The highest form of charity is to help people help themselves
Board of Directors
|
|
|
Emeritus Directors
|
|
Carl Polsky
|
|
|
Rabbinic Advisor
|
|
Rabbi Aaron Landes
|
|
Board biographies
Bernard Cross is a former owner of Cross Brothers Meat Packers. He is a past president of Beth Sholom Congregation and a founding board member of the Hebrew Free Loan Society.
Return to top
Barbara Fein is the Managing Attorney at The Law Offices of Barbara A. Fein, P.C.. She is a member of the Bar in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey.
She is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Mortgage Bankers Association, as well as a founding member of the American Legal & Financial Network ("AFN") and Philadelphia's Standing Mortgage Foreclosure Committee.
Return to top
Neil Gorchow is a retired executive from Univac and a past president of Beth Sholom Congregation. He is a founding board member of the Hebrew Free Loan Society.
Return to top
Bernard Granor is the immediate past president of the Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia and a past president of the International Association of Hebrew Free Loans. In 1984 along with Aaron Landes, then Rabbi of Beth Sholom Congregation in Elkins Park, his wife Marie Granor and other senior members of the Synagogue, he founded the Hebrew Free Loan Society. The group initially raised $65,000 from a gathering at the home of Leonard and Madlyn Abramson.
Bernard is an Attorney, Realtor, and Home Builder. Since 1970 under the name of Granor Price Homes, over 4500 homes were built in the Greater Delaware Valley. He has been President of the North West Chapter of the Philadelphia Board of Realtors and President of the Home Builders Association of Bucks and Montgomery Counties. He taught Real Estate related courses in the evening school (Ogontz Campus) of the Pennsylvania State University from 1972 to 1982
Bernard was President of the West Oak lane Jewish Community Center from 1970 to 1972 and helped to arrange the merger with Beth Sholom Congregation in 1980, where he is a life member of the Board of Directors. He received the Man of the year award from the Men's Club of the West Oak Lane Jewish Community Center. For his Synagogue related services he was inducted into the Legion of Honor of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains in 1971. In 2010 Bernard and Marie were honored by the Men's Club of Beth Sholom Congregation as Humanitarians of the Year for their work with the Hebrew Free Loan Society.
Bernard has been active in a number of Charitable organizations including membership on the Board of Directors of the Lower Bucks County Chapter of the American Red Cross where he currently is a member of its Advisory Committee. He was named Citizen of the Year by the Chapter in 2004.
Bernard is married to Marie. They have 3 children and 4 grandchildren. His son, Marshal, and daughter-in-law, Tamar, are the co-presidents of the Hebrew Free Loan Society.
Return to top
Marie Granor, now retired, taught elementary school and pre-school in the Philadelphia School District for 18 years. She has been a community volunteer throughout her adult life, including teaching English to immigrants through the Nationalities Service Center, and serving as both a Girl Scout leader and a Cub Scout den mother. She is a member of Beth Sholom Congregation in Elkins Park, where she volunteered for the Golden Years Resource Service for many years. She has 3 children and 4 grandchildren.
Along with her husband, Bernard, and several others, Marie founded the Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia in 1984, and has served as the group's intake manager througout its history. She enjoys interacting with the group's borrowers, and seeing how a small loan can make a big difference in their lives.
Return to top
Marshal Granor has many job titles and licenses, all surrounding his love of real estate transactions. With his father, Bernard, Marshal practices law, concentrating in the areas of real estate development, financing, and condominium and community association law. He was a principal author of Pennsylvania's Uniform Planned Community Act, and is a member of the Montgomery, Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations, serving on the Council of the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Section on Real Property, Probate and Trust Law. In addition, he holds Pennsylvania and New Jersey licenses as a real estate broker and title insurance agent, as well as being a licensed Pennsylvania mortgage broker and Pennsylvania licensed real estate instructor. He frequently teaches continuing education courses for attorneys, real estate agents and title insurance agents.
