West Coast Dinner Honors Goldberger, Ives and Quinn

Six hundred supporters of the Orthodox Union’s West Coast region attended a dinner on Tuesday, May 19, to honor Ernie Goldberger, a prominent diamond industrial executive and Jewish communal leader. Mr. Goldberger was presented with the first annual Cochav B’Maarav Youth Leadership Citation, for his many years of dedication and service to the Greater Los Angeles community in the areas of youth and education.

Mr. Goldberger is Vice President of the Hillel Hebrew Academy in Beverly Hills, and a member of the Los Angeles Board of Jewish Education. He and his wife, Regina, are members of the Prime Minister’s Club of the Israel Bond campaign, and are very active in the Chabad movement

Robert Ives, of Beverly Hills, and Saul Quinn, who came in from Houston for the event, were honored with Founders Awards. Mr. Ives is a member of the Board of Directors of the Orthodox Union and Vice President of the Beth Jacob Congregation and the Hillel Academy in Beverly Hills. He is also on the Board of Governors of Yeshiva University in Los Angeles and a member of the Israel Bonds’ La Societe.

Saul Quinn is currently National Vice President of the Orthodox Union’s Southern Region. He recently moved from Houston to Long Island, N.Y., and is becoming active in the New York region. Mr. Quinn is a former secretary of the Union’s West Coast region, and former president of the Young Israel of Hancock Park in Los Angeles.

The dinner, called the “Color Your Jewish Future Bright Banquet,” was chaired by Robert Rechnitz, and raised $100,000 for the National Conference of Synagogue Youth—Torah Appeal.

In a moving address, Orthodox Union President Julius Berman spoke about arvut—the responsibility of Jews to tend to the well-being of other Jews. Calling NCSY “the embodiment of arvut and the pride and joy of the Union,” Mr. Berman noted the scores of NCSYers who switch from public schools to yeshivot each year as a result of NCSY. “A census was taken this year,” he revealed, “and it was found that 35% of the student bodies of Yeshiva University and Stern College were NCSY alumni. In fact, more than 50% of the freshmen who entered Yeshiva and Stern in 1980 were participants in the NCSY experience.”

The program of the dinner also included a stirring sound and light presentation entitled “this is NCSY” by the Los Angeles NCSY chapter, and a selection of melodies sung  by Cantor Joseph Malovany.