Colel Chabad Hosts International Awards Dinner

Colel Chabad, the oldest continuously operating Tzedakah in Israel, celebrated its International Awards Dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the New York Hilton on Monday night.

The evening began with a warm welcome from Mr. Richard Born, the Rebbe’s Kapitel read by Rabbi Getzy Rubashkin and the prayer for the nation, written by the Friediker Rebbe, read by Mr. Kenneth Dicher.

Following was a magnificent video which was produced especially for the evening. Rabbi Sholom Duchman, Director of Colel Chabad, gave his annual Shareholder’s Report which was accompanied by a slide show of pictures, facts and figures.

Speaker Sheldon Silver presented Mrs. Julie Menin with the ‘Public Service Award’. Mayor Cory Booker spoke on the importance of ‘Hakarat Hatov’ and introduced Mr. and Mrs. Miles and Suzanne Berger as Guests of Honor. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Mr. and Mrs. Abraham and Sarah Biderman and the Builder of Israel Award to Mr. William J. Schottenstein.

A special and moving video of Staff Sergeant Barak Ben Shachar, one of the participants of the ‘Chesed Menachem Mendel Widows and Orphans program’ was shown, after which Barak personally thanked Colel Chabad and its donors.

In the spirit of the Rebbe who continually stressed, “When two Jews come together, the first thing to come to their minds should be how they can help a third Jew”, this celebration of ‘One Dinner in New York’ will surely benefit many Jews with ‘thousands of dinners in Israel, every day’.

Photos by Shimon Roumani and Bentzi Sasson