Beth Sholom to honor congregants
On Sunday, June 10, Teaneck’s Congregation Beth Sholom will hold its annual black-tie-optional gala at the shul, beginning with a buffet dinner at 5 p.m. A tribute program follows at 6:45, then dessert and dancing. Lyn and Nate Light Geller and Jackie and Michael Kates will be honored for their many years of dedication and service to the shul and to the wider Teaneck and Jewish communities.
Nate and Lyn Light Geller have been members of Beth Sholom since 1986. One of the first things they did at the shul was to arrange child care for the High Holy Days. Lyn chaired a social action committee and then the outreach to welcome new immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Beth Sholom. Nate, who was working for the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, worked with his wife on that project. Lyn, who chairs the shul board, has been the shul’s vice president, president, co-chaired the ritual and strategic planning committee, and is a member of the personnel committee.
Nate, who is d’var Torah coordinator for Minyan Koleinu and on Ayin L’tzion, was a member of the building usage, youth, and kesher committees. He also has been on the boards of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey and the federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council, and he chaired the JCRC’s Israel and world affairs committee. He has been a member of the federation’s Hillel Committee, an officer of the Jewish Community Council of Teaneck, and a member of the strategic planning committee of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County.
Nate works for 70 Faces Media, a non-profit Jewish digital media organization, and Lyn works for UJA-Federation of New York, where she is executive director of the Wiener Center for Leadership and Learning. They have three children, Aliza, Koby and his wife, Tali, and Ariana; and a granddaughter, Annaelle.
Jacqueline and Michael Kates became members of Congregation Beth Sholom in 2010. Both have been active members of the Bergen County Jewish and general communities. A member of the CBS strategic growth initiative, Jackie has been on the shul’s board and co-chaired its Shabbaton and legacy committees. Michael is on the task force considering what to do with the adjacent synagogue-owned house. He was the attorney for the Township of Teaneck and its planning board and has been president of the Teaneck Jewish Community Council, the Jewish Family and Children’s Services of North Jersey, and the Jewish Association for Developmental Disabilities, and he chaired the North Jersey Friendship House.
Jackie was mayor of Teaneck and a member of the Township Council as well as a trustee and president of the Teaneck Board of Education. She was chair of the New Jersey State Human Relations Council, the Bergen County Human Relations Commission, the federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council, the Township Advisory Board on Community Relations, and the Bergen-Passaic chapter of the American Conference on Diversity, and she was a member of the executive committee of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council. She is the coordinator of Teaneck’s Age-Friendly Community Initiative, secretary of the Teaneck Historical Society, and an appointed member of the Fort Lee Historic Preservation Commission.
Jackie recently retired as coordinator of community relations and public affairs for Holy Name Medical Center. She had a career in public sector roles at Fairleigh Dickinson University, as a legislative aide to state Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, and in the Bergen County Department of Human Services.
She received the Hannah B. Solomon award from National Council of Jewish Women and the Township’s Matthew Feldman Community Relations award. Together, the Kates have been honored by the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Family Service, Bergen County Friends of Lubavitch, Boys Town Jerusalem, the Jewish National Fund, State of Israel Bonds, Teaneck B’nai B’rith, the Teaneck Jewish Center, and the Teaneck Political Assembly. They are the parents of Meredith and David and Brian and Jonathan, and the grandparents of Maya.
For more information, call (201) 833-2620 or go to www.cbsteaneck.org.
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