“IT WAS LIKE WE HIT THE DOUBLE JACKPOT,” recalls Melissa Glassman.
When Melissa and Ken, who met as undergrads at Yale Hillel’s Kosher Kitchen, were looking for a preschool for their son, they fell in love with our Early Childhood Center — and were blown away the following night when they came for Kabbalat Shabbat services. “The rest was history,” Melissa says.
Both of their children, Noah and Lilah, attended the ECC and Religious School before becoming b’nai mitzvah on our bimah. Now they wake up early on Sundays — no small feat for high schoolers — to support Rabbi Rifkin and help teach younger students as madrichim (teaching assistants) in our Religious School.
A pediatrician and breastfeeding medicine specialist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Melissa has dedicated her career to supporting new mothers and their infants while expanding access to care, especially for low-income, Medicaid-insured patients. Ken oversees investments for a family office and is deeply engaged in civic life as the former chair of Arbor Rising and former vice chair of Ethical Culture Fieldston School’s board of trustees. The Glassman family enriches our community through their philanthropy, education and activism.
And what is there to say about Robert A. Caro? He’s been awarded every literary prize including two Pulitzers and two National Book Awards for his biographies of Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson, and he is a dedicated member of Stephen Wise. “The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York” and his four-volume biography “The Years of Lyndon Johnson” are essential readings that have left an indelible mark on our understanding of our city and country.
In Jewish tradition, there are three crowns, and the crown of a good name — a shem tov stands above all. At our Spring Benefit this June 5th, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue will bestow the Shem Tov Award — our highest honor — upon Melissa and Ken Glassman for their boundless humanity, generosity and dedication to Jewish life. And, for the first time since 1999, Stephen Wise will present its Lifetime Achievement Award to Robert A. Caro for his outstanding work that has changed our world for the better.
We hope you’ll join us in celebrating our community at this year’s Spring Benefit, where Robert will sit down for an intimate conversation with Lizzie Gottlieb, director of the film, “Turn Every Page,” which explores Robert’s relationship with his longtime editor and Lizzie’s father, Robert Gottlieb. RSVP or donate at swfs.org/spring.
