To view the bio, please click on the respective names
George Hegedus
Rep. of Beit Hazikaron
Sally Raicek
Immidiate Past Co-President/Advisor
Jerry Sherman
Co-Opted Officer
Michael Krupp
Co-Opted Officer
Chevra Kadisha B'nai Jacob Beit Hazikaron
Bios
Gary Polachek - 1st Vice President
Gary Polachek is Chief Executive Officer of Magil Laurentian Realty Corporation. Magil Laurentian is a real estate management and development company overseeing a portfolio of office and mixed use properties, in Montreal, Toronto and Quebec City (www.magil-laurentian.com).
Gary’s educational background includes an undergraduate degree with Distinction from the Faculty of Management (Accounting and Finance) as well as degrees from the Faculty of Law (Civil and Common), all from McGill University in Montreal. Gary is a member of the Barreau du Québec.
Gary’s community involvement includes being a member of the board of Akiva School as well as UTT Herzliah schools. In addition, Gary is an alumni of the Wexner Heritage Foundation; a U.S. based organization that is committed to developing Jewish leadership through education. Gary has also held leadership positions with Federation CJA.
Gary is married to Claudia Litvak and has three children.
Daniel Miller - Immidiate Past Co-President/Advisor
Daniel Miller is a partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg which he joined in 1962. He became a partner in 1970, and co-managing partner in 1977, a position he held until 1997.
Having joined the legal profession before the age of specialization, his extensive practice spanned real estate law, corporate/commercial law and conveyancing.
Today, Mr. Miller is devoted primarily to high technology and biotechnology law. He is technically adept and highly informed in computer technology, and has involved himself in all the legal aspects of the computer industry, including the preparation of software, hardware and development agreements. His current area of expertise in biotechnology is legal advisor to researchers in the leading edge fields of pharmacogenomics and proteomics which examine the relationship of specific genes and proteins in the human genome, to particular diseases, and the development of medications for the treatment of those diseases.
Mr. Miller has served as an elected member of the municipal council of Ivry-sur-le-Lac for 25 years. He served as Co-President of Chevra Kadisha B'Nai Jacob – Beit Hazikaron synagogue for seven years, and is currently a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Trustees. He has served for many years on the board of the Saint-Sauveur Festival of the Arts, as well as many corporations. He is a life Governor of the Quebec Bar Foundation.
Mr. Miller attended McGill University from which he received his BA in 1958, and a BCL in 1961.
Chevra Kadisha B'nai Jacob Beit Hazikaron
Robert Feldstein - Honourary Vice-President
Robert Feldstein was born and educated in Montreal, graduating from Strathern High School. At age 19 he joined the Royal Canadian Army and at 20 he was sent overseas to England. At 21 he served in the Normandy invasion through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. He was discharged from the army when he was 23.
At age 32 he joined the Royal Canadian Legion and became president in 1958 and again 1970, 2003 and in 2007. In appreciation for services rendered to King Christain X, Robert was knighted in 1965 by King Fredrick IX of Denmark to become Brigadier General Sir Robert Feldstein.
In 2007 Robert had the honour of meeting the Queen Mother. In 2000 he was given the honour of leading the 49th. British Polar Bear Division in Holland, where 250,000 people gathered to see the ceremony of the 55th. Anniversary of its liberation.
Robert has been a very active member of the CKBH-BH-BH. He served as President of the Brotherhood for many years, Secretary for 4 years, as well as 3rd and 2nd Vice-President and usher.
In 1995 he received a certificate of appreciation in recognition of his outstanding services and devotion to our synagogue. In June 2007 he received a silver pillar inscribed “For the Leadership and outstanding success brought to the Synagogue”.
Pearl Rothenberg - Vice President
Pearl and her husband Jack, a former president of the CKBJ-BH, married in 1966 at the Chevra Kadisha B’nai Jacob Synagogue and have been members ever since. Pearl has become increasingly involved in our Shul over the past 10 years. She chaired the first Bat Mitzvah program under the wonderful auspices of Rabbi Jacobson. She is currently secretary of the Executive Committee and is on the Board of Trustees.
