Connecticut’s Jewish Movers & Shakers For 2008 List Announced By The Connecticut Jewish Ledger

Jan. 12, 2009 - PRLog -- (West Hartford, CT) - At a breakfast event today, officials from the Connecticut Jewish Ledger newspaper announced the paper's annual Connecticut's "Jewish Movers & Shakers for 2008 List”. A group of 14 talented, accomplished and dedicated business professionals and community leaders were recognized for their leadership roles and the impact they made in the Jewish community in Connecticut during the past year.

"We’ve identified these 14 community leaders because of their hard work, generosity and commitment to the community during this past year. From the writings and experiences of a Trinity College professor to the innovative thinking of a 12 year old Westport resident to the extraordinary achievements of a female ESPN broadcaster, the individuals on this year’s movers and shakers list have definitely improved the lives of the people around them as well as all Connecticut residents,” said Richard Greenfield, publisher, Connecticut Jewish Ledger.

In alphabetical order, the 14 people named as Connecticut's Jewish Movers & Shakers for 2008 are:

Nora Raleigh Baskin, Weston, CT
Baskin, who published “The Truth about My Bat Mitzvah” earlier this year, just produced her first novel for young adults, “All We Know of Love.” The book has been nominated by the American Library Association among its Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers and its Best Books for Young Readers.

David Beckerman, Woodbridge, CT
New Haven businessman David Beckerman has a passion for sports. He is former coach of the Hamden Hall Country Day School Basketball team, which he led to win eight New England Championships and five Fairchester League Titles. He has also coached the Jewish Community Center Basketball team to the JWB National Basketball Championship and served as coach of the U.S. Maccabiah Basketball Team in Mexico City.

Rabbi Simcha Berger, Bridgeport, CT
Start with the spark of the “Jewish soul,” and you can reignite the flame of an entire community. This is the mantra of Rabbi Simcha Berger, director of the nearly five-year-old Yeshiva Gedolah of Bridgeport. It was the image of the burning bush in Exodus that inspired the Southern California native to make the leap from educator to co-founder and head of a yeshiva. The Yeshiva Gedolah has grown to include 45 fulltime students, six faculty members and an administrative staff.

Barry Blau, Westport, CT
Barry Blau spent the ‘80s and ‘90s building a successful national marketing firm from the ground up, literally: What became one of the largest direct-response advertising agencies in the country began in the basement of his Fairfield home. This year, before his 81st birthday, the Westport resident created a first: a library devoted to the study of Christian-Jewish relations. The Blau Collection was dedicated on November 10 in the Ryan-Matura Library at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.

Linda Cohn, Southbury, CT
Jewish Women International selected Linda Cohn, anchor on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” and a resident of Southbury, as a 2008 Women to Watch honoree for her extraordinary achievements in sports broadcasting. Cohn is one of the most recognized faces on ESPN, known primarily as a SportsCenter anchor for the last 16 years. In 1987, she made sports casting history as the first full-time U.S. female sports anchor on a national radio network, when she was hired by ABC.

Rabbi Richard Eisenberg, Woodbridge, CT
Rabbi Richard Eisenberg spent 25 distinguished years as a full-time pulpit rabbi, most of that time at Congregation B’nai Jacob in Woodbridge where he was beloved by all. But two years ago, Eisenberg surprised his congregation by telling them that he was not going to renew his contract and that he was, in fact, going to start a new career – as a drug and alcohol recovery counselor.

Steve Friedlander, Westport, CT
When Steve Friedlander took over as executive director of UJA/Federation Westport Weston Wilton Norwalk in 2004, he called the opportunity to help create cohesiveness and unity in the community “irresistible.” After four and a half years, Friedlander has seen WWWN enter a new era of development, marked by increased community involvement and fundraising.

Rabbi Ilana Garber, West Hartford, CT
Rabbi Ilana Garber arrived at Beth El Temple in West Hartford three years ago with the goals of bringing more music to the congregation and focusing on women’s programming. Garber had already written a curriculum to train mikveh attendants for Mayyim Hayyim: Living Waters Community Mikveh Education Center in Boston. Now fully ensconced in her role rabbinic partner to Rabbi Jim Rosen, Garber can be seen at Friday night family Shabbat services strumming away on her guitar and leading her young congregants in song.

Jerry Gordon, Pensacola, FL
Former U.S. military intelligence officer and a Middle East analyst for American Congress for Truth, Jerry Gordon is not afraid to speak and write his mind on issues of the day. A former Fairfield resident who now lives in Pensacola, FL, Gordon has filled the cyber-pages of The New English Review and Israpundit.com with reasoned analyses on a wide range of topics, from Muslim fundamentalism, Israeli politics, the U.S. economic woes and Russia-Georgia relations.

Ira Henowitz, West Hartford, CT
Several years ago, when his children were small, Ira Henowitz decided to do something to insure their Jewish futures -- he became The Emanuel Synagogue’s United Synagogue Youth Advisor. For the past 15 years, Henowitz has devoted himself to helping lead the temple’s teen youth group.

Samuel Kassow, West Hartford, CT
Earlier this year Professor Samuel Kassow’s “Who Will Write our History? Emanuel Ringelblum, the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Oyneg Shabes Archive,” was named a finalist for the National Jewish Book in the Holocaust category. Kassow, Trinity College’s Northam Professor of History, spent a semester on sabbatical last year, traveling to Poland in part to work on the Ringelblum book. In Who will Write our History” Kassow tells the story of the history professor and community activist who worked to make living conditions in the Warsaw Ghetto more humane, and who also risked his life to collect materials about the daily life of the ghetto, so that future generations would know what occurred to the Polish Jews who lived and died there.

Zach Levins, Westport, CT
Zach Levins was so intrigued when he first encountered the word "obsolete," that the then-12-year-old was inspired to invent a board game around it. Two years later, the just-released "Repeat or You're Obsolete" has already been named one of the Best Products of 2008 by iParenting Media and has won the 2008 Best Children's Product Award by the National Parents Publications Awards, in association with Parenting.com.

Sarah Darer Littman, Stamford, CT
Sarah Darer Littman was the only Stamford Advocate columnist who called out Fourth Congressional District candidate Lee Whitnum for her anti-Israel campaign rhetoric last summer. Within a week, Littman had lost her staff position. The author of “Confessions of a Closet Catholic,” which nabbed the Association of Jewish Libraries’ 2006 Sydney Taylor Award for older readers, went on to publish another novel and land a two-book contract with Scholastic Press.

Daniel Papermaster, West Hartford, CT
Papermaster has long been involved in Connecticut politics. He has a passion for it. Papermaster served as general chairman of Hartford Debate ’96, the organizing committee of the first presidential debate in 1996 between President Bill Clinton and Sen. Bob Dole. In 2008, Papermaster was named partner in the International Finance Practice Group at Bingham McCuthchen LLP in Hartford.

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Founded in 1929, the Connecticut Jewish Ledger has been dedicated to furthering Jewish life in the region and serving the community. As a weekly source for the latest news about current events, people and issues in the Jewish communities across the state, the Ledger also serves the Western Massachusetts area with a monthly edition and has been recognized by the New England Press Association, American Jewish Press Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. To read the full news story, which includes background information and more details, about the Connecticut Jewish Ledger's Movers & Shakers List, visit www.jewishledger.com.