WEST HARTFORD – Three couples will be honored by the Hebrew High School of New England (HHNE) at the school’s 20th anniversary celebration, to be held Thursday evening, Dec. 3 at Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Dr. in West Hartford.

Tova and Rabbi Fred Hyman are recipients of HHNE’s President’s Award

Tova Emanuel Hyman was born in London, England, where she attended Hasmonean High School and Gateshead Seminary. Devoted to Israel, she lived in Jerusalem for three years. Professionally, Tova is an aesthetician. Rabbi Fred Hyman is spiritual leader of The Westville Synagogue in New Haven, and previously served as the rabbi of Kodimoh Synagogue in Springfield. He attended Maimonides School in Brookline, Mass., Yeshivat Hakotel and Brandeis University, and was ordained at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS). He is in the process of completing a Doctorate in Educational Psychology. In addition to his rabbinic duties, he works as a Master’s-level counselor at a not-for-profit agency in New Haven.

The parents of three daughters, all of whom attend HHNE – Talya (’16), Raphaela and Rebecca (’18), the Hymans are active in school life, serving as board members for more than five years, hosting parlor meetings and assisting with the annual gala. Rabbi Hyman also serves on the school’s education committee and together the couple co-chaired the school’s Torah dedication in 2014.

Lisa and Peter Fishman have a long history of communal involvement that extends to both the Jewish and general communities. Lisa Fishman is a past chair of Women’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, and a past member of the National Women’s Philanthropy Board of Jewish Federations of North America. She has also served on the Boards of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford and Solomon Schechter Day School (SSDS), and is a former trustee of the Jewish Community Foundation. She currently serves on the Board of HHNE as development chair, and on the Board of the Jewish Federation Association of Connecticut (JFACT). She is also co-chair of Federation’s Howard Siegal Federation Development Institute.

Peter Fishman is the current Vice President of the JCC and is chair of the house committee as well as a member of the finance committee. He is involved in the ongoing improvements at the JCC and has served on buildings and facilities committees for various institutes including SSDS and HHNE over the last twenty years. Professionally, he is president of PKT Development, which he founded in 1986.

Most recently, Lisa and Peter have invested their volunteer efforts in Voices of Hope, an organization of second- and third-generation Holocaust survivors. Peter is a second generation Holocaust survivor whose mother, Ruth Fishman, survived Westerbork and Theresienstadt. Peter currently serves as Chair, and both Peter and Lisa work to continue the organization’s commitment to fostering a culture of courage and social action against hate, bigotry, intolerance and indifference.

Longtime residents of the Hartford area, they are the parents of two sons, Ari and Garrett.

Loren and Joel Gelber met at the UConn Health Center in 1987, where Joel was an attending radiologist and Loren a neonatal intensive care nurse. A graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Joel is chief of radiology at the Hospital of Central Connecticut and president of New Britain Radiology Associates. A native of Rhode Island, Loren is no longer a practicing nurse, but has been an active volunteer in the Jewish community, while raising the couple’s children. Now in her second term as an HHNE board member, she has also served on the Boards of the Commission on Jewish Education, Congregation B’nai Sholom, SSDS and Beth El Temple. She also serves on the Federation’s allocations committee as an agency evaluator.

An active HHNE parent, where all three of her children were students, over the years she has managed the school’s breakfast program, assisted with Parent Association responsibilities, volunteered at school events and served on several committees. In addition to HHNE, the Gelber children attended Jewish day schools: Aaron and Ariel are SSDS graduates and Noah attended SSDS and is a graduate of the Bess & Paul Sigel Hebrew Academy of Greater Hartford.

The Gelbers are members of Beth El Temple and Beth David Synagogue, both in West Hartford.

For more information on the HHNE 20th year celebration visit www.hhne.org or contact Filomena Fiore at fiore@hhne.org or (860) 231-0317.