A goodbye gala for outgoing Rockville Centre rabbi

Hundreds of people packed the sanctuary at Temple B’nai Sholom to honor outgoing Rabbi Dr. Barry Dov Schwartz — the temple’s spiritual leader for 37 years —at a gala on June 22.

The program for the evening listed a number of speakers that included temple President Ira Salwen; gala co-chairs Joel and Leslie Greenberg; Mayor Mary Bossart; Rabbi Sholom Stern of Temple Beth El in Cedarhurst; Sen. Dean Skelos; Sister Mary Alice of Mercy Medical Center; Hedva Kessler of the Bais Yakov Academy; the rabbi’s sons ,Jonathan and Avi Schwartz and daughter Tamar Schwartz, who represented The Binghamton University Jewish A Capella Alumni; The Most Reverent Bishop William Murphy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, Rabbi Jeremiah Wohlberg of Congregation Ohav Sholom in Merrick; Barry Hochhauser, the immediate past president of Temple B’nai Sholom; Claudia Lieberman, director of its learning center; Lt. Sol Roth president of the Nassau County Police Dept.’s Shomrim Society and Nathaniel Steinberg, the former rabbi of Dix Hills Jewish Center. Rabbi Schwartz was also on the program — he spoke last.

The evening also saw the launch of a major capital fundraising campaign to rename the temple’s sanctuary the “Rabbi Dr. Barry Dov Schwartz Sanctuary” toward the latter part of 2010.

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