Pearl has been passionately involved in her career as a clinical psychologist for the past 20 years. She specializes in individual and couple therapy with a focus on depression, anxiety and relationship issues. Pearl also has a love of gardening, painting, reading, writing and decorating. Her relationships with her special family and exceptional friends are very meaningful to her.
Joseph Halmi - Rep. of Beit Hazikaron
I was born in 19I4 in a small village named Ersakachi considered a part of Tashnad, Silagy province in Romania. My schooling consisted of six years of elementary school and one year of middle school. I was the youngest of four brothers, two of whom died at a very young age. My eldest brother perished, along with his two children, at the hands of the Nazis. In 1917, our family moved to the city of Nagyvarad where my parents operated two businesses, a retail store and a wholesale store that specialized in chemicals and paints. In 1942, I married my beloved wife, Eva Rosenberg.
At the age of eighteen, I was recruited by the military and served first in Kolozsvar and then later in Nagyvarad. Thanks to Hitler, in 1940 Transylvania was split into two, one part belonging to Hungary and the other part to Romania, Tashnad remained a part of Hungary. I worked in a labour camp near Nagy Banya for more than two years where we did forestry work.
In 1944 the Germans invaded Hungary, all Jews including our family were forced to close their stores and all the Jewish residents were forced to move into ghettos. Thanks to my background in chemicals and paints, I was no longer forced to do difficult physical labour; I was recruited to assist the group of artists in charge of restoring a prestigious military academy. This lasted until the Jews of Oradea were deported to the concentration camps. I will not recount here the details of what happened in Auschwitz, so much has already been written about this
After the camps were liberated in September 1945, I made my way back to Oradea where my wife had already re-opened our stores as she was liberated earlier by the Russians. During my time in Auschwitz, I befriended the two young sons of family friends who owned a paint factory in Nagyvarad. They had no interest in running the factory, they wanted to become doctors. We agreed that I would run the factory for them. I worked there for more than sixteen years as the chief engineer and technical director of the factory.
In 1960, we requested a travel visa to Israel but in the end we decided on Canada instead. My wife's younger brother, with whom I was during our ordeal at Auschwitz, was already established here in Montreal and we arrived in Montreal in the fall of 1962. I immediately started a small paint business but quickly realized that could never compete with the giants. That is when I began in the construction business and I have been working successfully in that field since then.
More than seven hundred Hungarian-speaking families arrived in Montreal during those years. We strived to ensure that each family bad where to live, furniture and other basic necessities. We also wanted to provide this population with a social as well as a religious gathering place. That was how the Hungarian Memorial Synagogue, under the spiritual leadership of Rabbi Miklos Schnunnacher, as well as the Golden Age Club of the congregation came into existence. After the untimely death of our dear Rabbi, the Hungarian Memorial Synagogue joined the Chevra Kadisha B 'nai Jacob congregation to become the Chevra Kadisha B'nai Jacob Beit Hazikaron congregation for the past six years.
The greatest joy today in my life is my family; my beloved wife Eva, our daughter Kathy, son-in-law Harris, my sister-in-law Elizabeth and most of all, our precious grand-daughters, Haley and Jillian.
Steve Goldstein - Executive Director
Steve Goldstein joins the Chevra Kadisha B’nai Jacob Beit Hazikaron family, with his own unique skill sets. He has worked in the textile trade for over 25 years where he has successfully served as Director of Sales as well as Director of Production. He has been involved in the Jewish community of Dollard des Ormeaux and Congregation Beth Tikvah Ahavat Shalom Nusach Hoari for the past 20 years where he has sat on their Board and the Executive and served the congregation as Parnass, Vice President and President. He is happily married and has three grown children, two sons and a daughter as well as seven grandchildren. His hobbies are backpacking, hiking, music, photography and running. He has successfully completed both the Montreal and New York City marathons. He brings a passion to succeed to what ever challenges he undertakes. A favourite quote of his is from the famous Jewish leader Hillel “ If I am not for myself, who is for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?”
