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Annual Meeting and Dinner – “A Taste of Asian Cuisine”
Thursday, June 2, 2022 | 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Please help us honor our outstanding volunteers and professionals as we celebrate this past year at Temple Beth El.
We invite you to join us on a culinary Asian journey through our Great Hallway with stops in Japan, China, and Thailand!
Destination selections to include warm edamame, Japanese salad with ginger dressing, Gyoza, Vegetarian fried rice, beef with broccoli, Thai papaya salad, Vegan Tofu pad thai, crispy spring rolls and more!
6:00 pm Dinner selection
6:30 pm Annual Meeting in Social Hall
Agenda for the Annual meeting includes:
Confirm the slate for the 2022-2023 Board of Trustees
Present the 2022-2023 Operating Budget
Present the John Rogers Award for Exemplary Professional Service to Aileen Spilka
Present the Joseph Q. Kline Lifetime Achievement in Volunteerism Award to Barry Podolsky
Present the Robin L. Eisenberg Learning and Living Award to Dr. Ora Meles
Adults: $29, Children ages 5 -13: $16, Children under 5: Free
Prices increase to $34/$19 after May 26, 2022.
Registration for dinner is closed, but members may still attend the Annual Meeting which begins at 6:30 pm.
The Annual Meeting is generously sponsored by Toshiba Business Systems.
About our Award Winners
Aileen Spilka
John Rogers Staff Award For Exemplary Professional Service
Mazel Tov to Aileen Spilka the recipient of the 2022 John Rogers Staff Award for Exemplary Professional Service, recognizing her consistent demonstration of superior performance, and a willingness to go above and beyond what is asked of her.
Aileen joined the Beth El staff in 2013 as a Development Associate supporting the Temple’s fundraising efforts. Aileen held that position for two and half years, and in 2016 transitioned to the clergy office where she quickly became incredibly valuable as Clergy Senior Associate supporting the administrative needs of our rabbis and cantors.
Aileen is the quintessential team player. She never hesitates to help others regardless of how busy she is. You will never hear Aileen say “no”. Whatever is needed, we can always count on her to say “yes” with a smile. Aileen also has a wonderful way of speaking with and helping our members, particularly when they are dealing with a crisis or an end-of-life situation. She is patient, kind, helpful and responsive. It takes a special type of person to do what she does and she excels way beyond expectations day-in-and-day-out. Aileen is also highly competent, efficient, professional and knowledgeable. She finds new and better ways of doing things and she has trained countless new hires on how we do things at Temple Beth El.
We are so grateful for Aileen’s nine years of dedicated service to Beth El. Congratulations Aileen on this well-deserved award!
Barry Podolsky
Joseph Q. Kline Lifetime Achievement in Volunteerism Award
We are proud to announce Barry Podolsky as the winner of this year’s Joseph Q. Kline Lifetime Achievement in Volunteerism award. Barry and his wife Susan have been members of Temple Beth El for 35 years. They were both involved in leadership at Temple Sinai in North Miami; the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and the Michael-Ann Russell JCC prior to moving to Boca Raton.
Upon moving to Boca Raton in 1987, they immersed themselves in Jewish life and committed themselves to leadership roles at Temple Beth El. Barry has served on the Board of Trustees in nearly every capacity – Trustee, VP Religious Activities, VP Finance (2x), Executive VP, and President of the Board.
Barry also chaired the fundraising efforts for two major capital campaigns – Building Tomorrow Today and Fulfilling the Promise. Between the two campaigns, Barry was instrumental in helping to raise more than $30 million.
Barry helped supervise the design and construction of the Beck Family Campus in 2009 and was integral to the design and construction of the renovations to the Schaefer Family Campus. Barry personally supervised the design and construction of the second phase of the Beck Family Campus construction in 2018, including the two new classroom wings and the Kehilah Center.
Barry has also been instrumental in the planning of the upcoming expansion of the Beth El Mausoleum, and has worked to enhance nearly every facet of Temple Beth El’s program and operations. Barry has worked to help develop and mentor other board members and future leaders of the Temple.
The number of hours Barry has devoted to Temple Beth El truly cannot be counted. He brings an extremely high level of excellence and dedication to all of his volunteer efforts at Temple Beth El. We are so pleased to bestow this well-deserved honor on Barry Podolsky.
Dr. Ora Meles
Robin L. Eisenberg Jewish Learning and Living Award
Mazal Tov to Dr. Ora Meles who is the recipient of the 2022 Robin L. Eisenberg Jewish Learning and Living Award. It comes as no surprise that her peers nominated Dr. Meles. She is always willing to help her fellow teachers with pedagogic ideas, classroom management strategies, content resources, online teaching techniques and meaningful ways to engage our teenage teaching assistants in the classroom.
Dr. Meles joined the Temple Beth El Religious School faculty in 1993 as a Hebrew and Judaics teacher. This year, our curriculum has changed for both Judaics and Hebrew. Not only was Dr. Meles up for the challenge of creating new content for both, she even agreed to teach two grade levels when hearing we were short staffed. She is the ultimate partner with her teaching teams, always sharing her lesson plans and providing peer-to-peer professional development, knowing that our school is stronger when all teachers feel confident and can reach their goals. Dr. Meles represents Temple Beth El in the Partnership 2Gether Twinning project through the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County that connects our students to peers living in Zichron Yaacov, our sister city in Israel.
After serving in the Israeli Defense Forces as an officer, Dr. Meles came to South Florida to start her teaching career. She holds a Masters in Multicultural Education and a PhD in Philosophy of Educational Leadership. She was a 5th grade teacher at Del Prado, a middle school teacher at Odyssey Middle School and is now a Program Planner in the Department of Professional Development for the School District of Palm Beach County.
We are so proud and honored to have Dr. Ora Meles start her 30th year with Temple Beth El’s Religious School this fall.
