RCA gala draws 800, and honors Zygi Wilf
The Rabbinical College of America held its annual gala at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark as 800 supporters celebrated the RCA’s past and shared its future vision.
“The growth of the RCA programs is exciting. All of our academic programs are oversubscribed and we are ready to take the next quantum leap forward with a campus expansion project,” Rabbi Mendy Herson, the college’s associate dean, said.
Distinguished honoree Zygi Wilf, the owner of the Minnesota Vikings and the principal of Garden Homes, said that “‘L’dor v’dor,’ Hebrew for ‘from generation to generation,’ is the core Jewish value of ensuring that we properly transmit one generation’s values to the next, and that is my personal commitment.”
Rabbi Herson said, “The friendship of the Wilf family for close to 50 years has been something special to me and to the entire RCA family. Zygi, Mark, and Lenny, you are following in your parents’ and uncles’ footsteps and doing so much for the community, for Israel, and for society.”
Tammy Snyder Murphy, New Jersey’s first lady and distinguished honoree, shared her deep personal connection with the Jewish community and the special significance of receiving an honorary degree from the Rabbinical College of America. “This is an award I do not take lightly and will forever cherish,” she said. “My late father was Jewish and would be very proud.”
Erwin Fisch, a Holocaust survivor, the chair of the RCA board, and Zygi Wilf’s uncle, led a tribute called “A Story of Jewish Triumph.” “After enduring the unspeakable horror of the Holocaust, Harry and Joe Wilf’s respective families are fueling Jewish identity, Jewish community, and Jewish continuity, all across the globe,” Ms. Fisch said.
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