News Releases AMIT ANNOUNCES ROSTER OF SPEAKERS AT 80TH ANNIVERSARY NATIONAL CONFERENCE ALL-DAY PROGRAM TO EXPLORE “WHERE HAS ALL THE PASSION GONE?” August 23, 2005, New York City...... AMIT will convene its 80th Anniversary National Conference in New York City on Monday, September 19, 2005, at The Jewish Museum, Fifth Avenue at 92 Street. The conference’s theme, “Where has all the Passion Gone?” will be explored from the perspectives of family, community, spirituality and Israel at the all-day event which will bring together AMIT leadership from throughout the greater metropolitan area and communities across the United States. The central plenary session will be a panel discussion on “Where has all the Passion Gone?” moderated by Dr. David Pelcovitz, professor of education and psychology at the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education of Yeshiva University. Panelists will include Nathan J. Diament, Esq., director of the Institute of Public Affairs of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America; Rivkie Stern Lamm, LCSW, a therapist in private practice; Deborah Gastfreund Schuss, former correspondent with The Boston Globe and The Associated Press; and Rabbi Mark N. Wildes, founder and director of the Manhattan Jewish Experience. In addition to the plenary roundtable, highlights of the conference will include a discussion with two alumni of AMIT schools in Israel, Shoshana Glatzer, who now lives in Queens, New York, and Samy J. Ymar, a resident of Rockville, MD; a presentation by Sandra E. Rapoport, Esq., co-author of The Passions of the Matriarchs; guided tours of The Jewish Museum; and the election and installation of national officers. Jan Schechter, national president of AMIT, will present an “AMIT Update” and speak about the organization’s goals for the future. The 80th Anniversary National Conference is being chaired by Ina Tropper, New York/New Jersey/Connecticut regional vice president of AMIT. Vivian Falk, a national vice president of AMIT, is serving as program chair. For reservations and further information on the 80th Anniversary National Conference, please call 212-477-4720, ext. 137. AMIT enables Israel's youth to realize their potential and strengthens Israeli society by educating and nurturing children from diverse backgrounds within a framework of academic excellence, religious values and Zionist ideals. AMIT educates and cares for Israel’s youth, including the most vulnerable. More than three quarters of AMIT students cope with educational, psychological, economic and/or social risk factors. AMIT approaches each child as an individual, maximizing his or her potential, and enabling our students to become vital, productive members of Israeli society. The AMIT schools promote religious tolerance, service to the state and the recognition that every child is blessed with unique talents and abilities. Founded in 1925, AMIT operates more than 60 schools, youth villages, surrogate family residences and other programs, constituting Israel’s only government-recognized network of religious Jewish education incorporating academic and technological studies. Conference Participant Profiles Dr. David Pelcovitz Dr. David Pelcovitz holds the Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Chair in Jewish Education at Yeshiva University’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and at its Stern College for Women. He also teaches courses in pastoral psychology at the university’s affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and serves as special assistant to the president of Yeshiva University. Before assuming his position on the faculty of Yeshiva University, Dr. Pelcovitz was a clinical professor of psychology in psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine and director of psychology at North Shore University Hospital-NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Pelcovitz has published and lectured extensively on a variety of topics related to the psychological impact of trauma and loss, child and adolescent behavior problems, parenting and the impact of divorce and stress on children. Nathan J. Diament, Esq. Nathan J. Diament is the Washington, DC-based director of public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, where he develops and coordinates public policy research and initiatives on behalf of the traditional Jewish community. He is an honors graduate of Yeshiva University and Harvard Law School. He also serves on the faculty of American University in Washington, DC, as an adjunct professor in religion and American public policy. Mr. Diament is a co-editor of Tikkun Olam: Social Responsibility in Jewish Thought and Law (Aronson Press, 1997) and the author of articles and essays on issues including religion and state, constitutional law, social policy, and international affairs. His writing has been featured in law journals as well as publications including The Washington Post, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Times, The Forward and The Jewish Week. He also has been a guest on CNN, FOX News, NPR and other broadcast media. Mr. Diament has testified before congressional committees and has worked closely with members of both political parties to craft legislation addressing religious liberty issues, education reform, family friendly social policies and life issues. Prior to his current position, Mr. Diament practiced law in New York at Paul, Weiss Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, served as a law clerk to Judge I. Leo Glasser of the United States District Court, and taught political science at Yeshiva University. Rivkie Stern Lamm Rivkie Stern Lamm, a licensed clinical social worker, is a graduate of Stern College for Women and the Wurzweiler School of Social Work. She also has studied at the Minuchin Center for the Family in New York City, as well as at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy in Philadelphia where she is currently in their extramural training program. Mrs. Lamm has worked in the field of social work for more than 20 years in a variety of settings and with varied populations. She has established and run support groups for Jewish women struggling with infertility and for many years worked for an adoption agency conducting home study interviews. She then directed the Guidance Department at the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls on Long Island for ten years,providing counseling to adolescent girls and to their families as well as coordinating school-wide mental health awareness programs. More recently Mrs. Lamm has been in private psychotherapy practice in Queens, NY, where she works with individuals and families. Deborah Gastfreund Schuss Deborah Gastfreund Schuss, an award-winning reporter and editor, was a correspondent for The Boston Globe for more than six years; her articles covered education, business, politics, health issues and lifestyle trends. Prior to her work at the Globe, she was an editor and special-assignment reporter for Community Newspaper