi, Georgia, in the former Soviet Union. Dr. Tsveniashvili is a physician advisor at Saint Barnabas Medical Center and Dr. Pichkadze is an internist practicing in Brooklyn. They are members of the JCC of Fort Lee – Congregation Gesher Shalom.
Daniel Rynhold of Teaneck has taught at BCHSJS for 11 years. He also is a professor of Jewish philosophy at Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. He has taught in Europe, the United States, and Israel, and written three books and several essays on Jewish philosophy and ethics. The Exemplary Service award honors the memory of BCHSJS board member Walter Ramsfelder. Moshe Kinderlehrer, JLNJ’s co-founder and publisher, will accept it. For more information on the dinner or to place an ad in the annual journal, go to bchsjsdinner.org.
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