Marshal is an adjunct professor of law at Manor College. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Vantage Point Bank and is chair of its Loan Committee. Most recently, Marshal purchased and operates Community Management Services Group, a condominium and homeowners association management company, operating in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Along with his wife, Tamar, Marshal is co-president of the Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia, which was founded in 1984 by his parents, Marie and Bernard Granor. Marshal is proud to follow in the family tradition of giving back to the community, being able to help people needing temporary financial assistance.
Return to top
Tamar E. Granor is the owner of Tomorrow's Solutions, LLC, a software development company that specializes in database applications. She is the author or co-author of ten books, and hundreds of magazine articles. She is also the technical editor of two books, and served as Editor/Technical Editor of the magazine, FoxPro Advisor, for more than a decade. Together with two partners, she organizes an annual conference for Visual FoxPro developers. She has spoken about software development throughout North America and Europe.
Tamar is a lifelong community volunteer. Her experiences include serving as co-President of the Cheltenham United Parents Group, the Cheltenham High School Parent Teacher Organization, and the Beth Sholom Young Marrieds. She was a trained Nursing Mothers Counselor. She served on the board of the Old York Road Little League for many years. For her volunteer efforts in her professional community, she received the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award annually for 15 years and in 2007, received the Visual FoxPro Community Lifetime Achievement Award. Serving as co-president of the Hebrew Free Loan Society allows her to combine her commitment to social justice with her professional expertise, as she helps HFL improve its uses of technology.
Tamar and her husband, Marshal, are longtime residents of Elkins Park, and members of Beth Sholom Congregation. They have two adult sons.
Return to top
Elsa Kolansky has a bachelors degree in Journalism and Advertising from Pennsylvania State University, and has worked as an editor, newspaper reporter, and freelance writer.
She started her career as as a reporter for local weekly newspapers. After selling her first article to The Ladies Home Journal, and then to the Jewish Exponent, she did more freelance writing, including a three-part series for the Jewish Exponent on how Jewish singles of all ages can meet suitable mates. She also investigated and wrote the chapter on the history of the mental hospitals in Montgomery County which was included in "The Second Hundred Years of Montgomery County". Subsequently, she was feature editor of the newsletter of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
While her children were young, She was involved with their activities both in public school and Hebrew school at Beth Sholom. She subsequently became active in the Henrietta Szold group of the Philadelphia chapter of Hadassah, the largest women's Zionist organization in the world, first as program chair, then as co-president.
Her commitment to and awareness of the need to help others was realized while in high school as she volunteered at the Jewish Home for the Friendless (a home for young Jewish girls without families) in her hometown of Scranton. Her family was committed to Jewish life, and active in the synagogue and the community.
She is married to Harold, a physician, medical author and educator. They have three grown children, all in the Philadelphia area.
Return to top
Robert Lankin is the Branch manager of Raymond James Financial Services in Jenkintown and Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Bob is an attorney, a Certified Financial Planner and a Certified Estate Planner. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of Beth Sholom Congregation for twenty years and served on the House, Membership and Publicity committees of the congregation. He is a Past District Governor of Rotary International District 7450, a Past Master and Senior Warden of Brotherhood Lodge of the Pennsylvania Freemasons.
Bob has been involved in our Hebrew Free Loan Society to support a non-profit that has the purest of all goals and methods. By lending money to people who need it without costs or fees of any kind, HFL specifically supports a principle of the Torah. The proudest moment in his work for the society was when Danny Siegel, noted for his charitable work, came to Beth Sholom and told its members about how Beth Sholom had a society which met so many needs and how it was involved in pure Tzedekah. His current role in HFL is arranging the loan appointments. Previously, he was involved in outreach with local rabbis and with collections of overdue accounts.
