Chabad of the Conejo Wows Crowd in Sold Out Benefit Banquet

Chabad of the Conejo, CA held its annual Gala Banquet on Wednesday, June 14th, 2006. The event was held at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. Eight hundred friends and supporters gathered for an evening of glamour, entertainment, and tribute. The gala this year was titled “Imagine: A Vision for the Future” and was followed by a performance in the sold-out Kavli Theatre (1800 people) featuring The 8th Day Band, Benny Friedman and Marc Salem of Broadway’ s “Mind Games”.

Chabad paid tribute to Noam and Sherry Lotan, the honorees at this year’s gala. “Noam and Sherry are truly deserving of this prestigious award” said Rabbi Moshe D. Bryski, the Executive Director of Chabad. “This is a couple deeply concerned with the material and spiritual welfare of others. They are true community leaders who have given of their time, energy, and benevolence to ensure a more vibrant and educated Jewish community for all of us. Their endless acts of kindness have not gone unnoticed.” Noam is the CEO of MRV Communications, a High Tech company in Northridge California.

In an emotional response at the dinner, Noam spoke about his first encounter with Chabad in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War.

More pictures in the Extended Article!

“Chabad for me started with on a very different Wednesday night, Wednesday October 10, 1973. Four days earlier, Israel was invaded by surprise, by Egypt and Syria. Because the attack was timed to coincide with the Holy Day of Yom Kippur which also happened to be on Saturday, we were caught totally unprepared and suffered heavy losses during the early part of the week. So here we were on that Wednesday night, preparing to go into battle at dawn. Suddenly, we were surprised to see an open truck pulls in front of us; it was a Chabad musical band. Using the platform of the truck as a makeshift stage, they came to lift our spirit, and gave us courage.

Sherry and I are privileged to be part of this great community in the Conejo and to be able to give our support to organizations such as Chabad. Truly though, our whole family has received more from Chabad, than what we have given. We thank you all for joining us and honoring this great organization.”

A “Chesed Award” was presented to Louis and Lisa Robin and the Lamplighter Award was presented by Rabbi Yisroel Levine to Jim Sarvey. Rabbi Shlomo Bistritzky opened the banquet by dedicating the evening to the Rebbe. Rabbi Yitzchak Sapochkinsky thanked the growing list of staff of the organization and paid tribute to the efforts of Rabbi Joshua B. Gordon, the executive director of Chabad of the Valley, who now has 19 centers throughout the Greater Valley.

The Banquet celebrated Chabad’s 27th anniversary in the Conejo Valley. Having opened in 1979 in a small office in Westlake Village, it has since grown and expanded drastically with centers in Westlake Village, Oak Park, Agoura Hills, and Thousand Oaks. It has been instrumental in opening centers in Simi Valley, Oxnard, Camarillo, Calabasas and Ventura. Under its auspices, the Conejo Jewish Day School opened and now operates classes from Kindergarten thru 6th grade. Kosher markets, a pizza shop, falafel store, a Judaica shop are now part of the landscape of this blossoming Jewish community. A year ago, Chabad of the Conejo opened of yet another institution, the Mei Menachem Mikvas Devorah, the first Mikvah in the history of the Conejo Valley. Chabad has also opened a very successful branch of the “Friendship Circle” – a program that caters to the needs of children with special needs and their families, with over 125 families involved and 250 teenagers.

The performance that followed opened with the 8th Day Band singing some of their top hits including “Tracht Gut” and “Babenyu”. Benny Friedman sang a heart stirring rendition of “Candles” as a slide show of Chabad and the Friendship Circle was shown. Rabbi Bryski inspired the audience with a challenge for each to continue “Imagining” what tomorrow could bring and then working together to make the vision a reality. And then came Marc Salem. He kept an audience of 1800 laughing, mesmerized and puzzled – all simultaneously. All over the Conejo Valley, people are asking themselves “how did he do that?”.