Jewish Press of Tampa

Annual President’s Dinner: Oren, Wilf and a ‘chai’ celebration


Between 500 and 600 people are expected at the 18th annual President’s Dinner, set for Sunday, May 1 after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

The “chai” anniversary celebration will be held at the Hilton Downtown Tampa, 211 N. Tampa St. The keynote speaker is former Ambassador Michael Oren. He has served in a number of government positions, most notably as Israel’s Ambassador to the United States. He is also a former member of Knesset and deputy prime minister of Israel.

Mark Wilf, chair of the board of trustees of Jewish Federations of North America and president of the Minnesota Vikings, will also appear at the event.

The recipient of the Tikkun Olam Award, the Tampa JCCs and Federation’s highest honor, also will be revealed during the evening. A closely held secret until the time of the event, even the honoree is not notified prior to announcement.

George Karpay (z”l) received the inaugural Tikkun Olam Award in 2006 and he was followed in order by Jack Roth (z”l), Doug and Maureen Cohn, Jeff Wuliger (z”l), Blossom Leibowitz, Steven Specter, David Scher, in memory of Marshall Chernin (z”l), Lou Goldfeder (z”l), Roberta Golding (z”l) and Jack Roth (z”l), Alice Rosenthal, Laura Kreitzer, Paula and Carl Zielonka, Jonathan Ellis, Sue Schoenbaum, Debbie and Nat Doliner, Lili Kaufmann and Les Barnett.

Organizers say there is room for 1,000 guests at the Hilton, but they expect about half that many, so there will be plenty of room to space out the tables for social distancing.

Tickets are currently available for purchase online at JewishTampa.com/APD. The community is encouraged to make reservations now. For more information, contact Alissa Fischel at alissa.fischel@jewishtampa.com or (813) 769-4726.

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