Return to top
Arthur Lashin is an attorney who has been the managing partner of a Philadelphia creditor right's law firm for 35 years. An avid gardener and musician he enjoys playing the saxophone and guitar. Art is a former President of the Beth Sholom Men's Club and is the current Treasurer of the Mid-Atlantic Region of Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs. He is the recipient of the prestigious Mid-Atlantic Region Men's Club "Man of the Year" award for his efforts in enhancing the values of the religious, social and educational experience of not only at Beth Sholom Congregation but also the greater Jewish community at large.
Art has been a Director of the Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia for the past 12 years. He enjoys being a part of this charitable organization so that he can make a contribution to society while helping those less fortunate. Volunteering allows him to connect to his Jewish community and make it a better place. Participating with the HFLS is the ultimate payback for those who helped Art on the road to success. The concept of giving back and shaping someone's life for the better is his ultimate feeling of satisfaction.
Return to top
Ellen Newman taught English and math at Cheltenham High School for most of her adult life, and taught at Penn State for about 20 years. She worked in Real Estate Appraisal for Bart F. Brigidi, Inc and for Gleason Appraisals. During school vacations, she worked in the law office of Charles Wharton Smith. In the early days of personal computers, she worked for High Tower Computers teaching Word Star and later Word Perfect, usually in law firms that were adapting to computers.
The Newman family has belonged to Adath Jeshurun for four generations but since moving to Ann's Choice in Warrington, Ellen and her husband attend Ohev Shalom. She is active in the Jewish Residents' Council at Ann's Choice, serving on its board and as the chair person of its Sunshine Committee. She substitutes for the recording secretary and for the corresponding secretary when those positions are temporarily vacant due to illness or vacations. She does Challah Distributions for Shabat for shut-ins at Renaissance Gardens (Ann's Choice's extended care facility) on Friday afternoons. She is glad to do what she can for HFL as corresponding secretary.
In her old age, she is making up for a lack in her childhood, by learning to read Hebrew.
Return to top
Kevin Parker is an attorney and partner at a small Center City law firm, primarily representing individuals who sustain personal injuries by way of accident, either in their personal activities or in the workplace. Additionally, he handles residential real estate transactions and matters involving educational/school law issues for students and their parents. His clients and their family members and friends know that he is readily available to provide legal advice for general legal and consumer concerns, and often provide this service without fee. He believes that this is an important function to perform as a member of the legal community.
Kevin was born and bred in Mt. Airy and Elkins Park and presently resides in Elkins Park, with his wife of 35 years who is a middle school principal in the Cheltenham School District. They are the proud parents of three college graduates, and have one grandchild with another on the way.
Kevin's Jewish education started at a young age at Congregation Beth Or in Mt. Airy at which he celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and Confirmation. He and his wife became members of Temple Judea which later merged with Congregation Keneseth Israel. Their children were raised at KI, attending the educational programs, and celebrating their B'nai Mitzvot and Confirmations. Their daughters attended Camp Harlam for many years. Kevin and his wife remain active members of KI. He is an avid road cyclist and has participated in numerous fund raising rides. For over ten years he worked closely with the American Diabetes Association in Philadelphia helping to organize and coordinate their annual bicycle event in the Delaware Valley. When his children were younger, he was involved in their sports leagues as a coach, manager, referee, and umpire. He served as President of the Old York Road Little League for three years. Currently, he serves on the Board of the Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia.
Return to top
Carl A. Polsky is a retired Practice Professor of Accounting at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania .A member of the faculty for fifty years, he taught the graduate courses in Federal Tax and International Tax. He is presently Of Counsel to the Philadelphia Law firm of Diamond,Polsky and Bauer,a firm that he co-founded. Carl is a CPA and Attorney. He is a long-time member of Temple Sinai.
Return to top
Martin Roffman is Visiting Assistant / Adjunct Professor of Business Intelligence at
St Joseph's University, Haub School of Business. He is a people-oriented professional with a track record of increasing corporate profitability by applying strategic planning and optimization tools to grow revenues while reducing risk. He has served as visiting assistant professor, program manager (JP Morgan Chase), project manager, and hands-on senior analyst in financial services, transportation (Conrail and USAirways), and manufacturing industries (Merck & Company and US Army). He has a strong interest in improving operations in marketing, risk/fraud, sales, revenue management, and information systems.
