Several leaders of the Connecticut Jewish community will be honored at the Bi-Cultural Day School (BCDS) Celebration Dinner, to be held Sunday evening, May 21, 2017 at the Hilton Stamford Hotel. The honorees include: Shoshana Dweck, Jenny Fuchs, Rachel Rothman, Joe Nealon, and Rabbi Harold Tzvi Bernstein.

A resident of Armonk, New York, the dinner’s Guest of Honor Shoshana Dweck is the parent of three BCDS alumni — a fact she credits with drawing her close to the Stamford Jewish community. A member of the BCDS Board of Trustees, she is also a past president and current treasurer of United Jewish Federation (UJF) of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien, and a member of Temple Sinai in Stamford. In 2006, BCDS nominated Dweck to attend the UJF Behrend Institute for Leadership, from which she graduated in 2007. In 2016, she served as interim executive director of the Federation for Jewish Philanthropy of Upper Fairfield  County.

Dweck is actively involved in a wide range of Jewish organizations including, United Israel Appeal, ARZA (Association of Reform Zionists of America), Women of Reform Judaism and the World Jewish Congress.

A graduate of Heritage Academy and Tufts University, both in Massachusetts, she holds a law degree from the University of Virginia Law School. Dweck previously worked as an attorney in New York. Today, she focuses her energies on Jewish not-for-profit work and on raising her three teenage children.

Young Leadership Award recipient Jenny Fuchs is a past member of the Stamford Jewish Community Center (JCC) Board of Directors and served as president of both the JCC Sara Walker Nursery School Steering Committee and The Center Women. At BCDS, she served as co-president of the Parent’s Association. Professionally, Fuchs books events for two entertainment companies. She and her husband, Greg, are the parents of four boys: one BCDS alum and three current BCDS students.

Community Service Award recipient Rachel Rothman comes from a BCDS family. A 2002 graduate of the school, both her sister and brother also attended the school, and her father, Howard Rothman, is a member of its Board of Directors. Last year, she served as director of the JCC Maccabi Games and ArtsFest in Stamford. In 2010, she earned a degree in marketing from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and, in 2013, an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Joe Nealon, the recipient of the 2017 Jane Shoztic Memorial Award, has taught physical fitness at BCDS since 2005. In addition, he also coordinates BCDS after-school classes and athletic programs. A graduate of Duquesne University, he holds a graduate degree in physical education and sports pedagogy from Manhattanville College. He is a member of the American Alliance for Health, Physical, Recreation and Dance and is involved with the New York Special Olympic golf program. A resident of Hawthorne, New York, Joe Nealon and his wife, Melinda, are the parents of two-year-old Luke, who attends the BCDS nursery.

The recipient of the BCDS Alumni Award, Rabbi Harold Tzvi is himself the parent of three BCDS alumni. In addition to teaching Judaic studies in the BCDS middle school and coordinating the school’s adult education programs, in 2015 he was appointed dean of Bi-Cultural, in which capacity he directs the school’s development efforts and provides input regarding its educational and religious programs. A lifelong resident of Stamford, Bernstein and his wife, Darona, are both past presidents of Congregation Agudath Shalom. He is also a past board and executive member of BCDS, Yeshiva Bais Binyomin and the Stamford JCC. A graduate of Yeshiva University, he earned a law degree from Cardozo School of Law and his rabbinic ordination from YU’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He is currently completing a masters degree in Jewish Education from YU’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration.

For more information visit bcds.org.

CAP: Bi-Cultural Day School Celebration Dinner honorees: (l to r) Rabbi Harold Tzvi Bernstein, Shoshana Dweck, Joe Nealon, Rachel Rothman and Jenny Fuchs. Photo credit: Dora Salm.