Tom Kasten wins 2008 Volunteer of the Year Award for Excellence

Tom Kasten has been a dedicated volunteer in the Jewish community for many years and has a long history of service with the Federation. He has served on the Capital Planning, Finance and Administration, Strategic Funding, By-Laws, Leadership Development and PAS Steering Committees, as well as on the Community Study Committee. In addition, Kasten has served as chair of PAS, as the Federation’s treasurer and on the Executive Committee and currently is one of the Federation’s vice presidents. Most recently, he served as co-chair of the CEO Search Committee that resulted in the hiring of the Federation’s new executive. Kasten also served as president of the Board of Directors for Jewish Vocational Services, and completed a term as mayor of his hometown, Hillsborough, where he continues to serve on the City Council and on a variety of County boards. According to a fellow lay leader at the Federation, “Whenever Tom speaks, in whatever room he finds himself, he speaks cogently and wisely – and everyone listens.”

Watch a video of Tom Kasten screened at the 2008 Annual Meeting.

Past recipients

Paul Resnick, Sandy Tandowsky, Galina Leytes, Barbara Farber, Kathy Roberts Williams, Barry Cohn, Mark Schickman, Ann Bear, Toby Rubin, Gale Mondry, Debra Trubowitch Cohn, Paul Cohen, Barney Cohen, Dr. Emanuel (Manny) Friedman, Gertrude Wasserman, Eve Bernstein

Naomi Tucker of Shalom Bayit wins 2008 Agency Staff Person of the Year Award for Excellence

As co-founder and executive director of Shalom Bayit, Naomi Tucker has built an organization that is a model for a Jewish response to domestic violence. Established in 1992, Shalom Bayit has both provided direct services to Jewish women and has worked with the community to prevent and deal with domestic violence when it happens. Tucker’s tireless work has resulted in this program becoming nationally known and helping to raise awareness of this issue in the Jewish community. In 2007, Shalom Bayit helped over 80 Jewish women abused by an intimate partner, received 500 calls through its hotline, educated 500 Jewish youth on building healthy relationships and preventing teen dating violence and reached hundreds more with its adult educational programs. In addition, Tucker has worked with area synagogues, congregations and agencies -- including organizing a 50-member rabbinic council on domestic violence, -- to raise awareness. This year marks Tucker’s 25th working in the field of domestic violence prevention and advocating on behalf of battered women and their children. In the words on one of her collaborators, “We are deeply inspired by Naomi and excited by the opportunity to work with her.”

Watch a video of Naomi Tucker screened at the 2008 Annual Meeting.

Past recipients

Flora Kupferman, Michael Kamler, Judith Edelson, Yitsak Santis and Steve Berley, Bina Guerrieri, Chaim Heller, Jay Luxemberg, M.D., Kerin Leiberman, Esther Nathan, Judy Garb, Mickey Naggar Bourne, Sherrie Koshover

Mark Reisbaum Director of Grants, Jewish Community Endowment Fund wins 2008 JCF Staff Person of the Year Award for Excellence

Mark Reisbaum is Director of Grants for the Jewish Community Endowment Fund (JCEF), responsible for grantmaking from the restricted and unrestricted funds of the JCEF, all 73 supporting foundations, as well as many donor - advised funds. The rigor and integrity he brings to the grants process has been instrumental in setting the standards for which the Endowment Fund has become known. Since joining the JCEF nearly 11 years ago, Reisbaum has been instrumental in strengthening collaboration with the Federation’s Planning and Programs division, and in providing policy guidance and expertise to the Federation’s executive, capital planning, security and other committees. Reisbaum also has played an active role in building the capacity of the LGBT Alliance. The Federation’s most exacting lay leaders rely on his investment banking background and his substantive grant reports in order to make good decisions about the community’s assets. In addition, Reisbaum is kind, encouraging and supportive to the staff with whom he works. In the words of Reisbaum’s nominator, “Mark is universally respected and a tremendous role model, supporting community leaders in their work on behalf of the community.”

Watch a video of Mark Reisbaum screened at the 2008 Annual Meeting.

