Naomi Jensen deserves this award!

Naomi Jensen holds her Harriette Shapiro Award for Outstanding Service.

Today I presented a very well deserved award to my friend Naomi Jensen.  She quietly works in the background to make our congregation hum.   I told our whole congregation about the gem in our midst at our annual meeting today, June 4, 2017.  See a copy of my speech below.  Mazel Tov Naomi!  

I have the great honor of announcing this year’s Harriette Shapiro award for outstanding service.

This year’s recipient is a gem in our midst, but our awardee is so modest and gentle, that as another congregant put it, “we see the accomplishment well before we know to whom to give credit.”  Another congregant admired this person’s “quiet competence and complete reliability.”  Our recipient is a long-time member who is the consummate unsung volunteer of this congregation, always ready to lend a hand; always the quiet vital backbone of our religious and social community.  

Let me tell you some of the ways our newest Harriette has gone above and beyond.  This person regularly participates in our MLK Day of Service, making bags for the wheelchair bound and caps for newborn.  This person has organized our Rosh Hashanah Oneg year after year. This person has marched in the Pride Parade for many years and helped created new signs when the old ones were drenched in the downpour of 2015.  This person has manned our booth at Israel Fest for several years, an important outreach for our synagogue.  This person has served on the Gala Committee several times, and was recently on the Wine Tasting event committee earlier this year.  All were important fundraisers for our community. This person co-chaired the Membership Committee, welcoming new members.  This person has reached out to me personally to help me learn my Hebrew alef-bet.  This person has been the driving force, and sometimes the only force behind Hesed, our kindness committee.  That meant driving an elderly congregant to services or doctor’s appointments and organizing multiple shiva services, all essential mitzvot.  

And lastly, you will know our newest Harriette award recipient from the number of times you have seen this person called to the bimah to read Torah, both at b’nai mitzvah celebrations and the High Holidays, and in fact, nearly any Saturday service.  Our awardee prepares the weekly portion by practicing in the car between appointments with patients.  Because not only does our recipient care about our community, our recipient has cared for the elderly and infirm in the larger community, as an occupational and physical therapist.

Now, many of you have probably figured out who our newest Harriette recipient is.  But bear with me for another moment, because I would like to paraphrase Proverbs 31:10, because it is so appropriate for our honoree.

What a rare find is a capable congregant!
Their worth is far beyond that of rubies.
Their fellow members have full confidence in them,
and they lack no good thing.
They are good for the congregation, never bad,
all the days of their life.

Congratulations to my good friend Naomi Jensen on this long overdue and well-deserved award for outstanding service to Congregation Dor Hadash.

Naomi and Betsy close in for a hug, while Rabbi Yael applauds.