New York, NY—Yeshiva University High Schools (YUHS) will host its Annual Dinner on Tuesday, May 12, at the Marina Del Rey in the Bronx, NY. Faculty honorees include Mrs. Ruth Fried, chairperson of the science department and director of the Science Institute at the Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls (Central), and Rabbi Alfred Cohen, longtime maggid shiur at the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy/Yeshiva University High School for Boys (MTA), who will be retiring at the end of this year. Rabbi Steven and Rachel Burg are MTA’s guests of honor, and Avi and Aleeza Lauer are Central’s.
The dinner will also honor the 25th anniversary of the graduating class of 1990 at both MTA and Central.
“The ability to nurture the love of science in Jewish young women over the past 25 years has been a privilege,” said Fried, who is celebrating her 25th year at Central, where she teaches regents biology and advanced placement biology. “As we study science together my students have opened their eyes to the mastery of God’s world and to the realization that the study of science is an integral part of the study of Torah. This honor presents me with the opportunity to say thank you to the parents who have entrusted their daughters’ science education to me; to the faculty who have been my colleagues, mentors, and friends, and who have educated my own three daughters; and to the administration who has always supported all of our science programming.”
Fried also serves as the liaison to the Yeshiva University High Schools/Albert Einstein College of Medicine Joint Summer Research Program and is a member of the Educational Steering Committee for the March of Dimes Nelson Rosenthal Convocation. In the summer of 2008, Fried was selected to attend the third Sheila Schwartz Family International Leading Science Teacher Seminar at the Davidson Institute of Science Education at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. She received certification to implement both the Davidson Institute and the British Neufield Foundation Science Literacy Program (LSS—Learning Skills for Science). Fried was a recipient of the $10,000 Toyota Tapestry Grant from the National Science Teachers Association. She lives in Woodmere with her husband, Sholom, and their children, and they are members of Congregation Aish Kodesh. Their three daughters are all proud to be Central graduates (the youngest in 2015).
Rabbi Alfred Cohen, maggid shiur at MTA, received semicha from Rabbi Yisrael Gustman and from Rabbi Hutner of Mesivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin and served for many years as the mora d’asra [leader of the congregation] of the Young Israel of Canarsie. For the past 21 years, he has been the Rabbi of Congregation Ohaiv Yisroel of Blueberry Hill in Monsey, NY. He is the founder and was the first editor of the Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society and has published numerous articles in the journal, as well as in Tradition and Jewish Life. Rabbi Cohen has received many citations and awards for excellence in teaching, including the Rabbi and Mrs. Joseph Baumol Award for Excellence in Jewish Education at Yeshiva University and the Avi Chai Foundation Award for Outstanding Jewish Education.
Rabbi Steven and Rachel Burg, of Bergenfield, NJ, are the proud parents of two current students in MTA: Aryeh, a senior, and Elie, a freshman. Their children represent the third generation of the Burg family to attend MTA. Rachel is a general studies teacher at Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey and is involved in many Bergen County communal activities. Rabbi Burg is the Eastern Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Museum of Tolerance and serves on many nonprofit boards, including the United Federation of Teachers.
Aleeza and Avi Lauer have been active lay leaders in their hometown of Woodmere for many years, including leadership roles at the Young Israel of Woodmere and the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR). Avi currently serves as the vice president for legal affairs, secretary, and general counsel of Yeshiva University and Aleeza is an educator at HAFTR. Both Aleeza and Avi are graduates of Yeshiva University schools and they are the proud parents of Jennifer and Josh Geffner, David (a sophomore at the Sy Syms School of Business), Ashley (a senior at Central), and Eli.
For dinner reservations, to place an ad in the journal, or for more information, please contact Beth R. Gorin, director of institutional advancement for YU High Schools at 212-960-5489 or [email protected], or visit www.yu.edu/hsdinner.
