Meet Our Most Deserving Honorees
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Hadar Schwartz & Josh Binstock
Living in a studio apartment in Manhattan makes sense for a young couple. It makes less sense when that couple has a baby and sets up his crib in a closet. So in 2016, Hadar and Josh (and Noam) traveled the well-worn path from the Upper West Side to Riverdale and immediately made CSAIR their spiritual home.
It didn’t take long for them to become actively involved in the CSAIR community. Almost immediately, Hadar was tapped to be a part of the rotation of children’s services leaders. You also may have seen her smiling face during those early years as a Shabbat and High Holidays “greeter,” or she may have prepared a meal for you after a baby was born or an injury was suffered. Once COVID hit and we were steeped in an at-home lifestyle, Hadar joined the effort to establish communal touchpoints, including the successful Emunah groups and the campaign to call all shul members for wellness checks.
While serving to create a warm and welcoming environment at CSAIR, Hadar also focuses on protecting the well-being of our community’s children. Her work as a psychologist and as a consultant for Sacred Spaces – an organization that partners with Jewish institutions to prevent and respond to abuse – made her an ideal fit to serve on CSAIR’s Child Protection Committee. She first served on a subcommittee tasked with revising the child protection policy. Beginning this past year, Hadar now serves on the Board of Trustees and as Chair of the Child Protection Committee, safeguarding our most vulnerable population by overseeing staff and lay leader training, further developing policies for the synagogue, and enforcing protocols when necessary.
Born and raised in Riverdale, Josh was excited to re-establish his roots in the community, albeit in a different section of town (though he does have very fond memories of several shabbatot and youth events at CSAIR). Josh has put his communications expertise to good use as a volunteer at the shul. He created a Kol Nidre fundraising video featuring new member testimonials and utilized his creativity on the Gala committee for the most recent in-person gala in 2019.
But much like Hadar, Josh’s biggest impact has been in his work with the children of CSAIR. Since 2018, he has co-chaired the Young Children’s Family Program. During his tenure, Josh and his fellow co-chairs Ariella Perkes and Minda Arrow have elevated the YCFP program by establishing a year-round schedule of family-friendly events, drawing increasingly larger crowds to weekly Shabbat services, and recruiting several young families to join the shul as members. While COVID did slow some of the momentum, Josh played a key role in ensuring that YCFP could consistently meet in a safe environment, whether it be in the tent or the shul driveway.
Hadar and Josh are so appreciative of all that CSAIR has provided for them and their children. The shul strikes the perfect balance between traditional Jewish practice and the values which they hold dear, including egalitarianism, inclusivity, warmth, and generosity. It’s a place they can feel comfortable and a wonderful community in which to raise their children.
Judy and Steve Matthews
Pre-pandemic, it was easy to find Judy and Steve at CSAIR. For almost all of the 48 years since they moved up the hill from Kingsbridge and became members, they were on the center aisle in the last row in the social hall on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; on Shabbat, (when they weren’t downstairs in the Taub Room with the Havurah in the old days), they were resident in one of the pews on the right side of the bima.
Over time, they needed three seats, then four and, ultimately five, as Elana, then Elliot, and, ultimately, Alex joined the congregation. (Fun facts: At one of Elana’s first visits to the shul, she was wheeled around—appropriately in an English pram—by Rabbi Pearl during a Simchat Torah hakafa; Alex’s Hebrew name was suggested by Rabbi Balter; and, at various times, the daughters of Rabbis David Silverman, Stanley Schachter, and Ismar Schorsch were babysitters for the kids.)
Judy and Steve, meanwhile, managed to find time from their parenting duties and professions (Judy as a psychotherapist, Steve as a newspaper reporter and editor, and then a government official and a health care executive) to devote time to various CSAIR activities.
Over time, Judy has led davening and leyned, and taught both to a number of interested congregants; conducted several series of cooking and baking classes, both in-person before Covid and on Zoom since the spring of 2020; been a member of the committee that selects nominees for the Board; and been available to help congregants navigate times of stress.
Steve has been a Board member for the past eight years (nominated by Past President Cliff Nerwen, not Judy) and served as Vice President for Operations for much of that period. At various times he served on the Israel Affairs Committee and the Social Action Committee; moderated several expert panels on various subjects; represented CSAIR on the Riverdale Jewish Community Project, and has provided public relations and communications counsel to the lay leadership and clergy.
Outside of shul, Judy worked at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires for eight summers as a mental health consultant (and two summers as a chef-in-residence at Ramah Wisconsin, where their grandchildren were campers); was on the staff of a youth program at a Bergan County JCC, and last year was honored by the Hebrew Free Burial Association. Steve for several years was an organizational consultant for a number of small Jewish organizations as part of a UJA Federation program.
Their friendships (and Judy’s challot) extend throughout the Riverdale Jewish community, but most of their Shabbat dinner guests are members of CSAIR, and they look forward to continuing that hospitality.
Wilson Mena
Wilson has been the Facilities Manager at CSAIR since 2011. When he came aboard, Wilson was already a known entity, as he had worked at CSAIR some years before. Wilson is much more than a Facilities Manager to the CSAIR community. In addition to making sure our synagogue and all of our events run seamlessly, Wilson is always physically present to make sure that the temperature, lighting, grounds, and every detail is perfect for every family simcha and/or synagogue program.
Wilson thinks of each simcha or event as though it was for his own family and he strives to make all building operations run seamlessly. He makes himself available to all staff, clergy, members, and branches of the synagogue as a consultant on how to best maximize our space.
Wilson treats the CSAIR building like his extended home. The most vivid example of that occurred last year when Hurricane Ida caused flooding throughout the upper and lower levels of the building. Throughout the very long night until the early hours of the morning, Wilson, along with his wife, Alexa, and their teenage sons, Alexander and William, worked tirelessly to minimize the damage to the building and its contents. Their actions that night epitomize the dedication that Wilson brings to his job each and every day.
Thu, January 9 2025 9 Tevet 5785