Past recipients

Dawne Bear Novicoff, Maxine Epstein, Lita Punzalan, Wendy Rothenberg, Lisa Tabak, Lisa Gurwitch, Gila Noam, Elle Hoffnagel, Carolyn Metz, Suzan Berns, Cynthia Rogoway, Bob Griepenburg, Nechama Tamler, Mairin O’Mahony

Kol Haneshama: Jewish End-of-Life/Hospice Volunteer Program wins 2008 Program of the Year Award for Excellence

Rabbis Eric Weiss, Jon Sommer, Sheldon Marder, Reverend Jennifer Block and Rabbi Michael Barenbaum
Kol Haneshama is a phrase from Psalm 150 that means “Let all that breathes praise God.” The motto of this innovative program of spiritual care is “honoring the fullness of every soul.” A collaboration between the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center, the Jewish Home of San Francisco and the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco, its premise is that anyone who is Jewishly connected, no matter their end-of-life-care choice, and regardless of their affiliation in the Jewish community, can have a caring, meaningful relationship with another individual in their final days. Volunteers go to the Jewish Home as well as other hospice sites throughout the Federation’s service area. The work of Kol Haneshama has been supported by the Maimonides, Newhouse and Osher Funds at the Jewish Community Endowment Fund, Mount Zion Health Fund and the Stephen and Liliane Stuart Fund of the Mount Zion Health Fund. In the words of Rabbi Michael Barenbaum, Healing Center Board member and chair of the Hospice Committee, “The relationships formed at all levels through this program have created a dynamic constellation of service for the common good.”

Watch a video of the Rabbis screened at the 2008 Annual Meeting.

Past Recipients

Communities of Learning, JVS Kohn Summer Intern Program, Jewish Coaltion for Literacy, Israel in the Gardens/Ballpark, The Late Shabbat Congregation Emanu-El, Survivors Speakers’ Bureau—Holocaust Center of Northern California, Family Education Fellows, Grief and Growing: a Healing Weekend for Individuals and Families, Jewish Film Festival, Sunday Coalition Lunch at Kol Shofar, San Francisco High School Chavurah, Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Nazi Concentration Camps, Art for Recovery, Chicken Soupers—Meal Delivery to Persons with AIDS, MAJYC, One-to-One Volunteer Program

Joelle Steefel wins 2008 Judith Chapman Women's Leadership Award for Excellence

The Judith Chapman Women's Leadership Award of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund is presented at the annual Power of One Gala Dinner. This year, the award was presented to Joelle Steefel on April 8, 2008.

It is a special honor for Joelle Steefel to be the Judith Chapman awardee as the two were childhood friends and worked together for decades cultivating Jewish community leadership. She serves on the National Board of Trustees of the United Jewish Communities and is a member of the Federation’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors. Steefel, along with Judith Chapman, co-founded the Volunteer Placement Project, now part of Jewish Community Information & Referral. In addition, she co-founded the JCF Women in Leadership Program, many of whose graduates have since taken leadership positions. Steefel also is a past president of the Women’s Alliance. In the words of one of her nominators, “Joelle demonstrates tzedakah by serving the Jewish community selflessly but with a sense of direction and purpose.” More...

Past recipients

Barbara Rosenberg, Sonya “Sunny” Kaplan, Carol Saal, Annette Dobbs, Roselyne Swig, Adele Corvin, Rita Semel, Frances Green, Barbara Isackson

H. Michael Feldman wins Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for Young Leadership Award for Excellence

In the true spirit of the Dinkelspiel Award, H. Michael Feldman showed his penchant for leadership by getting involved with the Federation as a young adult. He has been a dedicated volunteer, with the bulk of his efforts directed towards fundraising. He currently chairs the San Francisco portion of the 2008 annual campaign and for the two years before that he either chaired or co-chaired the Major Gifts division. Along the way he has attended and supported numerous Campaign telethons, Super Sundays, strategy meetings and campaign events. Feldman has been a member of the Federation’s Board for the past three years and served on several of its standing committees, including Building, Nominating and Capital Planning. He also served on the Board of the Young Adults Division and is a member of the UJC’s National Young Leadership Cabinet. Beyond the Federation, Feldman serves on the Board of Trustees of the Urban School and on its Finance subcommittee. In the words of a Federation staff person who works closely with him, “Michael is an excellent role model for new leadership at the Federation and in our community as a whole.”