Martin has served in various board positions at Bustleton Somerton Synagogue in Philadelphia, including president of the congregation. He developed a program for adult torah reading in the Beth Sholom Congregation in Elkins Park, PA., chavurah. He staffed technical educational positions (Computers, Astronomy, Amateur Radio) at Camp Ramah in the Poconos.
As a board member of Philadelphia Hebrew Free Loan Society, Martin has provided analyses of current HFL operations as well as strategic plans for improving future effectiveness of the organization. He has also applied his background of commercial loan practices obtained at a major multinational commercial bank to improve loan policies for the HFL.
Return to top
Jennifer Rosen lives in Philadelphia and is currently studying to become a pediatric nurse practitioner at the University of Pennsylvania. Her area of focus is in primary care and the prevention of chronic diseases through diet and exercise. Jennifer also works part-time at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in the Office of Government Affairs, Community Relations, and Advocacy. She enjoys volunteering with the Friendship Circle to help Jewish children with special needs celebrate the Jewish holidays. Jennifer is also an enthusiastic Michigan Wolverines fan.
Jennifer grew up hearing about the wonderful value that the Hebrew Free Loan Society has for the greater Philadelphia area from her grandfather, Samuel Spielman who was a board member and also instrumental in the establishment of Philadelphia's chapter. After her grandfather passed away in April of 2011, Jennifer took this board member position as a way to continue her grandfather's profound legacy.
Return to top
Neil Shupak has been in the commercial and industrial real estate business his entire working life. He began his career with Lanard & Axilbund in 1975 and spent 25 years with Zalesne & Herd Realtors. He has been with Newmark Knight Frank Smith Mack since 1998 where he currently holds the title of Executive Director. Neil is well versed in all facets of commercial and industrial sales and leasing - he has sold or leased over 15,000,000 square feet of space with an aggregate value in excess of $800,000,000. Neil was Newmark Knight Frank Smith Mack's Broker of the Year in 2006 and 2007. Neil served on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Board of Realtors and as Chairman of the Commercial & Industrial Division. He is also a charter member of the Tri State Realtors Commercial Alliance.
Neil is a lifelong resident of the Philadelphia area and an active member of the Jewish community. Born in Philadelphia in 1952, he grew up in Abington Township. He graduated from Abington High School and attended Montgomery County Community College and successfully completed Temple University's Real Estate Institute. Neil is a lifelong member of Beth Sholom Congregation. He was a Bar-Mitzvah there in 1965, married there in 1975 and his 3 children had their Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and were confirmed at Beth Sholom. Neil has been active at Beth Sholom having served on the synagogue's Board of Directors and as President of the Beth Sholom Men's Club. His wife, Helen, is a past President of the Sisterhood and they served as presidents of the two auxiliaries at the same time, only the second husband and wife in the history of Beth Sholom to have served as presidents of the Men's Club and Sisterhood simultaneously.
Neil is currently a Vice-president of the Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia; he has served on various committees and been a member of the Board of Directors since 2004. He and his wife of 36 years, Helen, reside in center city Philadelphia and have three children and two grandchildren.
Return to top
Harve Strouse is a CPA and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He is the Vice President and CFO of Community Management Services Group, and the Controller at Granor Price Homes.
He is the Treasurer of Congregation Beth El of Yardley, Pa, and a former Vice President and member of the Centennial School District Board of Directors.
Return to top
Rob Van Naarden began his technology career after earning bachelor degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering as well as masters degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. While enrolled in a PhD program in Electrical Engineering with specialization in Magneto-HydroDynamics, he was offered a position with Digital Equipment Corp. to design defense critical systems computers. He was on the original design team of the PDP 11 introduced in January of 1970 and holds patents for its major subsystems. The PDP 11 became the world's most successful mini-computer. At this same time Rob was asked to become a guest lecturer at MIT at the graduate school level teaching Computer Architecture.
