The Aleph Institute hosted a private dinner to honor long-time friend Professor Alan Dershowitz on his 80th birthday. “Alan has played a pivotal role at Aleph, assisting us — pro bono — on dozens of cases over the years,” said Rabbi Aaron Lipskar, Aleph’s CEO/Executive Director, “he pours his heart and soul into his work for every family, and all of us are deeply indebted to him.” Most recently, Professor Dershowitz championed justice for Rabbi Shalom Mordechai Rubashkin, helping to secure clemency from President Trump and bringing him home to his family 17 years earlier than expected.
Ben Brafman emceed the private dinner at Reserve Cut, one of New York’s finest kosher restaurants, with more than 100 invited guests, among them Kenneth and Maria Cole, Ira and Ingeborg Rennert, Bob Morgenthau, Mort Klein, Senator Joe Lieberman’s wife Hadassah, Dan Loeb, Ben Nash; and birthday greetings were relayed from Bibi Netanyahu, Natan Sharansky, Ayelet Shaked, Len Blavatnik, and David Friedman.
Rabbi Lipskar bestowed birthday blessings; Howard Jonas presented Alan with Aleph’s Lifetime Achievement award highlighting Alan’s tenacious and unwavering pursuit of justice, integrity and kindness; and Aleph board member Joy Fishman urged the guests to seize the opportunity to join “the fine people in Aleph that care so deeply about people that society has left behind.”
“Too many of our people are in despair in horrible circumstances. It’s very important to me to support Aleph’s work,” said Harry Adjmi who graciously underwrote the dinner.
The Aleph Institute was founded in 1981 by Rabbi Sholom Ber Lipskar at the express direction of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, to address the spiritual, educational, and humanitarian needs of thousands of men and women in institutional environments, such as the military, prisons, and mental institutions and ensure that no one is alone, and no one is forgotten.