Watch a video of H. Michael Feldman screened at the 2008 Annual Meeting.

Past recipients

Judith Goldkrand Cheskin, Susie Sorkin, David Agger, Howard Brown, Lawrence Gallant, Josh Smith, Barry Cheskin, Howard Steiermann, Laura Heller Lauder, Steve Kaufman, Ellen Kahn, Richard Seiler, David Steirman, Howard Zack, Debra Pell, Susan Lowenberg, John Goldman, Donald Friend, Judith Zimmerman, Marc Rosenberg, Alan Rothenberg, Steven Zimmerman, Joel Renbaum, M.D., Michael Rubenstein, Randall Dick, Susan Kolb, Ellen Rosen, Don Linker, Joyce Linker, Martin Brotman, M.D., Marilyn Waldman, Edie Culiner, George Frankenstein, Phyllis Cook, Ron Kaufman, Douglas Heller, Jerome Braun, Norman Narin

Bernard Osher wins 2008 Sinton Award for Distinguished Leader of the Year Award for Excellence

Bernard Osher’s leadership has made a deep and lasting impact on the local, national and international Jewish and general communities. The Bernard Osher Jewish Philanthropies Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Endowment Fund, has often been a “first funder” for innovative projects in their earliest stages, which then have gone on to have long-term impact, including the Osher Marin JCC, the Israel Project (which became the Israel Center), the Bernard and Barbro Osher Jerusalem Center for Religious Pluralism at the Shalom Hartman Institute and countless arts, cultural and educational projects here and in Israel that would never have come to fruition without his support. Osher was a leading supporter of the San Francisco Jewish Community Center’s capital project, along with numerous other capital projects in this community. During his five years as chair of the Endowment Fund (1994 to 1999), Endowment assets increased nearly 100% each year. Today, Osher continues to serve as a mentor and role model to a new generation of Jewish community philanthropic leaders. In the words of Phyllis Cook, retiring executive director of the Endowment Fund, “The Jewish community is at its strongest when its best leaders are clear about their Jewish identity and their responsibilities. Bernard Osher is such a leader.”

Watch a video of Bernard Osher screened at the 2008 Annual Meeting.

Past recipients

Ron Kaufman, Donald Seiler, Adele Corvin, Gerson Bakar, Peter Haas, Barbara Isackson, Robert M. Levison, Jr., Richard Rosenberg

Michael Lederman of Congregation Emanu-El, San Francisco and Temple Sinai, Oakland wins 2008 Congregation/Community School Award for Excellence in Jewish Education

Michael Lederman possesses the strong conviction that his students will shape the future of the Jewish people, and he strives to develop lasting and positive connections between those students, the Jewish people and Israel. Lederman has been a Jewish educator for over 27 years. Currently, he teaches second and third grade students at Temple Sinai Religious School in Oakland, where he also prepares students for b’nai mitzvah, and teaches third and fourth grade students at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. When not in the classroom, Lederman supports, helps train and consults with other Bay Area Jewish educators on best teaching practices and guides other educators on identifying engaging and contemporary resources to teach Judaic studies and Hebrew language.

Ziona Tassa of Gideon Hausner Day School- Palo Alto, wins 2008 Day School Award for Excellence in Jewish Education

Ziona Tassa was raised by Yemenite immigrant parents in Israel who instilled in her their passion for Judaism. Growing up observing Jewish traditions, which included a great deal of music and songs, had a profound impact on her that continues to this day. Tassa remembers her parents making shmurah matzah on the outdoor brick oven for Pesach. As a child her job was to shake the dough to prevent it from rising. Every Shabbat morning she would wake to her father’s voice coming from the room in their house that had been converted into a synagogue. Tassa is committed to imparting these traditions to her students in America. Teaching Hebrew as a second language enables her to connect her students with Israel and their Jewish culture and heritage. “This is the constant motivating force of my teaching,” says Tassa, “which provides me with the perfect opportunity to share with children and their parents my passionate love of Judaism and enduring commitment to Israel.”

