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December 6, 2024
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Farewell Dinner Honors the Winklers

Fort Lee—After 36 years of service to Fort Lee and to Bergen County, Rabbi Neil Winkler and Rebbitzen Andrea Winkler will be leav­ing their community to realize their lifelong dream of making Aliyah. The Young Israel of Fort Lee will be hosting a dinner in their hon­or at the Fort Lee Doubletree Hotel on Sun­day, June 22, beginning at 5 p.m.

Rabbi Neil N. Winkler, founding Rabbi of Young Israel of Fort Lee, arrived in Fort Lee in 1978 after having served as spiritual leader of congregations in Cincinnati, Trenton, and Lawrenceville. A musmach of Rabbi Isaac El­chanan Theological Seminary in 1972, Rabbi Winkler earned his Master’s degree in Bibli­cal Studies from the Bernard Revel Graduate School in that same year and previously his BA in history from Yeshiva University in 1969.

Well known and respected in both the United States and Israel—as a dynamic lec­turer, consummate educator, author, and spiritual leader— Rabbi Winkler’s accom­plishments and talents are numerous. In ad­dition to his duties at the Young Israel of Fort Lee, Rabbi Winkler is part of the Speaker’s Bu­reau of the National Council of Young Israel and serves as the Coordinator of Bible Stud­ies in the Moriah School of Englewood. Rab­bi Winkler currently serves on the Execu­tive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America and is the president of the Rabbini­cal Council of Bergen County. Among his ed­ucational accomplishments, Rabbi Winkler has coached almost 30 American champions of the International Bible Contest.

During these past years, Rabbi Winkler and his wife have built an Orthodox commu­nity of one synagogue with 20 families into one that now boasts three synagogues, an eruv, a mikvah, and regular daily morning and evening services.

An active Zionist, Rabbi Winkler is in­volved in numerous organizations that sup­port the State of Israel and has been honored by the Bet-El Yeshiva, the National Council of Young Israel, Yeshiva University, and NCSY. Rabbi Winkler recently published his first book, Bringing the Prophets to Life, which has been received with great interest and en­thusiasm.

As Rebbitzen of the Young Israel of Fort Lee for the past 36 years, Andrea Winkler has partnered with her husband to build the Or­thodox community of Fort Lee. She helped found the Sisterhood of the congregation and has run the Purim Shalach Manot cam­paign for over 20 years. A committed work­er in expanding Jewish values, Andrea was active in the establishment of the Fort Lee mikvah where she still serves as advisor and supporter. Recognizing the unfortunate need for support of victims of abuse with­in the Orthodox community, Andrea helped found Project S.A.R.A.H., New Jersey’s state­wide resource for Jewish victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse, and continues to lecture about this topic to local groups.

The Rabbi and Andrea are proud parents and grandparents to five grown children and nine grandchildren.

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