October 2020
As mentioned in the previous newsletter, a National Shomrim Zoom meeting was held on Sunday, September 27, 2020. I am very pleased to report that 12 chapters logged in, along with 7 National Shomrim Board members, 6 past presidents, 3 regional vice presidents and several chapter members and associate members. We had healthy and informative discussions on many topics, including the 2021 National Shomrim convention, membership, upcoming events and, of course, how we are all coping with the ongoing pandemic and the disruption to our activities and our personal lives. One idea that was met with great enthusiasm was a get together in Las Vegas in 2021. That will only happen when and if it is safe to travel. We are all anxious to travel once again, to see our friends in Shomrim, attend chapter events and have fun, but we must also remember the pandemic is still strong and we cannot risk jeopardizing our health. There will come a time, hopefully in 2021, when we can do all these again.
Past National Shomrim President and past NYPD Shomrim President Larry Wein invited a special guest to attend our Zoom meeting. Gabriel Bitton is the Police and Public Security Attache to North America for Israel and is currently based in Los Angeles. Larry met him when he was in California some time ago and struck up a friendship. Gabriel was excited to meet all of us and would like to try to form a Shomrim chapter when he returns to Israel. As of now his diplomatic status does not allow him to join National Shomrim as an associate member but he wants to be as active as possible with our organization and we are happy to have him join us.
Henri Portner
President