A record number of attendees turned out to honor the recipients of the Circle of Excellence Awards and the Community Service Award tendered by the Teaneck Council of the Jewish National Fund. Raising over $200,000 for the Historic Sites Renovation Project at Gush Etzion Visitors’ Center and other JNF projects in Israel, Gush Mayor Davidi Perl and Shani Simkovitz, Head of the Gush Etzion Foundation, quoted the late David Ben-Gurion as saying, “If there is a Jewish Jerusalem, our foremost thanks go to the defenders at Gush Etzion.”

The Circle of Excellence Awards were presented to Ben Gutmann, outgoing President of the Northern NJ Board of JNF, by Jill Janowski, the incoming president; Philip and Marlene Rhodes by Bob Levine, National Vice President of JNF; the Community Service Award to Teaneck Councilman Yitz Stern by Mark Levenson, Chairman of the New Jersey-Israel Commission.

Also in attendance were Teaneck Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin and several Teaneck Council members who presented citations to the honorees and Tracy Silna Zur represented the Bergen County Freeholders. For more information about JNF contact jinglis_jnf.org.