Chabad Jewish Center of Glendale celebrates 13 years with gala

Chabad Jewish Center of Glendale and the Foothill Communities celebrated 13 years serving the local community with its first Benefit Event & Gala on March 3 at the La Cañada Flintridge Country Club.

This Gala, titled “Mazal Tov to the Past, L’Chaim to the Future,” recognized the congregation’s past and focused on the years to come.

Special honorees were Norman Schwartz, who received the Benefactor Award; and Andrew Blumenfeld, of the La Cañada Flintridge School Board, who received the Young Leadership Award.

The benefactor award, Rabbi Simcha Backman said, is given to people who are charitable — those who give, support and care enough to make a difference with their wallets.

“Some people are given just enough, others are given a little more and those who are blessed with a lot, they give to others, and for that, we recognize that,” he said.

Blumenfeld grew up as a member of the Chabad, Backman said, and is a perfect example of what it means to take the initiative and run with it at a very young age.

“He is probably one of the youngest elected officials in the nation and he decided that he could make a difference in education and he went for it,” Backman said. “He spoke at our dinner and said the Chabad taught him some very important lessons in life and that enabled him to go ahead and run for office and do what he felt was necessary to advance education. Education is the cornerstone of our society.”

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JOYCE RUDOLPH can be contacted at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.