More than thirty years ago there was no Yachad. The idea of inclusion was not even on people’s minds since many had never met a person with developmental disabilities. Individuals with special needs were kept “out of sight” and consequently they truly were “out of mind.” The picture is so different today. Now, we see a view that includes everyone, regardless of his or her abilities or disabilities. Yachad has played a major role in enabling this momentous change, and its fight for inclusion has touched thousands of lives.
The Orenbuch family
Yachad’s 30th Anniversary Dinner was held on December 15th at Congregation Keter Torah in Teaneck, NJ. Over 350 guests celebrated the great changes and awareness Yachad has brought about to improve the lives of individuals with special needs and their families, and paid tribute to the honorees.
Esteemed honorees included Isabelle and Aharon Orlansky of Manhattan who accepted the Yachad Family Award, and the Marder family of White Plains, NY who were prese-nted with the award for Community Leadership. Rachel Frohlich Orenbuch and Yisroel Orenbuch received the Young Leadership Award. The occasion also marked the inauguration of the Joel Daner Yachad Communal Fellowship.
Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman, Yachad’s international director, told the guests, “Yachad serves thousands of children and adults with disabilities every year. These are people who have so much to offer when we give them the opportunity. In addition, every year we help tens of thousands of children and adults without disabilities come to appreciate the abilities of our Yachad members. We help them learn to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses that we all have.”
Yachad Family Award
Isabelle and David Orlansky
David Orlansky has been a member of the Yachad family for many years. He is a regular at many programs and events, particularly Shabbatonim, and has even been on Yad B’Yad seven times! His parents, Isabelle and Aharon, are very supportive of his every endeavor and are great friends of Yachad, always willing to help in any way they can. David works hard and does well because he expects to succeed and his parents know that he can. At the dinner David gave a moving d’var Torah that had everyone listening closely; his love for Yachad was evident in every word and gesture. The Orlansky family — Isabelle, Aharon, David, and Ilana are an inspiration for us all. Dr. Lichtman, joined by Rebecca Schrag, Yachad’s director of school and community programming, and director of Yad B’Yad, presented the award to the Orlansky family.
Young Leadership Award
Rachel and Yisroel Orenbuch, who live in Kew Gardens Hills, NY, have been involved in Yachad since their teens and have remained active throughout these many years. In fact, Yachad was the “shadchan” (matchmaker) who brought the two together. In addition to welcoming Yachad into their community each year, Yisroel, who works in quality assurance at Credit Suisse, has been instrumental in implementing numerous social and recreational programs for Yachad with his company while simultaneously securing much needed funds for the organization. Yachad’s former national chairman, Aaron Kinderlehrer, and Yachad member Bezalel Kosofsky whose relationship with Yisroel goes back 20 years, jointly presented the Young Leadership Award to this dynamic couple.
Eli Hagler, Yachad’s associate director shared, “It is no secret that we as a community have come so far, but it’s also no secret that we have so much further to go in our quest to make the broad Jewish community, and the global community, more welcoming and inclusive. Leading the charge for the next generation are those who were lucky enough to be involved with Yachad in the 1990’s; they are now becoming the leaders of their Jewish communities. That’s why Rachel and Yisroel Orenbuch are such deserving honorees.”
Community Leadership Award
The Marder family
Rabbi Chaim Marder has been serving as rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of White Plains since 1995. Suzie Marder is a social worker at Westchester Day School. The Marders are the proud parents of seven children and one son-in-law: Shira and Jason Saibel, Ari, Akiva, Shoshana, Ayelet, Yonina, and Doni. Like their parents, these self-motivated young people are deeply involved in Yachad’s many activities. They believe in the importance of giving back and spreading the idea of inclusion. It is clear that the Marders believe that you are never too young to be involved; in typical fashion, the family composed a poem to read at the dinner and each child read a portion of it. Ken Saibel joined by Chana Esther Sabbagh, a Yachad member from Brooklyn with a strong connection to the Marder family, presented the award to this remarkable family.
“A shul rabbi is typically reluctant to accept an honor from an organization,” said Mr. Saibel, Yachad’s associate director. “If he says yes to one, how can he not say yes to all? But when we approached Rabbi Marder, we wanted to ensure that it wasn’t just him and his amazing wife, Suzie, whom we wanted to honor — it was their entire family. All of their children have grown up with Yachad and have participated in dozens of Yachad programs and events.”
The Joel Daner Yachad Communal Fellowship
The Joel Daner Yachad Communal Fellowship (see article about JDYCF on page 6) is a tribute to a great man and a great leader. It is presented annually to three outstanding recent college graduates who want to learn and grow under Yachad’s auspices — promoting inclusion for all Jewish people. The dinner marked the formal launch of this program that will be supervised by Eli Hagler.
Richard M. Joel, President of Yeshiva University, spoke warmly of the late Mr. Daner. He said that he learned so much from this man who made time for every person and answered every question thoughtfully and thoroughly. Joel Daner, with his wife Selma by his side, truly led by example and is sorely missed, President Joel said, adding that he personally never made a career decision without first discussing it with Joel Daner.
Mrs. Selma Daner accepted the award with grateful appreciation. She knows how much her late husband believed in the vital work that Yachad does and she was very gratified to see his name living on in the hearts and minds of the three inaugural fellows: Nomi Gofine, Robbie Grad and Stephanie Weprin.
One of the highlights of the evening was a performance by the Yachad Band. This group of talented musicians performed all evening, first playing in the background to set a joyous tone and then kicking it up a few notches as guests took to the dance floor. The band played a few of its own compositions as well as popular Jewish music.
Gwen Bloom is the editor of Belong Magazine.
This article is from the 2015 issue of Belong Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy please email belong@ou.org.