Moriah’s June 17 graduation at the Bergen Academies in Hackensack was a celebration of the accomplishments of the school’s 82 8th-graders against the backdrop of a Me’Dor L’Dor, generation to generation, theme. Fourteen of the graduates received their diplomas from their Moriah alumni parents, and the school presented its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award to Rabbi Neil Winkler. Rabbi Winkler is retiring to make aliyah after 36 years at the school, where he served as Coordinator and teacher of Tanach Studies and as coach of Moriah’s legendary Chidon haTanach team, and where he has taught two generations of Moriah students, including his own children and grandchildren.
School Vice President and Trustee Ronnie Aranoff, of the Moriah Class of 1984 and father of Jonathan Aranoff of the Class of 2014, presented Rabbi Winkler with a papercut creation designed by Dena Levie. The papercut fittingly includes an outline of the city of Jerusalem and quotes, in Hebrew, the Talmudic phrase from Kiddushin 30: “Anyone who teaches his son Torah scripture deems it as if he has taught him, his son, and his grandson until the end of all generations.”
As observed by Aranoff, “The meforshim comment that where a parent is unable to impart Torah on a daily basis to his or her child… the rebbe steps into the shoes of the parent and assumes that awesome responsibility. For the past 36 years, as a rebbe at Moriah, Rabbi Winkler has taught scores of our children, including me and my children. He has instilled in each and every one of them a love of Torah and a love of Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael. Now after 36 years of giving to our children, Rabbi Winkler and his wife Andrea will be leaving us to realize their lifelong dreams of making aliyah. It is with great pleasure and with our bracha for much success and happiness, that on behalf of the Moriah family I present this year’s Dor L’Dor Award to a most deserving rebbe and teacher, Rabbi Neil Winkler.”
As Moriah prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of the school next year, it is committed to celebrating those families for whom Moriah has become a family legacy and to honor those teachers whose loyalty to the school has spanned the generations. This year’s graduation marked the beginning of that endeavor.
