Donors Given Precious Cash

By COLlive reporter
Photos by Yossi Percia and ElishaArt.com

650 friends and supporters of the National Ccmmittee for Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE) celebrated the organization’s 71st year at their Annual Awards Dinner at Chelsea Piers, Manhattan.

The organization honored NYC hotelier Michelle Domb, Sholom and Pessy Jacobs of the Five Towns, and DailySteals.com CEO Matt Wiener for their commitment to philanthropy and support of the NCFJE.

The Jacobs and Mr. Wiener were each presented with a fifty dollar bill, given by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to long-time NCFJE head Rabbi JJ Hecht OBM. The presentations were followed by commitments from Wiener and Jacobs to each continue their support of the work of the NCFJE.

Also honored were New York State Chairman of the Republican Party Ed Cox and Rabbi Yaakov Silberstein, administrator of Yeshivas Kol Yaakov Yehuda Hadar Hatorah.

The dinner, which featured the Maccabeats a cappella group, highlighted 50 years of Hadar Hatorah, and its distinguished place as the first yeshiva focused wholly on educating Baalei Teshuvah.

NCFJE was founded in 1941 by the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn to teach Torah to public school students through the Jewish Released Time Program.

Today the organization is also known for crisis intervention services and its work with at-risk youth. In recent years, the organization has turned its focus upon the needy families in its home community of Crown Heights.