If the dinner, led by Yeshiva Board Chairman Gary Torgow, is anything like those held in recent years, more than 2,000 supporters will attend.
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah will hold its annual dinner on November 3 this year. The guest speaker will be former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Prominent Detroit Jew Matt Lester, founder and CEO of Princeton Enterprises, will receive the Outstanding Leadership Award.
This year's dinner will also mark 110 years since Rabbi Yehudah Leib Levin opened his after-school Jewish education program for boys at Detroit's Mogain Avrohom Synagogue. The Yeshiva was named after his death in 1925. The girls' school was added in 1954.
Since Rabbi Levin's first class, Yeshiva Beth Yehudah has become one of the premier Jewish educational institutions in Metro Detroit. It now includes a preschool, a girls' school, a boys' school, Partners Detroit, a Scholars Kollel, as well as summer camps and special education and enrichment programs for approximately 1,400 kindergarten students in grade 12; for more than 400 children at the James Grosfeld Center for Special Education; and for more than 40 Kollel academics.
It was also noted that Yeshiva Beth Yehudah is much more than a school. Mark Davidoff, who received the Outstanding Leadership Award in 2018, Yeshiva's highest honor, succinctly summed up Yeshiva's role in greater Detroit: It's like Abraham's tent welcoming all with room for everyone.
The annual dinner itself is a real big deal and another aspect of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah that has grown with its comprehensive educational programs. If the dinner, led by Yeshiva Board Chairman Gary Torgow, is anything like those held in recent years, more than 2,000 supporters will attend.
As I was researching the history of the Yeshiva Beth Yehudah dinner in the William Davidson Digital Archive of Detroit Jewish History, I was struck by the number of outstanding speakers and annual honorees. They represent the best leadership not only in Michigan and metro Detroit, but in America as a whole (not to mention the two British Prime Ministers, Tony Blair was the first).
Last year, for example, the featured speaker was Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who was introduced by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Shapiro spoke about the lasting effects of his Jewish upbringing and his support for Israel and the Jewish people. For icing on the cake, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and U.S. Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow also made remarks.
Naming all the star speakers over the years would take up most of my column, but I'll give you a few examples: Presidents Joe Biden, George W. Bush, Gerald Ford and Donald Trump; Nikki Haley, then US ambassador to the UN; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; US Senators Joe Lieberman, Charles Schumer and John Kerry; and American General Colin Powell.
We should also not forget the many Outstanding Leadership and Golden Torah Award winners, such as Mandell Bill Berman, Penny Blumenstein, Robert Naftaly and Nancy Grosfeld; business leaders Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, Matt Simoncin, CEO of Lear Corporation, and Jerry Norcia, CEO of DTE; and Mayor Mike Duggan.
Phew! And I just named a few from the list of honorees and speakers at Yeshiva Beth Yehudah.
Congratulations to the staff and leadership of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah for over a century of outstanding educational and community programs. Indeed, you have an impressive track record. Mazel Tov!
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