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2 0 0 9OCTOBER

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Tourographypage 3

INSIDEThis Issue

Touro's Got Talentpage 5

Eighteen Students Benefi t from Touro Student Financial Aid

By Alan Lury, Chairman, Student Financial Aid Committee

Three young men – one studying to become a lawyer, another to be a doctor and the third a teacher – have been selected as this year’s recipients of Touro’s $3,000 Scholarship Grants. Another 15

students received $2,000 interest-free loans as part of the Association’s 2009 Student Financial Aid Program. All are children of Touro members. Andrew Lehrer of Cranston is the law student selected. He completed his undergraduate work at Bentley College and is attending the Boston University School of Law. He is the son of Touro member Stephen L. Lehrer of Cranston. Andrew was elected to the Bentley College Honor Society and the Beta Gamma Sigma business honor society. He also graduated from the intensive Chinese language program at Xiamen University in China. Kevin Levin, son of Touro member Robert Levin of Waterford, Conn., is in his second year at the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, La. His undergraduate studies were completed at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to moving to New Orleans, he spent two years conducting research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse and has had several papers published dealing with drug and alcohol dependence. The future teacher in the group is Charles Winkleman, son of Touro member Joseph Winkleman of Providence. Charles is in his junior year at the University of Vermont majoring in early childhood teacher education. During his sophomore year he served an internship at the university’s pre-school and this summer was employed at a community pre-school. Last spring he worked with other students helping the rebuilding program in Saint Bernard’s Parish in New Orleans. Again this year, a total of $39,000 was available for Touro loans and grants. Since the Leo Greenberg Memorial Student Loan Program was introduced in 1981, children of Touro members have received loans totaling nearly $300,000. None have been defaulted!

Touro "Holes" Another Great Golf Outing

page 4

Finally, a League of Our OwnBy Andy Lamchick

For many years, Touro members have been talking about creating a golf league exclusively for our members. After a lot of research, hard work, and

drive, (forgive the pun) it became a reality. Back in May, 20 members made the commitment to play golf each Tuesday night at Laurel Lane Country Club. After some adjustments, rainy nights and a few heated exchanges on the fi rst tee, our league was off and running.

Andrew Lehrer

Charles Winkleman

Kevin Levin

Continued on page 6 - LeagueWait...there's more...page 6 League organizer, Barry Shaw

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To…brother Michael and Marilyn Smith on their 41st anniversary

To…brother Gerald and Joan Tebrow on their 41st anniversary

To… brother Adam Smith on his recent engagement to Andrea Allgood

Social Scene

By Reid Redlich

Well, here it is, another Tourogram! And that means I have to write another article. It seems to become a larger task every time! I suppose I could write

about lots of things, but I always seem to ask: what is it you would like to read about? Is it about what has happened at Touro since the last

Tourogram? The Pawsox, Newport Playhouse, monthly meetings, committee meetings, board meetings, new internet service and WIFI throughout our building, student loans and grants…maybe! Is it about the discussions we are having regarding “social media”…e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn and My Space which are the current wave for communicating with each other or more importantly with long standing friends and relatives? We are really looking at these opportunities in order to help continue to grow our organization by adding not only new members, but also new ideas for meetings and functions going forward. We have also taken steps to continue our efforts in taking Touro “green.” Headed up by our Communications Committee chairman, Jed Brandes, we are gathering email addresses so that we can begin to communicate electronically and hopefully save some trees (and money) along the way. As I am certain you will read elsewhere in this issue, there are many other things going on here at Touro … Our Community Involvement Committee chairman, Andy Lamchick, has been busy with projects like the new kosher food bank and other opportunities for us to continue giving back to the community. So whether it is any of the committees I mentioned, or others, I would like to thank each and every brother who is active in an elected position and helps on a regular basis to keep our organization vibrant. I also would like to thank those brothers who attend meetings on a regular basis because you are the links that hold us together. In addition, I would also like to invite those brothers who have not attended a meeting in a while to come see what you are missing. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Fraternally,

Bob Miller

From The Administrator’s Desk

By Peter Hodosh, Touro Administrator

Notice to the Snow Birds of Winter:If you leave the state for the winter, and do not have your bulk mail forwarded, please notify the Administrator of your out-of-state address so that we can continue to forward all of your Touro mail.