Lisa Elliott of Peninsula JCC, Foster City wins 2008 Early Childhood Education Award for Excellence in Jewish Education

Lisa Elliot’s journey as a Jewish educator began in 1996 at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center (PJCC). She heard about a position there as a preschool teacher’s assistant, but was apprehensive about applying since she did not have any connection to the Jewish community. She did apply, however, and got the position, and has gone on to embrace the Jewish culture and teach preschoolers about Jewish traditions, culture and values. As a program coordinator she helps the staff with curriculum ideas and answers questions about the holidays, prayers and Israel. Elliot also is program director for the JCC’s preschool summer camp, where she has created an enriching and stimulating program that includes a weekly family Shabbat sing-a-long. The main theme for camp this year is tikkun olam, because Elliot believes that “taking care of the earth is a mitzvah that will benefit these preschoolers as well as everyone around them.” In 2006, Elliot had the opportunity to visit Israel with the San Francisco Jewish Community Center, an experience that has made her passionate about bringing Israel into the classroom.

Vavi Toran of Israel Education Initiative wins 2008 Informal Education Award for Excellence in Jewish Education

Vavi Toran was raised in Tel Aviv by a theatrical and artistic family and studied English literature and art history at Hebrew University, and painting and drawing at the Bezalel Art Institute in Jerusalem. Her professional art path includes design in many forms, such as graphic and furniture design, calligraphy and handmade ketubot. Her second career, as a Jewish educator, includes teaching Hebrew and Judaism in schools in the Bay Area and serving as head teacher of the Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis Hillel Day School. Toran joined the Israel Center during its first year of operation in 1996 as director of cultural and educational resources. In this capacity, she initiated and managed the Israel Center's educational and cultural programs, including a scholars-in-residence lecture series, performing and visual arts events and Israel education programming. Four years ago, Toran became director of the Israel Education Initiative. During her tenure, she initiated, planned and implemented professional development, curricular programs, educators-in-residence series, Israel seminars, traveling exhibits, living bridge projects and Israel resources. Today, Toran is an independent consultant, writer and speaker on Israeli arts, culture and education.

Bashir Torchio of Brandeis Hillel Day School wins 2008 Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education

Bashir Torchio was born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island where she received a B.A. in humanities and music, an M.A. in education and a secondary education credential from SUNY at Stony Brook. Immediately following graduation, she taught 12th grade honors English and social studies at Port Jefferson High School. Throughout her teaching career on Long Island, Torchio taught at the Outward Bound summer program, was a literacy volunteer and gave piano lessons. Many years later, she applied to do a Master’s program in interdepartmental Judaic studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan, a result of the intersection of her passion for classroom teaching, personal learning and Jewish studies. She feels very blessed to be teaching at Brandeis Hillel Day School as she continues her own Jewish lifelong learning.

Linor Eylon of South Peninsula Hebrew Day School wins 2008 Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education

Linor Eylon’s twin passions are children and Judaism. Over the past 12 years, she has combined them by working with children in a variety of Jewish educational settings, including as a pre-K teacher at South Peninsula Hebrew Day School (SPHDS). Eylon’s early childhood was spent on a kibbutz in Israel; she later moved to the United States where she attended a Jewish high school. She went to San Diego State University and graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in child and family development. Taken together, these experiences became the inspiration for her deep-rooted love of Judaism and commitment to its continuity by educating its youngest members. In her five years of teaching at SPHDS, Eylon has fueled the hearts and imaginations of her students. She has been instrumental in developing and implementing a comprehensive curriculum that intertwines Jewish values and traditions into all learning units. Eylon’s unique teaching style merges children and families from all levels of Jewish observance and backgrounds into a cohesive and supportive group. The children and families in Eylon’s program feel their Jewishness validated, reinforced and strengthened.