WEST HARTFORD – Nearly 200 community members and friends of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford gathered to celebrate outstanding community service and elect new leaders at the organization’s 73rd Annual Meeting, held Wednesday evening, June 13, at Beth El Temple in West Hartford.

Several individuals and organizations received awards for their contributions to Jewish life in Greater Hartford.

Retired Hartford Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley received the President’s Award. Pictured from left are Lisa Vaeth, director of Federation’s Association of Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Hartford; Deputy Chief Foley (President’s Award recipient); Howard Sovronsky; Cary Lakenbach; and Eric M. Zachs.

Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley, who recently retired from the Hartford Police Department after 23 years of service, received the President’s Award for his work to safeguard the 29 local Jewish cemeteries that Federation oversees. Foley recently joined FOX 61 as chief investigator.

Community Volunteer David Goldfarb and Jewish communal professional Denis Geary received the Henry M. Zachs Spirit of Judaism Award. Goldfarb is a longtime member of Young Israel of West Hartford, where he serves as prayer leader and gabbai. He also works as a patient advocate at Saint Francis Hospital and other medical centers and volunteers at the Bess and Paul Sigel Hebrew Academy in Bloomfield. Since 1993, Geary has served as executive director of the Jewish Association for Community Living (JCL), which provides supportive housing and programs for people with intellectual disabilities.

The Commission on Jewish Education and Leadership’s (CJEL) Innovative Program and Innovative Family Program Awards were presented to Anita Levy and Rabbi Ilana Garber of Beth El Temple, and to Barbara Fink and the religious school faculty of The Emanuel Synagogue, both located in West Hartford.

Several teens also received Uniquely Effective Madrichim Awards for their work assisting in a religious school classroom. They include: Jared Beatman of The Emanuel Synagogue (West Hartford); Brynnen Bernstein of Congregation Beth Israel (West Hartford); Mykayla Fluster of Farmington Valley Jewish Congregation–Emek Shalom (Simsbury); Benjamin Lawrence of Congregation Kol Haverim (Glastonbury); Jordan Oberstein of Beth El Temple (West Hartford); and Lyla White of Temple Sinai (Newington).

Welcomed at the Annual Meeting were new life trustees Stuart Bernstein, Ira Feigenbaum, Evan Levy and Leigh Newman; new community trustees Benjamin Adler, David Benedict, Michael Cantor, Kathy Fishman, Jonathan Hoffman, Stephen Rabb, Debra Shmerling, James Shmerling and Ronit Shoham; new board members Benjamin Adler, Kathy Fishman, Jonathan Hoffman and Stephen Rabb; and incoming officers Carolyn Gitlin (first vice chair), Anne Martha Pitegoff (treasurer) and Cyral Sheldon (assistant secretary).

CAP: The Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford’s Board of Directors and other community leaders at the organization’s 73rd Annual Meeting: (l to r) Lois Siegal, Benjamin Adler, Anne Martha Pitegoff, Robert K. Yass, Cyral Sheldon, Kathy Fishman, David Rosenthal, Howard Sovronsky (Federation president/CEO), Carolyn Gitlin, Rona Gollob, Stephen Rabb, Eric M. Zachs (Federation chair emeritus), Cary Lakenbach (Federation board chair), Greg Patchen, Leigh Newman, Ted Zablotsky, Laurie Mandell, Dana Keller and David Brandwein.