Enochs Help Build Sinai’s Ties to Israel Bonds
By Michael Jacobs | mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com
The woman who built Temple Sinai and the man who provided the financial means for her to devote herself to volunteer work were honored by the Reform congregation at an Israel Bonds dinner Wednesday, June 3.
Ina and Harold Enoch were celebrated and at times roasted while $1.62 million in bonds were sold at the Sandy Springs synagogue.
Rabbi Brad Levenberg noted that Ina Enoch still has her original hard hat and her copies of the blueprints from the renovation and expansion of Temple Sinai more than a decade ago. As for her dentist husband, the rabbi said, “Well, he paid for it with his hard work with our endowment committee.”
In welcoming the crowd of a couple of hundred people to the synagogue, Steve Berman pulled out another Ina Enoch hard hat that he said he found in storage. “The Enochs are Temple Sinai,” he said, “and this is the house that Ina built.”
That house played host to what might be Ambassador Opher Aviran’s last official appearance as Israel’s consul general to the Southeast. Aviran said Israel Bonds play a crucial role in one of the four legs of successful diplomacy for Israel, a strong economy, and he hopes that other states follow the example of Georgia, which bought $10 million in Israel Bonds last year.
He also praised the turnout at Temple Sinai for including so many young faces.
Chuck Berk, a Temple Sinai member and the general chairman of Israel Bonds in Atlanta, noted that about $1.2 billion in Israel Bonds were sold in the United States last year.
“Every Jew should be buying Israel Bonds,” he said, because they’re a safe investment with a good return, they’re easy to buy and to redeem, and they make great gifts in increments as small as double chai ($36).
While thanking the evening’s hosts, Lynn and Jan Saperstein and Cathy and Alan Gottlieb, as well as everyone who turned out to honor them and buy bonds, the Enochs focused their remarks on Israel.
Harold Enoch said guest speaker Lior Vaknin, a young entrepreneur who heads Israeli Startups NYC, represents the hope and future of Israel.
Ina Enoch said she fell in love with Israel on her first visit in 1983, renewed that love affair on Rabbi Ron Segal’s first Temple Sinai trip to Israel in 1999, went back in 2002, and now can’t wait to return again early next year.
Photos: Israel Bonds Dinner
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