Tikkun Olam Award: Blossom Leibowitz

Photo by Ray Bassett, MADDOCK PHOTOGRAPHERS Long time Jewish community leader Blossom Leibowitz received the 2010 Tikkun Olam Award for her decades of “tireless and passionate” service to the Jewish Community at the Tampa Jewish Federation’s annual President’s Dinner Jan. 24.

The event was attended by 566 guests who pledged a total of $260,000 to the Federation’s annual Campaign for our Jewish Future, according to event cochairs Deborah Rosenthal and Elizabeth Shimberg.

The Tikkun Olam award is given annually to a person who embodies the meaning of Tikkun Olam – repairing the world. Criteria include deeds of loving-kindness, strong leadership, outstanding volunteerism, and financial support for the community.

The name of the honoree is kept secret until the evening of the President’s Dinner.

Former Tikkun Olam Award winner Jack Roth presented the award to Leibowitz, citing her work with a number of organizations including the Federation, where she served as president in 1994-95. She has also been a Federation board member, been part of the 1818 Philanthrophic Circle and an endowed Lion of Judah, the highest level of giving in Women’s Philanthropy.

Tikkun Olam award winner Blossom Leibowitz with the Duncan McClellan original award, and Federation Jonathan Ellis, left, and Jack Roth. She was one of the founding trustees of the T.O.P. Jewish Foundation, endowment and planned gift development arm of the Tampa, Orlando and Pinellas Jewish Federations. She was a long-time board member of Tampa Jewish Family Services and was active in the Russian resettlement program. Other organizations Leibowitz has been actively involved in include the Tampa Jewish Community Center and Hillels of the Florida Suncoast.

She has previously received the Federation’s Leo Levinson Award, the JCC’s Bob Jacobson Award and Tampa Jewish Family Service’s Rose Segal Award and the Enhancement of Family Life Award.

(L-R) President’s Dinner Co-chairs Elizabeth Shimberg and Deborah Rosenthal; Tikkun Olam Award winner Blossom Leibowitz; guest speaker David Brooks and Campaign Chair Harry Cohen. Photos by Ray Bassett, MADDOCK PHOTOGRAJanet Leibowitz’s latest project, still in its infancy, is the creation of a local Jewish jobs network that would help alleviate some of the community’s acute unemployment.

Her devotion to the community is also evident in financial support of major projects. She and her husband, Ed, made the lead gift to the capital campaign for the purchase of property that is now home to Tampa JCC & Federation Community Campus and Weinberg Village Assisted Living Facility. Leibowitz also was instrumental in obtaining the original $1 million grant, which was used to open Weinberg Village.

Kass, who introduced speaker David Brooks, poses with Michael Kass, left, and Brooks. Jack Roth, previous winner

“She is an exceptionally generous person as well as a tireless and passionate volunteer. Her commitment to Jewish people and Jewish causes is truly remarkable,” said Roth, who preceded Leibowitz as Federation president in 1992-94.

2010 winner Blossom Leibowitz

“It’s really amazing to be given an award for something I just love to do,” Leibowitz said in accepting the honor.

“Community is very important to me. And I have strong faith that even in challenging times such as this, that when community comes together we can make a difference for individuals, for organizations, agencies, communities, states and countries and the world,”

Previous winners of the award were George Karpay in 2006, Roth in 2007, Doug and Maureen Cohn in 2008 and Jeff Wuliger in 2009.

Rabbi Richard Birnholz

Rabbi Richard Birnholz of Congregation Schaarai Zedek urged guests to give generously to help the Federation in its projects. “Raising funds for our survival is a sacred trust,” he said. “Please give from your hearts.”

Rabbi Birnholz cited the Israeli field hospital that was sent to help victims of the Haitian earthquake as an example of how money donated to the Federation for Israel can be used to help others.

“I was immensely proud,” he said about the Israeli effort. “For us Jews, it is a kind of borrowed pride. We have to do our part with our Federation dollars,” he said.

Speaker David Brooks

Keynote speaker and New York Times columnist David Brooks discussed recent political and world events.

While Brooks said he was impressed by President Barack Obama’s intelligence, perspective, self-control and self-confidence, “I think he’s gone off the rails.”

Brooks said he thought Obama was trying to do too much too fast and had lost touch with the American people, who are more concerned about jobs and the economy than health care reform and increasingly do not trust government to solve their problems.

He said he did not think there would be an Israeli peace agreement with the Palestinians any time soon.

“Israel has no one to negotiate with,” he said, citing the failure of Palestinian leadership.

Brooks said Israel’s economy was expanding rapidly with the Jewish state attracting more venture capital than Germany and France combined. This will lead to a widening gap between Israel and its Arab neighbors, he said.