TBE honors Ivan Schonfeld 

By Seth Katzman
Temple Beth El

Temple Beth El gathered for a brunch to learn about the Life and Legacy after-life-giving program and recognize its donors. The occasion was more than educational. It encouraged our commitment to our Jewish community and to ourselves and our legacies.

Jeri Zimmerman, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Jewish Federation, which administers Life and Legacy locally, talked about what the program means to our community. She said that giving is not merely about the money, though that’s vital, but also our dedication of time and energy to make a difference in the community.

Zimmerman paid tribute to Ivan Schonfeld, whose health prevented him from attending the lunch. His three-plus decades of service to Temple Beth El and the broader Lehigh Valley Jewish community exemplify what commitment looks like in practice. His contributions span multiple dimensions of our community’s life. He has been the steadfast caretaker of the TBE Memorial Park for the last 32 years. He also served as the lead chairperson for the Life and Legacy initiative at TBE, was instrumental in strategic planning, and devoted years of service to the endowment foundation and board. 

“Ivan approached these roles with a deep sense of responsibility,” Zimmerman said. “Today, we thank him for paving the way, for modeling what it means to lead with heart, and for building a legacy that will sustain and inspire for years to come.”

The discussion that followed demonstrated something equally important about Life and Legacy. It’s not reserved for the few who dedicate decades to service. It’s for all of us who care about Jewish life. Ask: What will I leave behind? What am I contributing today? You begin to define what is important to you.

Can we personally meet the challenge? Does your Jewish heritage matter to you? What do you want your legacy to be? These are not easy questions, but they prompt us to reflect on our lives. When we embrace Life and Legacy, we commit to supporting our community’s future while also committing to defining our own values and priorities.

Life and Legacy is about philanthropy, and also about sharing our stories. It is about becoming aware of your heritage and recognizing that even a single act of service creates ripples of impact. When you help one person, when you devote personal time and energy to making your community more cohesive and caring, you make a difference. 

Ivan Schonfeld stands as an inspiring example of commitment and also reminds us to contribute when we can. His absence from this lunch was a poignant reminder that our time and experience is unpredictable and finite and precious. 

The people in the past who have contributed to building our community deserve our gratitude, and that gratitude naturally inspires us to contribute in turn. And each of us has something to contribute.

“Life and Legacy giving ensures that your Jewish story becomes part of the Jewish future,” Zimmerman said. “It is a profound act of love—for our community, our heritage, and for the generations yet to come. Life and Legacy isn’t just about the end of a story. It’s about how that story lives on.”

For information on how you can join fellow community members in Life and Legacy to help sustain vital Jewish institutions, preserve Jewish identify and values, bridge generations, provide stability through uncertain times, and empower our midsize Jewish community, contact Aaron Gorodzinsky, Jewish Federation director of development, at [email protected] or 610-821-5500, ext. 337.

 

JFS cheers legacies of generosity and service

By Carl Zebrowski
Editor

Jewish Family Service threw a celebration on October 20 for its donors to the Life and Legacy after-life-giving program in support of our Jewish community and all its institutions and programs. 

Dozens of community members attended, with donors, rabbis, JFS staffers, and others sampling from the light lunch buffet spread and taking seats to listen to what various speakers had to say. 

JFS executive director Debbie Zoller welcomed the gathering. “All of you have played an important part in building the JFS legacy,” she said.

She introduced a handful of JFS staffers and workers, each of whom briefly described the work they do. They included Doug Trachtman, food pantry coordinator; Amanda Thomas, accessibility and inclusion coordinator; Carah Tenzer, licensed social worker; Carol Wilson, clinical coordinator of older adult services; Marcia Schechter, outreach coordinator; and Laura Garber, clinical social worker. 

Zoller then bgan to talk about the Life and Legacy program, by which donors pledge money to be put into an endowment fund that will yield an annual return in perpetuity to help keep our Jewish community thriving well into the future. 

Everyone can have a role in contributing for the long term, she said. “Legacy is more than money or resources that we allocate. The true measure of our impact is not just about what we give but what we inspire others to do.”

This came as she announced that Chelsea Karp, current JFS director of operations, would soon take over the role of JFS executive director. On November 1, Karp will officially begin leading JFS into its next decade of growth and improvements, building on the decade-plus of widely lauded progress initiated by Zoller when she took on the executive director job in 2012.

“Under Debbie’s leadership, JFS has thrived as an agency of excellence that is grounded in compassion” Karp said. “Her unwavering commitment to serving clients with dignity will be her lasting legacy. She is an inspiration.”

If you’d like to build on your own legacy by joining the dozens of Life and Legacy contributors throughout the Lehigh Valley who have designated funds for the long-term vitality of our Jewish community, contact Aaron Gorodzinsky, Jewish Federation director of development, at aaron @jflv.org or 610-821-5500, ext. 336. 

“Together,” Zoller said, “let us continue to create legacies that inspire generations to come.”