The Social Scene at Touro combines the friendship of brotherhood with great events and entertainment which appeal

to a wide range of ages and interests. The Social Committee strives to provide the best experience possible, whether it is a lodge meeting at Touro Hall or an evening of food, fun and dancing at one of the great venues in our area. Recent events included the annual Golf Tournament on July 29th at North Kingstown Country Club. On August 29th, we went to the Newport Playhouse for a buffet dinner and a great show topped off with a cabaret. On September 23rd, the Friendship Lodge meeting featured Ed Valenti who explained how he sliced and diced his way though an interesting life. On October 21st, Harmony Lodge welcomed Alice Goldstein who told us of her experience as a Holocaust survivor and shared her impressions of Germany today.

Here’s what you can look forward to in the coming months.

A Membership Open House will be on November 8th, where you can invite a prospective member to watch the Patriots vs. Dolphins game on our big screen along with a great lunch.

November 18th, Jeff Horovitz will be the MC for Touro "Joke Off".

November 29th, Touro goes to Foxwoods

December 13th, Touro hosts its annual Chanukah Party. This year, we have a juggling and magic show for the kids.

December 16th, Harmony Lodge hosts the monthly meeting with a speaker to be announced.

December 25th, Touro sponsors the annual Chinese buffet and movie event. This year’s two seatings will be at 12 PM and 2 PM.

The Social Committee spends a great deal of time putting these events together for our membership. Please consider helping us make things even better by offering your suggestions for speakers, new events and venues. The committee meets the fi rst Wednesday of every month at 7:30 PM in Touro Hall.

From The ChairmanBy Robert Miller

Mazels, Mitvahs & Milestones

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From the PresidentBy Jeff Horovitz, President of Friendship Lodge

TOUROGRAPHY: Marc Gertsacov, More than Just Taking Minutes

By Lester Nathan

Happy New Year to all my Touro Brothers. I would like to use this opportunity to introduce a few new members to the Friendship Lodge slate of offi cers.

Newest to the team is Brother Benjamin Kaplan, our lodge Treasurer. Brother Kaplan has already shined bright by bringing in a handful of new applicants, and we expect nothing but good things to come from this future Touro Leader. Also new to the slate, but certainly not new to serving in Touro, are Brothers Steven White as the Friendship Lodge Inside Guard and Marc Gertsacov as the Friendship Lodge Secretary. Brother Gertsacov should have no trouble achieving success in this position, giving his outstanding continued performance as the Association Secretary. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Brothers Ried Redlich, our continuing dependable Friendship Lodge Vice President, and Judah Rosen, our committed Chaplain. As you can see it takes many fi ne volunteers to keep Touro running and I encourage all Touro regular members to become involved. If you have served in the past we welcome you and your experience back. Come and serve again. With your help, cooperation and participation, I am looking forward to a fun, event-fi lled winter. I take this opportunity to again wish you and your family a Shana Tova: may this be a year of health and happiness.

I fi rst met Marc Gertsacov, a relatively new Touro member, when he began attending Board meetings as the Association Secretary. But beyond that role, he’s

helped Touro to increase its membership by bringing in younger members and making valuable contributions to the committees on which he serves. Unlike most of our members, a friend or family member did not recruit Marc. After reading about our donation towards the Senior Center’s new van back in 2006, he decided to apply for membership. Since joining, he’s come to appreciate Touro’s fraternalism and the opportunity to meet people and make new friends. He likes the organization’s cultural aspects and of course, the food. In his words, “so far, so good.” Marc began his service as the Association’s secretary in 2007. He enjoys taking the minutes and participating in the Board meetings. In addition, he’s just begun his fi rst term as Friendship Lodge’s secretary, which means he’ll get a lot of practice participating in monthly lodge meetings. Marc grew up in the Auburn section of Cranston, attended Cranston East and continued on to Skidmore College in New York, majoring in economics with a philosophy minor. Upon graduation, he attended Brooklyn Law School for a law degree. He’s currently employed at the Law Offi ces of Ronald C. Markoff as a title and transactional real estate attorney. Married to Susan for seven years, Marc is father to three children:

Anna (6), Jackson (4) and Harrison (3 mos.). They recently hosted a reception for Harrison’s bris at Touro’s Social Hall. In his limited amounts of spare time, Marc enjoys playing golf and barbeque. Marc currently serves on the Membership, Social, Community Involvement, Communications and Cemetery committees. So far, he fi nds the Membership Committee the most interesting because of the opportunity to help recruit younger members. Already, he’s brought several friends into Touro. And, he’s also assisted in planning the upcoming Open House Tailgate Party, set for early November. When asked about Touro’s community involvement, he said the organization does a good job supporting local charities and causes, but ought to go a bit further via social action.

