Milken Foundation Fetes Jewish Teachers

Educators at four Jewish schools in the San Fernando Valley got $10,000 surprises Friday.

The recipients were selected as winners of the 1996 Milken Family Foundation Jewish Educator Award. Foundation officials said none of the four knew what was coming when video crews and officials visited each school to notify them of the honor.

A luncheon scheduled for Dec. 19 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel will recognize the following educators:

* Rabbi Asher Biron, a Judaic studies instructor at Valley Torah High School in North Hollywood

* Lee Shaw, a kindergarten teacher at Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School in Northridge

* Esther Markel, who teaches Judaic studies to second-graders at Emek Hebrew Academy in Van Nuys

* Lana Kideckel Marcus, principal of Adat Ari El Day School in North Hollywood.

The luncheon and awards, established in 1990, are sponsored by the foundation in cooperation with the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles. The bureau works with a committee of educators and Jewish community leaders to select winners.

The awards seek to “highlight the crucial role of Jewish educators in preserving Jewish identity and creating the Jewish leaders of tomorrow,” the foundation said.

In addition to the educators at the Valley schools, Ofra Dor, a Hebrew language teacher and coordinator at Stephen S. Wise Temple Day School in West Los Angeles, was also presented with a $10,000 award.