HAPPY CHANUKAH! ENJOY YOUR EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS!
Message from National Shomrim President Henri Portner
The next great event after our upcoming convention will be the Celebrate Israel Parade on Sunday, June 4, 2023, in NYC. The incoming National Shomrim president will lead our delegation up Fifth Avenue in NYC, so please make plans to join us. The 2023 parade will be important because it will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel. Our National Shomrim delegation is one of the largest and we love hearing the cheers of the crowds as we proudly march up the greatest and the most famous avenue in our great country. Bring your family, your friends, and let’s show NYC who we really are.
Our National Shomrim Facebook page is continuously updated with job opportunities, chapter and member news, and posts that are important to our communities and to our professional lives. All chapter members and associate members should ask to join the National Shomrim Facebook page, and once you answer the questions, the administrators will review your request and unless there’s an issue with your membership, you will be approved and have access to everything you need to know about National Shomrim and our chapters.
A reminder to all chapters and associate members to post events, notices and anything related to your chapter, your members or the Jewish and law/fire communities to the National Shomrim Facebook page. We’ve also had several requests to join the Facebook page from family members or friends of chapter and associate members, and while we appreciate the love, we can’t always approve them if they have no connection to our mission. We don’t like turning down people or posts. Unfortunately we have to be very careful these days, as we don’t want anyone who is looking to hack our Facebook page or has malicious intent to cause harm to anyone in our group.
Chapter News and Events
Our chapters have some great Chanukah events coming up, so let’s all celebrate the Festival of Lights together!
- Monday, December 19, 2022, NYPD Shomrim will hold their annual candle lighting ceremony at 5:30 p.m. in the lobby of One Police Plaza, NYC. Please RSVP to President@nypdshomrim.org to attend. There will be a collation right after the Menorah lighting. NYPD Shomrim will also have a Children’s Chanukah party on Sunday, December 18, 2022, at 11:30 at the Laser Bounce Family Fun Center, Glendale, NY. Please email NYPD Shomrim 2nd VP Josh Zucker at JoshuaZ@nypdshomrim.org or call him at (929) 277-7970 for information.
- Nassau Shomrim will be having their annual Menorah Lighting on Monday, December 19, 2022, at Nassau County Police Dept HQ, Donald F. Kane Assembly Hall, 1490 Franklin Avenue, Mineola, NY. It will begin at 4:30 and they will serve light Chanukah treats. Their annual Chanukah party will be on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. at Colbeh Restaurant, 75 N Station Plaza, Great Neck, NY. Tickets are $36 for two. They will be presenting their Scholarship Awards at the dinner as well, so please RSVP to NassauShomrim@gmail.com to attend.
- For their first Chanukah event, Shomrim of Minnesota is planning a Menorah lighting for Monday, December 19, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. at the Western District Community Room, 389 Hamline Avenue N, St. Paul, MN. They will have refreshments and games, so please email their president, Sheila Lambie at stlambie@aol.com if you’d like to join them or click here for the flyer.
- After a two year hiatus, Shomrim of Illinois is bringing back their Chanukah Party. Food, entertainment, the lighting of the Menorah and games for kids will be at Nickel City Games, 555 Waukegan Road, Northbrooke, IL on Sunday, December 18, 2022. The fun begins at 3:30 p.m. and they’ll even supply the nickels! RSVP to Shomrim of Illinois President David Appel at dapple@hotmail.com if you want to join in the celebration.
- Port Authority Shomrim will have their Annual Menorah Lighting on Thursday, November 22, 2022, at 5:30 p.m. at the Oculus at the WTC. Their one of a kind menorah, designed with a piece of original WTC steel, is on display to the public throughout the holiday season. There will be Chanukah refreshments available and attendance is restricted due to security concerns, so please RSVP to PA Shomrim President Scot Pomerantz at spomerantz@panynj.gov. Click here for the flyer.
Two chapters held their annual dinner dances, and both were elegant events with an excellent turnout. Shomrim of Illinois held their first dinner dance in over two years on Thursday, November 3, 2022, at the rooftop ballroom of the Doubletree Hotel in Skokie. The weather cooperated and guests were treated to beautiful views from the floor to ceiling windows of Skokie and downtown Chicago. Representatives from NYPD Shomrim, Nassau Shomrim and Port Authority Shomrim joined many Shomrim of Illinois members their families and guests as their organization honored several worthy individuals. Shomrim of Illinois President David Appel announced their organization made a generous donation to Birthright, which gives away free trips to Israel to teens and young adults throughout the year. South Florida Shomrim’s annual dinner was on Thursday, November 10, 2022, at Temple Solel in Hollywood and Port Authority Shomrim President Scot Pomerantz attended with his son Chad, Past National Shomrim/Past NYPD Shomrim President Marty Turetzky and his wife Rebecca, and many other Shomrim members and guests. Among the individuals honored was Surfside (FL) Mayor Danielle Levine Cava, who maintained a nonstop presence at the Surfside site and held vigils with the families, emergency workers and everyone involved in helping at that catastrophic event.