He and his wife, Susan, have been involved with the Young Leadership Division (also known as The Network) and serve as co-chairpersons of the Education Committee. The Network’s objective is to engage younger Jewish people in the area to participate in a broad range of activities as a means to enhance their commitment and connection to the Federation’s work. As you can tell, Marc Gertsacov is a Touro member who will be making many valuable contributions to Touro in the future, through member recruitment, suggestions and social action.

An American fl ag that fl ew in Iraq has been presented to Touro in honor of our late administrator, Jerry Hodosh.

Jerry’s brother Bob (r) presented the fl ag recently to Chairman Bob Miller, along with a certifi cate documenting

the fact that it had been fl own over the Multi-National Corps headquarters in Iraq. The fl ag was a gift from

Bob’s son-in-law, Chief AVA E. Zatounian.

American Flag Presented to Touro

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Touro’s annual golf outing once again took place at North Kingstown Country Club on Monday, July

29th. More than 70 members and guests hit the links for another great event. After a month of almost constant rain, Touro was treated to a nice dry day for the outing. The event capped off with a prime rib dinner in the afternoon.This year’s winners were:

Touro Team First Place: Howard Bilow, Joel Cohen, Joseph Goodman, Jerry Tebrow

Touro Team Second Place: Howard Meyerson, Richard Levenson,

Larry Meyerson, and Sandy Shaw

Member/Guest First Place: Ernie Grilli, Leonard Buckler,

David Brandt, and Harvey Green

Member/Guest 2nd Place: Howard Shaw, Peter Caldera,

Barry Shaw, and Lew Gammons

Member/Guest Longest Drive and Closest to Pin:

Ernie Grilli

Touro Closest to Pin: Howard Bilow

Touro Longest Drive: Howard Meyerson

Touro “Holes” Another Great Golf Outing

First Place Touro Team

Second Place Touro Team

First Place Member/Guest Team

Second Place Place Member/Guest Team

Ernie Grilli won both "Longest Drive" and "Closest to the Pin" for Member/Guest Team

Howard Meyerson won "Longest Drive" for a Touro Member

Howard Billo won "Closest to the Pin" for a Touro Member

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This summer’s June Steak Fry was the site of Touro’s fi rst, and maybe fi nal, “Touro’s Got Talent” contest. Let’s put

it this way, Simon Cowell will not be banging down the hallowed doors here at Touro to seek out a new undiscovered treasure. Nevertheless, everyone who participated had a great time.

Six members entered the event. Awards were given out to the top three acts. Top honor went to Barry Levin playing a “mean” saxophone, second place to Meyer Grossman for his comic prowess and third place to Judah Rosen for his singing. Kudos also go out to the other three contestants, Larry Kulman, Jerry Snell and Leon Resnick, for just having the nerve to get up in front of an audience to perform.

Touro’s Got Talent…Well Sort of

By Bruce Weisman

12 New Brothers are Initiated at

June 24th Meeting

Touro welcomed 12 new brothers at the June 24 Steak Fry. They are listed (alphabetically)

Lawrence Bloomberg, Richard Cohen, Jason M. Hochman, Dale K. Klatzker,

Bradley Laye, Michael L, Levin, Steven Parenteau, Michael Rovin, Adam Sinel, Arthur Spingarn,

Richard Sutton and Bradley Walter.

Barry Levin

Larry Kulman

Jerry Snell

Judah Rosen

Meyer Grossman

Leon Resnick

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Friendship Lodge Presents Ed Valenti, but Wait, There’s More!

By Barry Schiff

Wednesday evening September 24th may have signaled the end of another Touro summer season, but that didn’t stop grill master Bob Miller from cooking up burgers and dogs in classic summer style for our Friendship Lodge meeting.

