The Voice of the Lehigh Valley Jewish Community
www.jewishlehighvalley.org
| Issue No. 487 | June 2025 | Sivan/Tammuz 5785 AWARD-WINNING PUBLICATION EST. 1977
Jewish Heritage Night at the IronPigs draws the largest Jewish community crowd in years. p7
Meet our 2025 high school graduates. And a big Mazel Tov to them! p18-19
FROM THE DESK OF JERI ZIMMERMAN p3 LVJF TRIBUTES p8 JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER p10-11 JEWISH DAY SCHOOL p12 JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE p13 COMMUNITY CALENDAR p23
And the winners are . . . Wilson, Jones, Bergstein—Awards to be given at annual Federation celebration By Carl Zebrowski Editor The Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley has announced the winners of its 2024-25 annual awards. The three honorees will receive their awards at the Federation’s Community Celebration and Annual Meeting on Thursday, June 12. This end-of-year event to celebrate all the community’s leaders and volunteers begins at 6 p.m. A dinner buffet with Israeli-style food will kick off the festivities. All are invited to attend, and admission is free. Registration is required at jewishlehighvalley.regfox. com/2025-annual-meeting. The Mark L. Goldstein Outstanding Jewish Communal Professional Award will be presented to Carol Wilson. The George Feldman Achievement
Award for Young Leadership is going to Gia Jones, and Bill Bergstein is being honored with the Mortimer S. Schiff Award for Prejudice Reduction. Like Mark Goldstein z”l himself, former executive director of the Jewish Federation, Carol Wilson has made a strong impact on the Lehigh Valley Jewish community. She’s a Jewish Federation Women’s Philanthropy Lion of Judah, an active member of Temple Beth El, a facilitator for the Muhlenberg College Institute for Religious and Cultural Understanding, and a fixture at community events. At Jewish Family Service, she has been the older adult social worker, helping those who are navigating the complex stages of aging. There she started the Schmooze and Schmear meetup for retired
Bill Bergstein
Gia Jones
Carol Wilson
men and advocated for the Mazel Meals program delivering kosher food to older adults on Shabbat and major Jewish Holidays. Gia Jones is receiving the George Feldman award as a young role model who brings new members into our Jewish community, understands the important role of the Federation in keeping it relevant and thriving, and volunteers in various places and capacities.
Among her volunteer efforts have been Women’s Philanthropy board member, cochair of its mitzvah projects and Dollar-a-Day spring event, JCC board member, Stage Makers stage crew, Jewish Family Service Community Food Pantry, JFS Coats and Cocoa drive chair, and Congregation Keneseth Israel Religious School committee member. She was a JFS Cheers for Volunteers honoree in
2024, and this coming year, she’ll be a cochair of the Federation’s NextGen. Bill Bergstein was chosen for the Schiff award for his commitment to educating the greater Lehigh Valley community about the dangers of prejudice and to working face to face to improve understanding among those of different faiths. A son, grandson, Award winners continues on page 2
Laurie Wax sees bright future for Women’s Philanthropy
By Carl Zebrowski Editor
A solid foundation and strong support help in any leadership position. “The Women’s Philanthropy president probably has the easiest job,” says Laurie Wax, whose tenure as head of the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley division is ending soon. “You’re more overseeing and delegating.” She adds that her work was made even easier by simply following the example of her predecessors, most recently Beth Kushnick and Carol Bub Fromer.
“I think every president comes into the job attempting to keep what was in place before her,” she says. “At the same time, she tries to take a new direction in programming in hopes of engaging members and reinforcing the importance of Federation and its positive role in financially supporting our local organizations, like the Jewish Day School and Jewish Family Service, as well as our synagogues.” Long before Laurie took over as Women’s Philanthropy president in 2023, she’d been volunteering in various capacities in the Jewish community.
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“I’ve been involved since moving back to Allentown in 2002 along with my husband, Robby, and our 2-year-old son, Benjamin,” she says. “We welcomed our son Danny in 2004.” Laurie and Robby enrolled Ben in the JCC’s early childhood education, and Laurie joined the ECE committee. She continued to volunteer in the community after that, inspired by her in-laws, Stan z”l and Vicki Wax. She filled numerous roles, including board member of Women’s Philanthropy, chair of the division’s Lion of Judah and Pomegranates, board member of Temple Beth El, and president of TBE Sisterhood. A few months after she took over as Women’s Philanthropy president, Hamas attacked Israel, bringing a new urgency and intensity to the work of fundraising for the greater Jewish community. While the usual local needs remained in place, Israel and Israelis suddenly needed extra help. Meanwhile the subsequent rise in antisemitism prompted additional efforts to increase security, raise awareness, and educate. Laurie came up with the idea
to make bracelets displaying support for Israel through that difficult time. Proceeds from bracelet sales went to the Jewish Federation’s Israel Emergency Campaign to fund humanitarian efforts in Israel. “I felt that everybody wanted to do something to help during this most difficult time,” she says. “This was the perfect opportunity for the women of our community to come together to give back.” The program was far more successful than she could have imagined. “The outpouring of support for this fundraiser far surpassed my expectations,” she says. The fundraiser raised $75,000. One hundred percent of the proceeds went to the emergency campaign. The bracelets were hardly the only success during that time. “The Federation did an amazing job fundraising for the emergency campaign, and this was just one of them,” she says. As president of Women’s Philanthropy, which raises a substantial portion of the Federation’s Annual Campaign for Jewish Needs yearly tally, she was involved in
many of those successes. There were special fundraisers, events, meetups to support Israel and the hostages, and presentations to raise awareness of the rise in antisemitism. Despite the refocusing forced by the war in Israel, Laurie did manage to meet the goals she brought to the job: emphasizing the need to get more community members involved in Women’s Philanthropy and promoting additional engagement among current members. She also pressed to clarify the role of the Federa-
Laurie Wax continues on page 6