South Florida Shomrim is planning a great outing to cheer on Team Israel on Sunday, March 5, 2023, as they play in the World Baseball Classic in Loan Depot/Marlins Park in Miami. Details will be in a future newsletter.
Save the date for the NYPD Shomrim Society Dinner Dance on Thursday, June 1, 2023, at Da Mikele Illagio in Queens, NY. They decided to move the date for the dinner dance to June so that chapters and members can coordinate their travel to NYC with the Celebrate Israel Parade. Two great events to look forward to in June, so let’s have big turnouts for both!
MEMBER NEWS
Port Authority Shomrim President Scot Pomerantz trained for a year and his commitment paid off, as he ran the NYC Marathon on November 6, 2022 in a time of 5 hours 4 minutes. When the starter’s gun went off and tens of thousands of runners began their epic trek over the Verrazano Bridge thru the 5 boros of NYC, Scot’s starting time was 9:ll, which was amazing as he was running for the Tunnels to Towers Foundation, an organization that helps the families of fallen and injured police officers lost and suffering from 9/11 related illnesses, as well as police officers, fire fighters and members of our military. Scot raised over $5,000 for them, making his starting time even more symbolic.
Great work by Port Authority Shomrim member PO Seth Friedman and his partner PO Anthony Banno of LGA Airport Command in apprehending a suspect that was reported to be assaulting passengers with a machete on board a NYC bus on the lower roadway of Terminal B at LGA on September 16, 2022. When POs Friedman and Banno arrived on the scene the suspect had fled. They received a description of the individual and began a search and located the suspect on another MTA bus in the area around LGA. PO Friedman and Banno safely evacuated the passengers from the bus and were able to take the suspect into custody. PO Friedman and PO Banno’s actions represent the two of the finest of the Port Authority Police and both were recognized as Cops of the Month by the Port Authority PBA.
Recently, Port Authority Shomrim Executive VP PO Jacob Shrybman and his partner PO Dalfry Rodriguez, assigned to a plainclothes detail aimed at ending a series of grand larcenies in the WTC retail shops, observed an individual taking several thousand dollars worth of clothes from Banana Republic and leave without paying for them. POs Shrybman and Rodriguez approached the suspect, who resisted, and placed him under arrest. The suspect was linked to a grand larceny pattern identified by PAPD Detectives, including four additional grand larcenies at a Gap location within the NYPD 1st Precinct. Outstanding work by POs Shrybman and Rodriguez, the PAPD Detective Unit and the NYPD.
Call him Mr. Mayor! Past Port Authority Shomrim President Scott Jablow has been elected Mayor of the city of Sedona, Arizona. Scott was sworn into his position on Monday, November 28, 2022, after serving as Vice Mayor in 2020. He and his wife Janet relocated to Arizona after he retired from the Port Authority Police, serving 30 years with that great agency, the majority of the time at JFK Airport. He jumped into Sedona government in 2014, was elected Councilor twice, served on the Sedona Fire District Board and was instrumental in negotiating a 3,000 lb of original WTC steel for their 9/11 memorial, that stands in front of the Sedona Fire District Station no. 6. Congratulations Scott!
On November 12, 2022, South Florida Shomrim’s longest serving member Irv Heller celebrated his 90th birthday with family and friends. Irv is known for his red hair and was congratulated by over 150 people on FB. He was front and center at South Florida Shomrim’s dinner dance a few day prior to his birthday. Mazal tov Irv and til 120!
Past National Shomrim President and Past NYPD Shomrim President Marty Turetzky celebrated his milestone 85th birthday with a big party. With his wife Rebecca by his side, 50+ people, including family and friends, flew into South Florida to wish Marty well on Saturday, December 3, 2022, and enjoyed a huge feast organized by his kids. Among his many accomplishments, he ran 5 NYC Marathons! Marty’s many friends from Shomrim came to wish him well too. Mazal tov Marty, and til 120!
Wishing Shomrim of Maryland member/Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Darren Popkin a hearty mazal tov as he recently retired after 38 years of service with their department in November. Darren celebrated with family, friends and coworkers, who all honored him with testimonials on his exemplary career. Welcome to the check of the month club Darren!
Shomrim of Maryland Chaplain Rabbi Chesky Tenenbaum attended the International Conference of Schluchim in New York City, the annual gathering of Chabad emissaries that come from all over the world where they run Chabad houses with their wives and families. Rabbi Tenenbaum led a workshop on law enforcement and public safety chaplaincy to his colleagues/rabbis at the Conference, a very important topic in today’s atmosphere of continued threats to the Jewish community. Straight from the Conference, Rabbi Tenenbaum went back to Baltimore to give the invocation for the Baltimore Police Dept’s Community Chaplains graduation. Along with Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison, two new rabbis were added to that department’s chaplains corp.
National Shomrim Sergeant-at-Arms Jeff Grossman’ retirement lasted about a month and a half til he got back into the game. He was sworn into his new position as a deputy constable with the ICE Aviation Security Office of the Bexar County Constables Office, Precinct Three. Jeff spent the time in between retirement and his new gig traveling to Honduras and Ecuador.
Girls just wanna have fun! That’s what happened when National Shomrim Corresponding Secretary/PA Shomrim First VP Betty Astrizky and Shomrim of Minnesota President Sheila Lambie met up on a recent cruise. Completely unplanned, Betty and Sheila found out they were booked on the same Celebrity cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale and, well, you can imagine what happened after that. Sheila celebrated mom Alice’s birthday on the ship, and as you may recall, Alice was instrumental in bringing Sheila into our National Shomrim family. They did talk Shomrim business, and might be planning a National Shomrim and Shomrim of Minnesota road trip to Minneapolis/St. Paul for the late summer/early fall of 2023, so stay tuned for details.
Welcome to new associate member Allen Mackler! Allen started his police career with the Springfield, Mass Police Department as a Police Cadet in 1975. He was appointed in 1979 and began in the Detective Bureau till 2008, where he transferred to the Special Victims Unit. Allen retired in January 2010 and began his second career in law enforcement as a Court Security Officer, where he still works full time. He has a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice and numerous commendations and letters of recognition. Married to his wife Wendy Friedman for 42 years, they have two daughters and two grandsons. Looking forward to meeting Allen at an upcoming event!
CHAPTER PRESIDENTS! As we enter a new year and a new National Shomrim Executive Board takes over, please remember to send in your chapters dues for 2023. It’s important that all chapters increase their visibility with recruitment, events and raise all your profiles within your respective departments and agencies. We’ve heard that a chapter is shutting down. That’s upsetting because any one on the National Shomrim board or any other chapter could have given guidance to their leadership. Chapter presidents, do not hesitate to reach out with questions, concerns, or advice from your cohorts in National Shomrim or our member chapters. As always, please forward the newsletter to your members as soon as it hits your inbox. Encourage your members to join the National Shomrim Facebook page. Appoint a younger member to manage your social media. Facebook, Instagram, Zoom is the way almost everyone communicates these days. And please join us at one of the many upcoming events in 2023. We want your chapter joining us as we march up Fifth Avenue in New York City for the Celebrate Israel Parade, and of course at our 2024 convention (details will be sent out in a future newsletter). Don’t sit back and do nothing. That’s how chapters get themselves into trouble. And remind all your members to “Like” our National Shomrim Facebook page. If you have chapter events coming up, or want to commend a member, post them to our Facebook page and they will be approved. Chapter members, send your dues directly to your chapter. As a reminder, they are 501 (c)(3) organizations and your dues and donations are tax deductible.
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS! As we continue to grow our associate membership, it’s important that you send in your dues for $18.00 for 2023. If you’ve done so, thank you for your continued commitment to our great organization. If you haven’t, please send them in as soon as possible. Unfortunately several associate members who weren’t up to date with their dues were recently dropped, even though we sent numerous emails and placed numerous phone calls to them to keep their membership active. More importantly, we want you to join us at National Shomrim and chapter events. National Shomrim is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and in addition to the work we do in planning events, meetings and special get togethers, they also donate time and money to worthy charities. So please send in your associate member dues of $18.00 for 2023 and if you’re unsure if your 2022 dues have been paid, contact Treasurer Marty Turetzky at rmturetzky@aol.com or Betty Astrizky at BAstrizky@aol.com. Also if your email has changes, or your home address, let us know that too. If you aren’t getting our newsletter or notices because we don’t have the correct information, let’s correct that please!