WEST HARTFORD – Dr. Steven and Debra Luger and Tsion and Anita Cohen, all of West Hartford, will be honored by the Young Israel of West Hartford at the synagogue’s Gems and Jewels Gala Dinner to be held at Beth El Temple in West Hartford on Sunday, March 11 at 6 p.m.. Rabbi Dr. Baruch Hilsenrath, principal of Magen David Yeshiva in Brooklyn, N.Y., and former principal of the Bess and Paul Sigel Hebrew Academy in Bloomfield, will be keynote speaker.
Tsion Cohen is a Torah scholar and teacher who attends minyan twice daily and mobilizes other congregants and community members to attend as well.  Owner and operator of TC Painting, he has made many improvements to the synagogue building, and has kept it in working order. Anita Cohen has been a teacher at Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford for more than 18 years.  The Cohens are the parents of four married children and seven grandchildren.
A family physician at Hartford Medical Group, Steven Luger serves as the Young Israel community’s “Shabbat doctor,” coming to the aid of those with medical issues on Shabbat. A nurse at OBGYN Women’s Health, Debra Luger is instrumental in welcoming every new Young Israel family with a welcome basket.  She also helps to coordinate the Chesed (kindness) Committee, which provides meals and other support to new parents, newcomers, hospital patients and mourners.  The Lugers are parents of three daughters and two sons-in-law.
For more information on the Young Israel dinner visit their website.