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Co-Presidents Accept Gavel at Dark Installation.........posted Jan 15, 2006

Shelly Goldin and Rabbi Howard Gorin

In a brief ceremony overseen by Rabbi Howard Gorin, a pair of longtime congregants, Jim Hendler and Jayme Sokolow, assumed the synagogue''s co-presidency for the next two years. They succeed Shelly Goldin, who filled the top leadership post for the past three years.

The ceremony took place under a flashlight in the darkened social hall because an electrical outage in the area caused by the 25-mile-per-hour winds dropped a tree across power lines on Baltimore Road.

Jayme Sokolow present Goldin with gifts

Under Goldin's leadership, Rabbi Gorin said, "We've come into our own," adding he thought the synagogue ought to be a candidate for "the most improved" award given annually to a synagogue in the Seaboard Region of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Goldin received a wall plaque and a book of Elie Wiesel stories from Sokolow, who also preceded her as TI president.

Cantor Rochelle Helzner concluded the ceremony by acknowledging in creative song the passage of the leadership gavel. She performed an original set of lyrics to the tune of "Jimmy Mack," the 1960s pop tune recorded by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. In the cantor's rendition, the refrain stated this:

Cantor Rochelle Helzner serenades the new co-presidents!

"Oh Jimmy, Jayme
You'll get the knack
Shelly's not coming back."

In addition to the co-presidents, two vice presidents and three board members were installed to help lead Tikvat Israel over the next two years.

Larry Gorban was re-elected to a vice presidency, while Ronald Rabin was elected to fill a vacant vice president's post. Board members Susan Apter and Robbi Cohen were re-elected, while Phyllis Schwartz was selected for a first term.

Brief biographical sketches of all six newly elected or reelected board members follow.

Jayme Sokolow

Sokolow joined Beth Tikva in 1992. He has been a board member, chair of the Adult Education Committee, vice president, co-chair of the New Addition Capital Campaign and president of Tikvat Israel from 2000 to 2002.

He is the founder and president of The Development Source, a company that provides proposal development services to national and international businesses, nonprofit organizations and the D.C. government. He also has been evaluating civics education and secondary education programs.

Sokolow enjoys playing soccer, jogging, reading and playing Renaissance and Baroque music on the recorder. An avid international traveler, his favorite places to visit are Paris, Latvia and the Himalayas of Nepal.

Jim Hendler

Hendler is a professor of computer science and director of the Joint Institute for Knowledge Discovery at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on new technologies for the World Wide Web and the use of artificial intelligence techniques in Web applications. He is one of the inventors of the "Semantic Web" and his articles on this work have appeared in a number of technical publications and in Scientific American.

Hendler also has worked for the government as the chief scientist of the Information Systems Office at U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and as an adviser for various government organizations, receiving an exceptional civilian service award from the Air Force in 2002. He is editor in chief of IEEE Intelligent Systems Magazine and is on the board of reviewing editors for Science.

He says he doesn't have much free time.

Larry Gorban: A Washington, D.C. native, Gorban was president of Temple Israel in Silver Spring from 1994-1996 and was instrumental in the decision to merge with Beth Tikva, forming Tikvat Israel. He was a Temple Israel member for 30 years.

He has been involved in various synagogue leadership roles, including chairing Tikvat Israel''s Social Action Committee and the annual Mitzvah Day for several years, while serving on the synagogue board. He also chairs the Temple Israel Foundation Board, a charitable arm of Tikvat Israel. His efforts resulting in the synagogue merger a decade ago remains one of his sterling acts of leadership and commitment to Jewish life. "I was totally consumed by the desire to continue the spirit and legacy of the Jewish community," he said shortly after Tikvat Israel was formed. "The hardest thing was knowing was had to sell our facility to continue our existence."

Gorban is a founding member of the Silver Spring Interfaith Housing Coalition and has served on its governing board and as its treasurer during its decade-long existence. He is also a member and past president of Shepherd's Table, a service center for the hungry and homeless in downtown Silver Spring.

An avid cook, Gorban chairs the TI Kitchen Committee and has helped cater a number of large affairs at the synagogue. He also taught a popular adult education course on kosher cooking.

He worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs for more than 25 years, serving in the office responsible for policy and planning of the VA healthcare system. He currently serves as a vice president for the National Quality Forum, a non-profit, organization dedicated to improving healthcare quality nationwide.

Ronald L. Rabin: A native of Chicago, Rabin grew up in Skokie, Ill., and Miami, Fla.. He and wife Janaki Kuruppu joined Beth Tikva in 1994.

Before being elected a board vice president, Rabin served as a TI board member and is a co-chair of the active adult education committee.

He is a physician, scientist and reviewer of allergenic products for the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Bethesda, Md. Previously, he was affiliated with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, and he did post-doctoral work in immunology at Stanford University.

Rabin's principal avocations and hobbies include cycling and playing saxophone. This past November (2005), he participated in a charitable fundraising bike trip in Israel, cycling from Katrin in the Golan to Jerusalem, covering 350km with over 300 fellow cyclists from Israel and all over the World! The event's proceeds benefit the Alyn Hospital, Israel's only pediatric and adolescent rehabilitation hospital. After the ride, Ron visited the hospital, and was very impressed!

Susan Apter: First elected to the TI Board of Directors in December 2003, she has been active in a number of ways, including co-chairing the Adult Education Committee, participating in TI choir events, the Religious School Committee, the Sisterhood Rosh Chodesh Group and a nine-family Havurah.

Since September 2004 Apter has coordinated the scheduling of congregants volunteering to chant the Haftorah at Shabbat and festival services.

An active alumna of Drew University, Apter has served for more than 20 years as class secretary compiling the classnotes column for the alumni magazine. A 22-year employee of the Department of Defense, she is an Administrative Contracting Officer stationed at Northrup Grumman Baltimore.

In her free time she is a member of the Hadassah Evening Book Group and volunteers on parent committees at Rockville High School.

Roberta Cohen: Cohen (who prefers to be known as Robbi) spent her formative years in Miami, Fla., where she was president of one of the local Young Judaea chapters. She joined TI, along with husband Larry and daughter Melissa, in 1994.

Cohen co-chairs TI''s dynamic Social Action Committee. She also has been a member of the Youth Commission and the Education Committee. She was elected to her first term on TI board in December 2003. She is a life member of Hadassah.

Cohen has been a special education teacher in the Montgomery County Public School system for 31 years. She is currently a special education coordinator.

Outside of work, she says she enjoys reading, traveling and enjoying her three dogs.

Phyllis Schwartz: Born in Trenton, N.J., Schwartz has been a Washington-area resident since kindergarten. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park.

The Schwartz family (Ken, Phyllis, Linda and Sandra) have been members of Tikvat Israel since 1987. Oldest daughter Linda attended Beth Tikva nursery school beginning in fall 1985 and participated in religious school, youth groups, Torah Club and Confirmation class. Younger daughter Sandra had her baby naming at Beth Tikva.

Schwartz has been a parent volunteer with the nursery and religious schools, library and family programs. She has worked with the Purim puppet show for the past six years.

She is employed by Montgomery County Public Schools. She provides instructional math support and special needs accommodations to students at Sherwood High School. She also has worked as an assistant to the religious school director at B'nai Shalom of Olney.

Schwartz served on the board of directors of her townhouse community and represented them at Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission site plan reviews as Olney developed.

When she had time for hobbies, they included Israeli dancing, archaeological digs and learning Torah trope.

Cantor Rochelle Helzner lightens the dark Social Hall leading everyone in song: