Weinberg Village launches award, Jewish Senior Hall of Fame

Weinberg Village has launched an Eight over Eighty award program to recognize eight seniors, 80 years or older, who have long dedicated their time and talents to making significant contributions to the Jewish and general community of Tampa or elsewhere.

Synagogue and community leaders nominated 26 men and women for the honor. Of this group, the Eight over Eighty Selection Committee chose the first eight individuals to be honored.

The inaugural Eight over Eighty are Nellye Friedman, Roberta Golding, Walter Kessler, Ruth Klein, Sylvia Krone, Doris Rosenblatt, Judith Szentivanyi, and Jack Wiesenfeld.

Judith Mish, Weinberg Village Eight over Eighty award chair, announced that the eight will be inducted in the Weinberg Village Jewish Senior Hall of Fame at its inaugural Eight over Eighty dessert reception on Sunday, Oct. 31 at 3 p.m. at Congregation Schaarai Zedek.

Their lives and the contributions of each of the honorees will be chronicled over the next several editions of the Jewish Press of Tampa.

Nellye Friedman

A Florida native, Friedman enlisted at age 21 in the Women’s Army Corps in 1942 as a private and was discharged as a captain in 1946. After her time as a WAC, she served as assistant director of the Tampa Jewish Community Center, and then moved to New York to work for the New York Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.

In 1950, she and her husband, Herbert, returned to Tampa, where she raised her family of four children, Mary, Bill, Frances, and Frank, and became very active in the community. Her Jewish involvement has included president of Congregation Schaarai Zedek Sisterhood, board member of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods (now called Women of Reform Judaism), Tampa Jewish Federation Board member and chair of the Federations’ Women’s Division.

She has also been president of the Ladies of Berkeley Preparatory School, president of the Merle Kelse Library at the University of Tampa, a board member of the Travelers Aid Society, and currently serves as director emeritus of the WEDU board.

In addition, she and Eight over Eighty honoree Doris Ronsenblatt coordinated and collected Tampa Bay Jewish memorabilia that was included in the MOSAIC traveling Jewish history project which became the core of

the statewide Jewish Museum of

Florida in Miami Beach.

] Jack Wiesenfeld For the past 10 years, Wiesenfeld has gone to Israel once or twice a year for three to six weeks to volunteer on Israeli Defense Force army bases as part of the Sar-el program, doing such things as repairing radios and packing first-aid kits. In addition, he represents Sar-el in the Tampa Bay area and has enlisted others to join him in Israel. When in Tampa, he volunteers in the public schools and works daily at Faith Café, serving lunch to the homeless. He also participates daily in the minyan at the Rodeph Sholom.

AAA As part of the induction ceremony at the Eight over Eighty Dessert Reception, a short autobiographical film will elaborate on the life and activities of each honoree.

In addition, the Eight over Eighty Committee will publish a Mazel Tov Recognition Book in which family, friends, and colleagues can recognize the accomplishments of these individuals.

Money raised by the event will serve as a fundraiser for the Weinberg Village Facility Enhancement Fund and the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Endowment at T.O.P. Jewish Foundation.

The Weinberg Village Facility Enhancement Fund, a vision of honoree Roberta Golding who started the fund with a challenge grant, will help to renovate the assisted living facility. The Weinberg Endowment provides much needed subsidies and supportive services for Weinberg residents with limited resources.

Located on Tampa’s Maureen & Doug Cohn Jewish Community Campus, Weinberg Village is a subsidiary of the Tampa Jewish Community Center and Federation.

The Eight over Eighty Selection Committee, chaired by Paula Zielonka, included Judith Mish; Lili Kaufmann; Judith Rosenkranz; Steve Weinberg, president of the Weinberg Village Board of Managers; and Gary Gould, Chief Executive Officer of the Tampa JCC and Federation.

Those willing to help with planning the Eight over Eighty event should contact the chair at judithmish@hotmail.com or Dan Sultan, Weinberg Village marketing director, at dan.sultan@ jewishtampa.com.

For more information about Weinberg Village Assisted Living Residences programs and services, call Sultan or Barbara Gerson, executive director, at (813) 969-1818 or toll free at (866) 595-3857 or visit www. weinbergvillage.com.