After migrating through various engineering and engineering management roles, he originated the idea to design and bring to market the world's first microcomputer (the PDP 16) based partially on the successful PDP 11 design. He grew to be the youngest Profit and Loss Group Manager at Digital as well as managing its fastest growing business with all facets of the business (engineering, manufacturing, finance, marketing and sales) reporting to him. Having grown it to be profitable business he asked corporate management to allow him to take a role in the field sales organization as an experiment to find out why DEC had been so successful in every engineering and manufacturing organization but was still struggling in the "glass house" against one of its key competitors, IBM.
After a two year experiment in the Philadelphia area (then the largest concentration of Fortune 100 in the US), the experiment proved so successful that the learning experience was converted into a new training course for all new DEC sales people worldwide. While in Philadelphia he enrolled in the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for an Executive MBA sponsored by Digital.
In 1979 he joined one of his former managers at Digital and based on an idea formulated on a paper napkin started a company called Convergent Technologies. CT became the fastest growing company in the computer industry and the darling of Wall Street upon its IPO in 1984. In 6 years sales grew from a cold start to $673M in annual revenues. In 1987 the company was purchased by Unisys then its largest customer.
Rob and his partner at Convergent once again started another company called Ardent Computer focused on the single user supercomputer space. After 4 years the company merged with its principal competitor Stellar Computer to form Stardent Computer. Two years later at Rob's direction the company was sold by splitting it up into its four components/divisions.
Rob moved on to start and fix a variety of other companies always in executive management roles: Supermac, Firepower, Netframe, AMT, Sensar and Authentidate (where he started the company as its founder and CEO) always achieving improved value for its investors and shareholders. In 2004 Rob took a twist by taking his hi-tech business experience and applied it in an entirely different industry when he became CEO of Empire Kosher Poultry, Inc. When he arrived at Empire it was a distressed company very close to having its doors closed by the bankers and not having made a profit in 7 years. Rob was able to turn it into a profitable and growing company in 9 months while learning an entirely new business. After two years and having put Empire on an impressive growth path and profitability he decided to return to his roots in technology.
Rob currently serves on the boards of several technology companies as well as being an early stage investor while playing an active role with an emerging enterprise software company that is solving the problem of the threat of insider abuse and the potential leakage of critical data and intellectual property to outside the organization. This is global problem facing every company.
Rob continues to keep his hands in a set of diversified businesses including a feature film project currently in development.
Rob, a long-time member of Beth Sholom Congregation, joined the Board of Directors of the Hebrew Free Loan Society in 2010.
Return to top
Joshua Weingram is a project manager at Dranoff Properties. He is a member of both Minyan Merkaz and Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel in Center City.
Return to top
Philip Witman is a Director of Global Regulatory Affairs at GlaxoSmithKline, with a specialization in oncology and biopharmaceutical products. His career in the pharmaceutical/biopharmaceutical industry includes more than 29 years of clinical and regulatory experience in managing investigational and marketed products. In the past five years, he has led the regulatory activities that resulted in the approval of two new treatments for cancer in the US.
Besides the Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia, he is an active fundraiser for the American Cancer Society and Livestrong. He and his wife are proud members of Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park.
While a college and graduate student, the Hebrew Free Loan Society in Northern New Jersey provided Philip with interest-free loans that helped pay for his tuition. He was extremely fortunate that this program existed and became a donor once the repayments had been completed. When he learned of the Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia, it was easy for him to volunteer to help provide other interest-free loans to those who could benefit from the assistance. As part of the HFLS, he has served as secretary and assisted with the issuance of loans.
Return to top
8231 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027
Information: info@hebrewfreeloanphila.org or 267-709-9652
Copyright, 2008, Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia