H eadlines
Longtime Gratz Educator Uziel Adini Dies at 83
OB ITUARY
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
UZIEL ADINI, an educator
and administrator who won
admirers across the country
for his dedication, innovation
and energy for Jewish educa-
tion, died on May 27 at the age
of 83. Adini — Uzi, to those
who knew him — had battled
leukemia for some time.

Adini, wrote Joseph Davis,
a professor of Jewish studies
at Gratz College, “was one of
the leading Jewish educational
administrators in the United
States from the 1970s until his
retirement in 2007.”
Jonathan Sarna, the famed
scholar of American Jewish
history, wrote in an academic
forum last week that “we
extend deepest condolences to
Prof. Adini’s family, colleagues,
students and friends.”
Uziel Adini
Courtesy of Tali Adini
Adini was born in
Mandatory Palestine in 1937.

His parents, Leah and Yisrael
Adini, were active members
of Ha-Poel Ha-Mizrachi, the
Religious Zionist Workers
Party, and his mother was the
first religious woman to address
the Zionist Congress. All four
of Adini’s grandparents died
in Auschwitz; his parents, and
the parents of his wife, Tamar
(Löw) Adini, all lived and died
in Tel Aviv.

Though Adini left Israel
for Philadelphia in the 1960s,
never to return for an extended
period, Israel was entwined
with everything he did.

“Israel was instilled in every
aspect of his life,” said his
daughter, Tali Adini.

After completing his Israel
Defense Forces service, Adini
earned bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in Bible, Hebrew
literature and education
at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem. Following that, he
and his wife packed up and
left for Philadelphia, where
Adini studied for a doctorate of
education at Dropsie College.

His dissertation, completed
in 1969, was a preview of what
was to come: It was about
the transmission of Jewish
values to high school students
through Hebrew literature.

Tamar Adini knew something
about that; for 28 years, she led
the Hebrew, Jewish Studies and
Foreign languages department
at Akiba Hebrew Academy
(now the Jack M. Barrack
Hebrew Academy).

In 1965, Adini began
teaching at Gratz, an associ-
ation that he would maintain
for the rest of his life. At a time
when Hebrew language educa-
tion was flourishing, Adini
was an expert in contemporary
and Biblical Hebrew, and he
instructed students at Gratz as
well as at Temple University.

He was a beloved teacher,
according to his daughter.

“He really knew how to tell
a story, how to captivate an
audience,” Tali Adini said. “So
many of his students have come
up to me and said, ‘He was the
best teacher I’ve ever had.’”
In addition to his time as
a professor at Gratz, Adini
spent 23 years as the director
of the Jewish Community High
School of Gratz College, and
he eventually served as the
school’s vice president.

Adini loved riddles and jokes,
and had a lovely singing voice.

He led seders, and when family
members celebrated milestones,
he would come up with a special
gematria of the person’s name.

His weekly recitation of the
Kiddush, Tali Adini said, will
be greatly missed.

Adini is survived by his
wife, Tamar; his brother, Ami;
his daughters, Tali and Ronit;
and four grandchildren. l
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
Joe Zuritsky to Receive Award From AJC
L OCA L
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
JOE ZURITSKY, chairman
and CEO of Parkway Corp.,
will be honored with the
American Jewish Committee
Philadelphia/Southern New
Jersey’s Human Relations
Award at the organization’s
annual meeting on June 23.

Zuritsky, a longtime AJC
board member and a key
supporter, was an obvious
candidate to be this year’s
recipient, according to Marcia
Bronstein, regional director
of AJC Philadelphia/Southern
New Jersey.

The Human Relations Award
“is for a person who’s near
and dear to AJC, like a family
member,” Bronstein said. “That
really does mean Joe, to a T.”
“I am honored, very much
honored,” Zuritsky said. “It’s
8 JUNE 17, 2021
University President
part of supporting an
John A. Fry in the
organization that I hold
virtual ceremony where
in high value.”
Zuritsky will receive his
Zuritsky, a patron
award. of many local, national
Bronstein was not yet
and Israeli organiza-
AJC’s regional director
tions, said he is flattered
when she
met Zuritsky
he was selected for
for the
first time.

the award, though he
Working in
develop- admits that, having been
ment and
engagement, honored in a similar
her first contact with
fashion so many times
Zuritsky was on a cold
over the years, he looks
call; she “wanted to tell
forward to when he
him a little bit about
won’t impose on friends
who we are and what
for their support.

Joe Zuritsky
Courtesy of Parkway Corp.

we do, because he didn’t
“Hopefully, this is
know.” Zuritsky agreed
the last honor I’ll get,”
Israel, and advocating for to a meeting, and it was a
he laughed.

Per the AJC, Zuritsky “has democratic values and human fruitful one.

The AJC “captured his
been a stalwart member of rights for all. Joe has long been
AJC’s Board and Executive a supporter of interfaith and imagination,” Bronstein said,
Committee for many years. intergroup dialogue, and a by dint of its impact on local
and national politics. Zuritsky,
He is a passionate advocate for lifelong learner.”
The 2021 annual meeting, with his interest in intergroup
AJC’s mission of protecting
Jewish lives and communities, AJC’s 77th, will feature a relations and ensuring the
ensuring a safe and secure keynote address from Drexel future success of Jewish and
JEWISH EXPONENT
Zionist organizations, found a
home at AJC.

“He’s a role model, a mentor
and innovator, someone
not afraid to tackle issues,”
Bronstein said. “And Joe
embodies what AJC stands for.

He is a centrist. He will work
with everybody on both sides
of the aisle.”
Zuritsky, for his part, sees the
AJC as a bastion of well-trained,
intelligent representatives of
the Jewish people, bringing a
“diplomatic approach” to sensi-
tive, important issues for Jews
around the world.

“That’s something that
the Jewish people really
need: really highly qualified
spokesmen to speak around
the world on Jewish and Israeli
issues. And that’s what the AJC
does,” Zuritsky said. l
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H eadlines
Food Redistribution
Guides Abbe Stern
L OCA L
ANDY GOTLIEB | JE STAFF
Prevention Point Philadelphia
and SEAMAAC, in partnership
with the City of Philadelphia and
several nonprofits to provide free
lunches to the needy. More than
50,000 lunches were provided
through April.

As project manager for
Step Up to the Plate, Stern
faced numerous pandemic-re-
lated challenges, noting that
“waste occurs when something
unexpected happens.”
At first, Stern had to scurry
to find places for the food that
pandemic-closed restaurants
were giving away before it
spoiled. And then there were
different challenges, such as
shelters no longer being able to
serve food indoors. That created
the need to find ways to coordi-
nate meals at other sites.

Earlier this year, Stern joined
Too Good to Go, the European-
based organization that debuted
in Philadelphia in February.

TGTG’s app links consumers
with food businesses, allowing
retailers to sell surplus food,
while consumers get value, too.

While various efforts are
making a difference in getting
food to where it needs to be,
there’s still a long way to go, said
Stern, a Wynnewood native who
celebrated her bat mitzvah at
Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El.

“The access to food is
atrocious,” she said, adding that
anyone looking to donate food
should make sure their chosen
organization can accept it,
needs it and wants it. “Hunger
is something we should be easily
able to solve.”
A benefit of working in food
redistribution comes from the
thanks received. Stern recounted
delivering food to an ill — but
grateful — woman through the
Mitzvah Food Program.

“I felt so privileged to do that
work for her,” she said. l
PEOPLE FIND THEIR paths
in life at different times and,
for Abbe Stern, that moment
came at Johnson & Wales
University while her professor
was lecturing.

“The professor said, ‘There’s
enough food on the planet to
feed everyone. The problem is
distribution,’” Stern said.

A couple years later, while
working in the food service
industry, Stern saw firsthand the
inefficiencies and waste in food
distribution and took action.

“My trigger point was when
I saw a trash can full of bread,”
she said. “I just lost it. Why did
we throw this away?”
At first, Stern, 31, collected
leftover bread from the
Rittenhouse Hotel where she
was working and brought it to
the Sunday Breakfast Rescue
Mission. Soon, she was collecting
and redistributing bread from
multiple sources to several local
food rescue organizations.

Stern’s work has made others
take notice, as she’s one of five
finalists for the National Museum
of American Jewish History’s
Hometown Hero inductee into
its Ed Snider Only in America
Gallery/Hall of Fame.

The museum solicited nomina-
tions for Hometown Heroes
— “everyday citizens who strive
to make their communities a
better place and made particularly
impactful commitments during
the pandemic” — in May, and
voting continues until June 21.

NMAJH cited Stern for volun-
teering with Jewish Federation of
Greater Philadelphia’s Mitzvah
Food Program, founding Fooding
Forward to connect food business
with nonprofits to share excess
food, and for working with Step Up
to the Plate during the pandemic.

The latter is a 2020 collabora- agotlieb@jewishexponent.com;
tion of the Broad Street Ministry, 215-832-0797
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM JEWISH EXPONENT
JUNE 17, 2021
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