The highlight of the evening was our speaker, Ed Valenti. The name may not be familiar, but his two keystone products, the Miracle Painter and the Ginsu Knife, are household names. He gave up his advertising career at Channel 10 to become the “King of Television Direct Response Marketing.” Twenty-seven years ago, he took a Midwest produce knife set, gave it a Japanese name with no meaning and a clever marketing campaign, to a record $50 million in sales. The secret to his success was to take a product people did not need or want and create in his customers an insatiable desire to have that product. A lively question and answer session followed his presentation. Ed stressed to our members that the secret to business success is to take a chance and live your dreams. A New Year’s lesson for us all.

The group was divided into two divisions based upon their scores during a warm-up round. What started out to be a group of somewhat familiar faces, ended up being a tight knit league of Touro Brothers who shared lots of fun, and some not-so fun, experiences on the golf course. As the weeks rolled on, many of the players shared dinner after each round at Laurel Lane’s dining room. Each week seemed to bring on better and better nightly dinner specials. If you know your brothers, you can imagine that this became as big a draw as the golf. Throughout the summer, the competition got hot and exciting in both divisions. But when all was said and done, it ended with a fabulous awards buffet with the following winners:

Division A First place ............Neil Arbor Second Place .........Barry Shaw

Division B First Place ............. Howard Shaw Second Place ......... Jerry Tebrow

Prizes were awarded courtesy of Touro’s Board of Directors. Heartfelt thanks go out to Barry Shaw, and especially Abe Strashnick, who did all the score keeping and ranking throughout the summer. It was a tireless and thankless job for both. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a new Touro tradition. Whether you’re a scratch player or a hacker, you really should consider joining this very fun group next year. It was a lot of fun, camaraderie and even some exercise.

League - continued from page 1

Neil Arbor

Barry Shaw

DIV

ISIO

N A

Win

ners

DIV

ISIO

N B

Win

ners

Howard Shaw

Jerry Tebrow

Ed Valenti (l) with Brother Andy Lamchick

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PAWSOX&

VENUS

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H A R M O N Y • F R I E N D S H I P • B E N E V O L E N C E

HARMONY LODGEAdam Halpern, President

Manochehr Norparvar, Vice PresidentAdam Smith, Secretary

Norman Dinerman, TreasurerBarry Schiff, Inside Guard

FRIENDSHIP LODGEJeff Horovitz, President

Ried Redlich, Vice President Marc Gertsacov, Secretary

Benjamin Kaplan, TreasurerSteven White, Inside Guard

Bruce Weisman, EditorColumnists: Jed Brandes Howard Custis Edward Deluty Andrew Lamchick Lester Nathan Arthur Poulten Reid Redlich Barry Schiff Adam Smith

Touro Fraternal Association

45 Rolfe Square, P.O. Box 3562, Cranston, RI 02910Phone: 401-785-0066Fax: 401-941-8781E-Mail: tourofratl@aol.comWebsite: www.tourofraternal.org

Robert Miller, ChairmanAndrew Lamchick, Vice Chairman

Steven Waldman, TreasurerMarc Gertsacov, SecretaryJudah Rosen, Chaplain

Barry Shaw, Inside GuardArthur Poulten, Chairman Emeritus

TOURO BOARD OF DIRECTORS2009-2010

Visit Touro's Website at www.tourofraternal.org

Non-Profi t Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDProvidence, RIPermit #719

TOURO FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONP.O. BOX 3562CRANSTON, RI 02910

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2 0 0 9 OCTOBER 5 7 7 0

Jed BrandesMilton BronsteinMorton CokenJeffrey DavisEdward DelutyStevan LabushRodney LockeAlan Lury

Nathan LuryBarry RotenbergBarry SchiffBarry ShawStuart SolupMichael SmithHoward WasserBruce Weisman

MEMBERSHIP OPEN HOUSE

November 8Patriots vs. Dolphins

FRIENDSHIP LODGENovember 18Trivia Night

UPCOMING TOURO EVENTS

• Sunday • 1:00-3:00 PM •

December 132009

Touro's Annual

Hanukkah Partyfeaturing

"Lucky Bob" Juggler and Magician

Gifts for children 12 and under Open to Touro members,

their children and grandchildren

Watch for your fl ier in the mail.Or visit www.tourofraternal.org