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Toronto Chapter Centennial Symposium Report
Toronto Chapter Centennial Symposium Report Barry Reinblatt, DDS
T
o celebrate Alpha Omega’s 100th anniversary, the Toronto alumni chapter planned a weekend of festivities from June 7 to June 10, 2007. We were proud and honored to host International President John Wolffe and first lady Linda, President-Elect Cliff Litvak and his family, the administrative committee, and the AO International Board of Directors for their mid-year meeting. The meeting began for the administrative committee on Thursday, June 7, with a planning session in the president’s suite, where the future direction of our fraternity was discussed and debated. That evening, a contingent of fraters joined our centennial symposium speaker, Jennifer de St. Georges, at a local restaurant for dinner. Those invited included the administrative officers and the committee that worked long and hard on making our centennial symposium worthy of its name. Friday, June 8, was the day of the actual symposium, with close to 200 fraters and staff in attendance. The title of the talk was “Blueprint for Success. . .It Is Time to Practice Business.” Everyone who attended was treated to Jenny’s candor, enthusiasm, and excellent advice for running a practice. We were very fortunate to have Ms. de St. Georges deliver our symposium lecture and the Toronto alumni chapter would like to take this opportunity to thank her for agreeing to make us one of her stops on her busy lecture circuit. I would like to thank the symposium committee chaired by Mark Librach, which included Paul Okorofsky, Barry Chapnick, Terry Shapero, Tammy
Herzog, Joel Kula, and Jack Fingrut. On the evening of Friday, June 8, the board of directors along with many local fraters, were invited to a traditional Shabbat dinner. President John recited the Kiddush while first lady Linda was prepared to light the Shabbat candles with her traveling candlesticks and say the blessing. PIP Gordon Perlmutter recited the blessing over the bread. With a background of traditional music, everyone enjoyed dinner and conversation. After dinner, hospitality was sponsored by the Toronto alumni chapter where there was, of course, more food, drinks, and excellent conversation. Saturday, June 9, was the day for the meeting of the board of directors. This group of dedicated fraters meets twice a year to discuss a myriad of issues relating to Alpha Omega. They worked long and hard to make sure that the fraternity is one day able to celebrate its bicentennial. After the meeting, everyone took some “R and R” time to enjoy the city of Toronto for a few hours before meeting back at the hospitality suite once again. Our weekend celebration ended Sunday morning, June 10, with a
TORONTO CHAPTER CENTENNIAL SYMPOSIUM REPORT brunch for fraters and spouses with keynote speaker Judy Feld Carr talking about “The Secret Rescue of the Syrian Jews: The Untold Story”. Ms. Feld Carr told us of her clandestine efforts to rescue more than 3,200 Jews from Syria, and she held our attention with the ex-
citing and dangerous details of how she accomplished this amazing feat. It was the perfect ending to what was a fantastic weekend celebrating Alpha Omega. I would like to thank the committee chaired by Laurel LinetskyFleisher, including Andrea Heckler,
Sharon Perlmutter, and Stephen Kay. This weekend couldn’t have taken place without the invaluable assistance of our oversight committee of Barry Chapnick, Terry Shapero, Avi Wurman, Sharon Perlmutter, and Ian Braverman. Thank you to all who helped or participated.
I started my AO career in 1962 at the Israeli local in Zichron Yaacov. I was very proud and dedicated to the fraternity, and with enthusiasm, I climbed up the ladder of offices to the International President in 1990. I served from 1967 to 1969 as Tel Aviv chapter President, 1972 Treasurer of the Jerusalem of Gold convention, 1975-77 the Regent of Regency 20, International Marshal of the 1979 Milk and Honey convention in Tel Aviv, and 1982-1984 International Trustee. After two unsuccessful attempts, I was elected International Treasurer at the Boston convention 1985. Being the first non-North American line officer and living in Israel, we had to overcome a lot of problems since 20 years ago since there were no computers, fax machines, or other technical devices. The communication was slower, but we overcame all of the difficulties. In 1990, I was installed as International President at the Jerusalem convention. As a survivor of the Holocaust, I was so proud and thankful to the fraternity. By electing me to this prestigious office, the fraternity proved the international status of the organization. For me and my family, Alpha Omega is a very important part of our lives. We participated in a lot of conventions, we met lovely people, and made a lot of friends. Our son Danny is following in my footsteps by serving the fraternity on the national and international level. He was the Co-Marshal of the successful 2007 Centennial convention in Tel Aviv. PIP Yehuda Kaufman, 1990
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Alpha Omegan • Volume 101 • Number 2
T
o celebrate Alpha Omega’s 100th anniversary, the Toronto alumni chapter planned a weekend of festivities from June 7 to June 10, 2007. We were proud and honored to host International President John Wolffe and first lady Linda, President-Elect Cliff Litvak and his family, the administrative committee, and the AO International Board of Directors for their mid-year meeting. The meeting began for the administrative committee on Thursday, June 7, with a planning session in the president’s suite, where the future direction of our fraternity was discussed and debated. That evening, a contingent of fraters joined our centennial symposium speaker, Jennifer de St. Georges, at a local restaurant for dinner. Those invited included the administrative officers and the committee that worked long and hard on making our centennial symposium worthy of its name. Friday, June 8, was the day of the actual symposium, with close to 200 fraters and staff in attendance. The title of the talk was “Blueprint for Success. . .It Is Time to Practice Business.” Everyone who attended was treated to Jenny’s candor, enthusiasm, and excellent advice for running a practice. We were very fortunate to have Ms. de St. Georges deliver our symposium lecture and the Toronto alumni chapter would like to take this opportunity to thank her for agreeing to make us one of her stops on her busy lecture circuit. I would like to thank the symposium committee chaired by Mark Librach, which included Paul Okorofsky, Barry Chapnick, Terry Shapero, Tammy
Herzog, Joel Kula, and Jack Fingrut. On the evening of Friday, June 8, the board of directors along with many local fraters, were invited to a traditional Shabbat dinner. President John recited the Kiddush while first lady Linda was prepared to light the Shabbat candles with her traveling candlesticks and say the blessing. PIP Gordon Perlmutter recited the blessing over the bread. With a background of traditional music, everyone enjoyed dinner and conversation. After dinner, hospitality was sponsored by the Toronto alumni chapter where there was, of course, more food, drinks, and excellent conversation. Saturday, June 9, was the day for the meeting of the board of directors. This group of dedicated fraters meets twice a year to discuss a myriad of issues relating to Alpha Omega. They worked long and hard to make sure that the fraternity is one day able to celebrate its bicentennial. After the meeting, everyone took some “R and R” time to enjoy the city of Toronto for a few hours before meeting back at the hospitality suite once again. Our weekend celebration ended Sunday morning, June 10, with a
TORONTO CHAPTER CENTENNIAL SYMPOSIUM REPORT brunch for fraters and spouses with keynote speaker Judy Feld Carr talking about “The Secret Rescue of the Syrian Jews: The Untold Story”. Ms. Feld Carr told us of her clandestine efforts to rescue more than 3,200 Jews from Syria, and she held our attention with the ex-
citing and dangerous details of how she accomplished this amazing feat. It was the perfect ending to what was a fantastic weekend celebrating Alpha Omega. I would like to thank the committee chaired by Laurel LinetskyFleisher, including Andrea Heckler,
Sharon Perlmutter, and Stephen Kay. This weekend couldn’t have taken place without the invaluable assistance of our oversight committee of Barry Chapnick, Terry Shapero, Avi Wurman, Sharon Perlmutter, and Ian Braverman. Thank you to all who helped or participated.
I started my AO career in 1962 at the Israeli local in Zichron Yaacov. I was very proud and dedicated to the fraternity, and with enthusiasm, I climbed up the ladder of offices to the International President in 1990. I served from 1967 to 1969 as Tel Aviv chapter President, 1972 Treasurer of the Jerusalem of Gold convention, 1975-77 the Regent of Regency 20, International Marshal of the 1979 Milk and Honey convention in Tel Aviv, and 1982-1984 International Trustee. After two unsuccessful attempts, I was elected International Treasurer at the Boston convention 1985. Being the first non-North American line officer and living in Israel, we had to overcome a lot of problems since 20 years ago since there were no computers, fax machines, or other technical devices. The communication was slower, but we overcame all of the difficulties. In 1990, I was installed as International President at the Jerusalem convention. As a survivor of the Holocaust, I was so proud and thankful to the fraternity. By electing me to this prestigious office, the fraternity proved the international status of the organization. For me and my family, Alpha Omega is a very important part of our lives. We participated in a lot of conventions, we met lovely people, and made a lot of friends. Our son Danny is following in my footsteps by serving the fraternity on the national and international level. He was the Co-Marshal of the successful 2007 Centennial convention in Tel Aviv. PIP Yehuda Kaufman, 1990
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Alpha Omegan • Volume 101 • Number 2