Every year, The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore honors exceptional leaders in Baltimore’s Jewish community. This year’s Associated Leadership Awards are set to take place on Tuesday, May 28, at the Gordon Center for Performing Arts.
From Hebrew school teachers to tech CEOs, this year’s slate of winners run the gamut in terms of their backgrounds. But what they all have in common are their meaningful contributions to creating a welcoming Jewish environment in Baltimore, engagement in local programming and dedication to Jewish causes.
Here are introductions to each 2024 award winner.
The Fred Walpert Young Leadership Award
A relatively recent award that first started being given out in 2008, the Fred Walpert Young Leadership Award is given to a young woman and man who have already made promising contributions to the local Jewish community.
Of the two winners, Jessica Gorsky Halle has been serving as a board member for The Associated’s Young Adult Division for five years, as well as co-chair of the IMPACT Couples Committee and the local chapter of the Ben-Gurion Society. She also works as part of the Baltimore-Odesa Partnership because of her own Ukrainian Jewish heritage — her parents immigrated to the U.S. in 1979. Her work with the partnership has largely been focused on helping Jewish Ukrainians during the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
Justin Harvey, the other Fred Walpert Young Leadership Award Winner, is a board member at Beth El Congregation and once taught Hebrew school there. Additionally, he also worked at the Macks Jewish Connection Center as a community connector.
“I was a board member of the [former Macks Center for Jewish Education] when the decision was made to discontinue CJE and split it into Jewish Educational Services and The Network,” he explained in an interview with the JT. “I chaired the wind-down committee and helped ease that transition.”
He described his nomination as being a very humbling experience.
“I don’t think anyone gets involved with the Jewish community because they expect something like this to happen,” Harvey added. “I was also humbled and grateful that I had met a partner in my wife who also prioritized being part of the Jewish community and wanting to create a Jewish home for our family.”
The Harry Greenstein Young Leadership Award
The longest-running Associated award, which was first started in 1975, is named for a former executive director of The Associated. This year’s winners are Harel Turkel and Rebecca Fruman.
Turkel is the former president of Jewish Community Services, an Associated board member, an Israel and Global Initiatives Task Force co-chair and the CEO of technology firm SOS Technology Group. This is far from his first accolade — he was previously recognized by The Daily Record as “Successful by 40” and by SmartCEO Magazine as a “Future 50” leader. He first got involved with The Associated through YAD in 2004, which led him to many leadership positions in the Jewish community.
Fruman also has experience in YAD and with organizing Associated events. She is co-chair of The Associated’s chapter of Dignity Grows, a women’s volunteer group focused on providing menstrual health supplies to people in need. She will soon be taking on the title of Beth El Congregation’s president.
“I feel very honored to win this award with Harel,” Fruman told the JT. “Volunteering with The Associated and Beth El is something I love to do. I enjoy getting to know different people in our wonderful community. I find so much joy in giving back. I often find the more you give, the more you receive in return.”
The Zelda Miller Award
The Zelda Miller Award is given to enterprising young adults who have been involved with The Associated, particularly in its annual campaign. Nominees are selected by professionals working on the campaign itself in honor of the former administrative assistant.
Since its introduction in 1984, the award has usually been given to one male and one female nominee — though the years 2014-2022 saw only one person winning the award. It has recently returned to the two-person format. This year’s winners are Chana Friedman and Jake Lieberman.
Friedman graduated from The Associated’s Young Leadership Cohort in 2023, and will be leading the cohort for 2024-2025. Outside of her work in the Jewish community, she’s spent 15 years working for the Columbia Group insurance brokerage firm as a senior account manager. Friedman was inspired to start work in Baltimore’s Jewish community by her parents, who placed a high level of importance on the idea of tikkun olam. As she is currently raising a young daughter herself, she wants to continue to model that idea.
Lieberman is not originally from Baltimore, but moved here with his wife, Jen, in 2017. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two of them founded The Associated’s Couples Committee, which planned activities for couples often over Zoom or other online platforms. He also works to educate prospective donors to The Associated’s annual campaign about where their donations are going and what programs they help fund. And he is the co-chair of Engage 365, which prepares young adults for philanthropic work.
The Carole Sibel Outstanding Fundraising Award
The newest Associated award, which was first given out in 2017, the Carole Sibel Outstanding Fundraising Award recognizes a person who has made significant financial contributions to The Associated. Most of these award-winners have been supporting The Associated over the period of many years, and their contributions to the organization are invaluable.
Searle Mitnick will be receiving the award this year, as he has been involved with The Associated since he first began participating in the organization’s events in 1970. Since then, he has served as the chair of many Associated-based fundraising groups as well as president of the former Macks Center for Jewish Education and other positions.
In addition to his work with the Jewish community, Mitnick is also an attorney specializing in real estate law and a two-time winner of the Baltimore “Lawyer of the Year” award in Real Estate Law by Best Lawyers in America. He also frequently presents and gives lectures at seminars focusing on real estate law.
The Julius Rosenberg Memorial Award
This award is given to a committed Associated campaign leader, and each year’s nominee is chosen by Associated professionals and past winners. This year’s winner, Lindsay Klatsky, is the chair of multiple Associated programs, including the Pomegranate Society, a charity group honoring Jewish women who make significant contributions to the organization. A frequent community volunteer, Klatsky is also on the board of Beth El Congregation’s annual Wine, Wit & Wisdom event; Jewish Student Union; and several non-Jewish groups like the Women’s Initiative Network and Kennedy Krieger Institute.
Klatsky and her husband, Matt, were tapped to chair The Associated’s Family Mission to Israel in December of 2023, but the program was canceled due to the events of Oct. 7 and ensuing unrest in Israel. She plans to finally make the trip in September 2024 with the Inspired Women’s Project, which focuses on Jewish learning and community service. When not volunteering, she works as a private speech pathologist, primarily with children.
