2020 Sarah Rivkah and Dr. Bernard Lander scholarships awarded to outstanding NCSY graduates.

(Courtesy of Touro College) Touro College, the nation’s largest institution of higher education under Jewish auspices, and the Orthodox Union (OU), the nation’s oldest and largest umbrella organization for the North American Orthodox Jewish community, have awarded Shifra Dimbert of Teaneck the prestigious Sarah Rivkah and Dr. Bernard Lander, zt”l, Scholarship.

Dimbert, a recent grad of The Frisch School in Paramus, served this past year as national president of NCSY. She will be studying at the prestigious Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women, next year.

NCSY National Director Rabbi Micah Greenland noted, “Shifra Dimbert has been an exceptional teen national president. She is blessed with an articulate voice, a passion to help others and, above all, an abiding sense of personal integrity.”

The scholarship is awarded annually by Touro College and the Orthodox Union to outstanding NCSY graduates, the OU’s international youth movement, who choose to attend one of Touro’s Lander Colleges in New York City: Lander College for Men in Queens (LCM), Lander College for Women/The Anna Ruth and Mark Hasten School in Manhattan (LCW) and Lander College of Arts & Sciences (LAS) in Brooklyn.

In addition to Dimbert, this year’s scholarship recipients are Yael Gonzalez of Schenectady, New York; Indigo (Nishama) Paris, of Portland, Oregon; and Hannah Thiede of Chesterfield, Missouri.

The scholarships, in memory of Touro’s founding president, Dr. Bernard Lander, zt”l, and his wife, Sarah Rivkah, were announced by Touro President and CEO Dr. Alan Kadish and Orthodox Union President Moishe Bane.

“Dr. Lander always supported Touro’s offer of scholarship opportunities to outstanding NCSY leaders,” Dr. Kadish said. “We have presented over $3 million dollars in such scholarships over the years, and it is only appropriate that these scholarships bear Dr. Lander’s name and the name of his beloved wife, Sarah Rivkah. We look forward to our continued partnership with the Orthodox Union and NCSY in helping to create a vibrant and committed Jewish tomorrow.”

“These young adults represent the future leaders of the Jewish community,” said OU President Moishe Bane. “Throughout their experience in NCSY, they have exemplified leadership and we are proud to help invest in their futures.”

Dr. Marian Stoltz-Loike, dean of LCW, said, “Year after year, it is hardly a surprise that a large portion of our student leadership comes from the ranks of NCSY. This well reflects the unmatched emphasis that NCSY places on empowering and inspiring the next generation of Jewish communal leadership.”

Dr. Bernard Lander served as president of Touro for almost 40 years, until his passing on February 8, 2010, at the age of 94. He built Touro from a fledgling institution with only 35 students in 1971 to an educational powerhouse with more than 18,000 undergraduate and graduate students across the United States and in Israel, Germany and Russia, making Touro the largest not-for-profit independent institution of higher and professional education under Jewish auspices. Dr. Lander also was a major figure in Jewish communal life, serving on the board of the Orthodox Union for almost 70 years.