Co., a New England newspaper chain that was owned by Fidelity Investments. There, she launched and developed “Common Ground,” an award-winning regional series exploring the area’s people, problems and options for navigating life in the ’90s. Ms. Schuss also was a correspondent for The Associated Press in Boston and The Providence Sunday Journal. She is the recipient of several journalism honors, including a New England Press Association Award for Business/Economic Reporting, a Massachusetts Press Association Award for In-Depth Reporting, and a commendation from the Massachusetts Bankers Association for a series she wrote on the 1990s banking crisis. Ms. Schuss, who graduated with highest honors from Simmons College in Boston and received the Beatrice Gannon Award for outstanding academic achievement, has served as a guest lecturer at the Northeastern University School of Journalism and at the Simmons College Department of Communications. Since her departure from The Boston Globe, Ms. Schuss has worked as an editorial consultant and also has devoted her time to media projects under the auspices of the Boston Israel Action Committee, a grassroots organization formed in 2000 to mobilize support for Israel and to help bolster the country’s public image. Drawing on her reporting and editing experience, she lectures on the topic, “Israel and the Information War: Why and How are the Media Bashing Israel, and What Can we do about it?” Rabbi Mark N. Wildes Rabbi Mark N. Wildes is the founder and director of the Manhattan Jewish Experience, an organization that offers programs, classes, workshops, and social events for young men and women, particularly those with little or no background in Judaism. He holds a BA in psychology from Yeshiva University, a law degree from the Cardozo School of Law, and a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University. Rabbi Wildes was ordained at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University, where he presently teaches. Since founding Manhattan Jewish Experience Rabbi Wildes has become known as one of America’s most inspirational and dynamic Jewish educators. Sandra E. Rapoport, Esq. Sandra E. Rapoport, Esq., received her BS degree from Cornell University in 1973, having majored in American history and labor relations. She went on to receive her Juris Doctor law degree in 1976 from St. John’s University School of Law, where she edited the school’s labor law journal. Ms. Rapoport clerked at the New York Civil Liberties Union during law school, and subsequently put her civil liberties experience to work as an attorney for the American Jewish Committee. There she authored the Committee’s amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in the case of Vorchheimer v. City of Philadelphia, arguing that single-sex discrimination in public school athletics violated the United States Constitution. She next worked as an assistant corporation counsel for the City of New York, where her specialty was general civil litigation, and her primary clients were the New York City Department of Education, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. She has also served as a litigator for Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather & Geraldson, the largest management labor law firm in the United States, and as a labor and employment consultant for William M. Mercer, a division of Marsh & McLennan. Her articles on international law and terrorism have been published in law reviews as well as in Commentary magazine. In 1989 Ms. Rapoport began studying Bible and Talmud at New York’s Drisha Institute. She currently consults to an auction house in New York City that specializes in rare Hebrew books and manuscripts, and continues to study at Drisha as well as in private classes. She has lectured on the Bible at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York City, and continues to be a popular book reviewer for the community’s Am HaSefer Book Club lecture series. She co-authored the recently published, The Passions of the Matriarchs, with her teacher, Shera Aranoff Tuchman, and has since been engaged as a speaker throughout the New York metropolitan area. Ms. Rapoport also has spoken in London at the Marble Arch Synagogue, and was named the winner of The London School of Jewish Studies (formerly Jews’ College) 2005 D’var Torah competition. Shoshana Glatzer Shoshana Glatzer, an education consultant, is the coordinator of the new Hebrew in America Project, a pilot program initiated and supported by the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and implemented in Northern Jersey. Mrs. Glatzer founded and directed the Teachers’ Center of the Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York for 26 years. She is the author of numerous curricula for Jewish schools, and has led seminars and workshops. Mrs. Glatzer was born and raised in Tzfat, Israel. After elementary school she attended and graduated from AMIT Beit Zeiroth Mizrachi in Tel Aviv and Seminar Talpiot in Tel Aviv. She also has a BA in bible, an MA in education and has completed her doctoral course work at The Jewish Theological Seminary. Samy J. Ymar Samy J. Ymar, a graduate of AMIT Kfar Batya, has been living in the Washington, DC, area since 1969. Born in Casablanca, Morocco, in 1942, he and his family immigrated to Israel in 1954 when Samy was 12 years old. In Israel he had the good fortune to enroll in AMIT Kfar Batya which he attended from 6th grade through completion of high school in 1961. He then entered the army and served until February, 1964. After completing his military service, Mr. Ymar began employment in the printing field until he was redrafted to serve in the Six Day War. In the summer of 1967 he went to Geneva, Switzerland, where he was active in Jewish student organizations. Two years later he moved to Washington, DC, and began working in the printing field. In 1974 he established his own business, and today American Reprographics, Inc., is a full service printing company for the building and architectural industries. Over the past 30 years Mr. Ymar has been active in numerous Jewish organizations including the United Jewish Appeal. He was one of the founders of Magen David Sephardic Congregation, now located in Rockville, MD, and presently serves as its president. return to all news releases Media Contact: Barbara Goldberg Director of Communications 212-477-4720, ext. 127 barbarag@amitchildren.org   Return to Top Our Mission | Meet our President | Young Leadership | News Releases | Calendar of Events Tanach Yomi | Contact Us | Support AMIT | AMIT Travel | Missions | AMIT Boutique Complete financial information on AMIT may be obtained at www.guidestar.org © AMIT 2004 -2006 privacy policy   Important News and Events Support our Cause. Donate to AMIT today! Sign up to receive free updates about AMIT programs and events. Click here to receive the free AMIT e-newsletter. New Feature!!! Please visit the AMIT Video Library. Were you There? Visit our Young Leadership Events Photo Gallery.