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Young Israel Celebrates 100th Anniversary

November 18, 2011

The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) and the International Young Israel Movement celebrated its 100th anniversary with a special gala on Sunday, November 13.

The centennial celebration was held at Terrace on the Park in Flushing, Queens, NY, and was attended by nearly 700 people from across the United States and Israel.

The milestone event paid tribute to the Young Israel Movement’s founders, visionaries, and activists, and honored its branch synagogues and their leadership. The NCYI recognized its Past Presidents, its Past and Present Executive Vice Presidents, and the Rabbinic Leaders with more than 30 years in the Young Israel Movement.

The NCYI also honored two of its most prominent and active leaders by bestowing the Moses H. Hoenig Memorial Leadership Award upon Shlomo Z. Mostofsky, Esq., who has served as the NCYI President since 2000. The award was presented by D. Bernard Hoenig, Esq., son of Moses H. Hoenig. NCYI Chairman of the Board Rabbi Jonah Gewirtz was also honored and was given the Gerald L. Kaufman Memorial Shofar Award.

NCYI President Shlomo Z. Mostofsky said, “The Young Israel Movement’s Centennial Celebration was a tremendous success and an uplifting and memorable event. There was an unprecedented outpouring of support for the National Council of Young Israel, its history, and its longstanding and unwavering commitment to its core values and precepts.”

“Torah-True-Judaism and the Young Israel Movement are strong, vibrant, and as relevant today as it was when it was founded one hundred years ago,” he added.

The National Council of Young Israel has ably served the broader Jewish community for the past 100 years, with more than 25,000 member families, and over 200 branch synagogues throughout the United States, Canada, and Israel. NCYI is a multi-faceted organization that embraces Jewish communal needs and often takes a leading role in tackling the important issues that face the Jewish community in North America and Israel.

One of the highlights of the Centennial Celebration was the dedication of a Sefer Torah to the Chief Rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Brig. General Rabbi Rafi Peretz, by the Young Israel of Manhattan, NY. This was the 201st Sefer Torah dedicated to the IDF in conjunction with the Young Israel Movement’s “IDF Sefer Torah Campaign” which for the past 12 years has helped provide the brave soldiers of the Israeli Army, Navy and Air Force with Sifrei Torah in order for them to fulfill their spiritual needs.

The Sefer Torah was presented to Rabbi Peretz in a moving ceremony at the Centennial Celebration by Rabbi Yeshaya Siff of the Young Israel of Manhattan.

In September, NCYI donated its 200^th Sefer Torah to the Sirkin army base near Petach Tikvah, immediately north of Tel Aviv.

The scroll was special not only because it was the 200^th scroll donated, but also because it was saved from the Holocaust.

The Sefer Torah was dedicated in memory of Ruby Davidman, who played a key role in launching Young Israel’s IDF Sefer Torah Campaign.

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