Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC) will hold its Annual Scholarship Breakfast on Sunday, May 22. Honorees this year are Dr. Naomi Knoller and Mrs. Irene Stein, both being honored for their years of dedicated service to TABC. Naomi Knoller has been a pillar of the TABC lay leadership team for the last seven years, serving as a trusted board member as well as vice president on the executive board. Naomi has faithfully served as liaison to the education, recruitment and building committees, consistently going above and beyond the call of duty and striving for excellence. Together with her husband Marc, Naomi has successfully fundraised for both TABC’s annual and scholarship campaigns, always trying to expand the circle of donors and build critical support for TABC. One of Naomi’s greatest contributions to TABC has been the conception, development and successful implementation of the annual Shavuot Afternoon Learning Program, which offers a variety of shiurim given by TABC rabbeim throughout Shavuot in local shuls. Naomi came to her role at TABC following service on the Moriah board and as a founding member of the Yeshivat Noam board. When not at TABC on either board business or as a proud hockey mom, Naomi is a practicing optometrist in Westchester, specializing in contact lenses and low vision. She and Marc are the proud parents of Elana, Shmuel ’13 and Yair ’16.

Mrs. Irene Stein, a veteran instructor of mathematics at TABC, has recently announced her retirement. Over the past nine years, in addition to her classroom contributions teaching pre-calculus and AP calculus, Mrs. Stein has significantly expanded the TABC Math League resulting in great success in a wide range of leagues and competitions. Mrs. Stein has served on several teaching advisory committees for the state commissioner of education as well as the New Jersey Math League. She was chosen Bergen County Teacher of the Year by the Governor’s Recognition Award Committee, is a two-time recipient of the national Edyth May Sliffe Award for distinguished teaching of high school mathematics and was also recognized for her professional accomplishments with the Tandy Technology Award. Additionally, Mrs. Stein has received several awards for excellence in mathematics education from Penn, Tufts, Rutgers and the University of Chicago. She graduated magna cum laude from City College of New York where she placed first in the College of Education and was an officer of Kappa Delta Pi. Mrs. Stein is well respected by her students, alumni and colleagues. She is known for going above and beyond the regular classroom instruction and for her unique ability to convey difficult concepts in a clear and understandable way. Mrs. Stein is appreciated for her high level of instruction, superior expectations and outstanding commitment to the individual success of each of her students. She will be sorely missed.

Through its Scholarship Breakfast Campaign, TABC is raising critical funds for the Bruce Ritholtz z”l Scholarship Fund, named for beloved friend, TABC alumni parent and community member, Bruce Ritholtz a”h. Bruce was instrumental in launching the TABC Capital Campaign that enabled the school to build its beautiful new campus. He and his wife, Michelle, whose son, Dani, graduated in 2014, have dedicated tremendous time, energy and resources to TABC and many other worthy community causes. Naming the Scholarship Fund in Bruce’s memory in 2015 was a special and meaningful way to honor Bruce’s legacy and support Jewish education.

TABC offers over $1 million in need-based scholarships each year. Charitable contributions to the scholarship fund in honor of Dr. Knoller, Mrs. Stein and in memory of Bruce Ritholtz a”h will enable TABC to continue to provide young men in the greater metropolitan community the opportunity to share in all the wonderful benefits of a TABC education, and allow TABC to achieve and grow in academic excellence while remaining financially accessible to its families.

Members of the community are encouraged to invest in the next generation of Jewish leaders by contributing to the Bruce Ritholtz z”l Scholarship Fund. Information can be found at tabc.org/scholarshipbreakfast or by contacting Sharon Rifkind at [email protected].