Volume 67, Issue 4  

Mayor Michael Bloomberg To Receive Honorary Degree At 78th Annual Hanukkah Dinner
Four Communal Leaders Among the Honorees

by Jeremy Mazurek

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has been invited to deliver the keynote address at the Seventy-Eighth Annual Hanukkah Dinner and Convocation at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on December 8th.  The Mayor, Betty Feinberg, Charles Kushner, Barry A. Shenkman, and Elliot K. Wolk are also slated to receive honorary doctoral degrees, and Ronald P. Stanton will be officially installed as Chairman of Yeshiva's Board of Trustees.

Bloomberg is the 108th Mayor of the City of New York and founder of Bloomberg L.P., an information services, news and media company employing more than 8,000 people in more than 100 offices worldwide.  Bloomberg L.P.’s clients include the world's central banks, investment institutions, commercial banks and news organizations. Michael Bloomberg joins an already impressive list of honorary degree recipients including the Honorable Governor George Pataki and Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY).

Betty Feinberg is the secretary of the Board of Overseers of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and has endowed a center for cancer research at AECOM together with her husband.  She has held positions in various organizations, including the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.

Charles Kushner is the chairman of Kushner Companies, a leading real estate organization in the New York area, and a founding member of Stern College for Women's Board of Directors.  Kushner is a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and was appointed by former President Bill Clinton to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

Barry A. Shenkman is president and treasurer of the Jacob Burns Foundation, a charitable organization, and treasurer of the Board of Directors at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.  Shenkman recently provided funding for the expansion of Cardozo’s Jacob Burns Moot Court.

Elliot K. Wolk is a member of the Board of Directors of The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., managing director emeritus of Elliot K. Wolk Investments, and member of the Board of Overseers of AECOM.  Wolk is a member of the executive committee of the International Directors Council of the Guggenheim Museum and the Dean’s Advisory Committee of the Sloan School of Management.

At last year’s Dinner, honorary degrees were bestowed upon long-time Yeshiva supporters, including Ferkauf benefactor Harvey Beker, Honorary Chairperson of the SCW Board Lea Eisenberg, Sy Syms School of Business board member Warren Eisenberg, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary supporter Benjamin Heller, and Sy Syms Board Chairman Bernard Madoff.  Last year was especially memorable, as Yeshiva President Dr. Norman Lamm discussed his more than a quarter-century of service to the University and his visions and aspirations for the University in the future.  Yeshiva also recognized the nationally publicized shmira performed by three SCW students on the victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.

Also at last year’s Dinner, Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a rousing speech, impressing upon the participants a tremendous need for Israel and the world to dismantle terrorist infrastructures once and for all.  Netanyahu had filled a vital gap after then-Mayor Rudolph Guiliani declined the opportunity to speak only a few weeks prior.

Since 1924, Yeshiva’s Annual Hanukkah Dinner and Convocation has served as the foremost fundraising event for the University, providing philanthropic resources to its various affiliates.  The evening, traditionally gathering some 1,000 friends and benefactors, recognizes the leadership and achievements of deserving individuals.

The annual dinner boasts an illustrious list of past speakers and honorees.  Past Hanukkah Dinners have featured such pronounced speakers as: Teddy Kollek, Mayor of Jerusalem (1990); William Safire, New York Times Op-Ed Columnist (1991); Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1992); Jack Kemp, U.S. Senator (1993); Robert Dole, U.S. Senator (1994); Al Gore, U.S. Vice President (1995); Christine Todd Whitman, Governor of New Jersey (1996); Daniel Kurtzer, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt and now Israel (1997); and most recently Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2001).

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