March 14 Israel Bonds Community Dinner to honor nine from shuls throughout county

Steve and the late Gail Warren of Cong. B’nai Israel in St. Petersburg will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Israel Bonds’ Gala Community Dinner on Sunday, March 14, will honor individuals and couples from five congregations countywide.

The evening’s honorees will include Dr. Steve Warren and, posthumously, his wife, Gail Warren, of Congregation B’nai Israel, who will be awarded Israel Bonds’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

Other honorees will be Debbie and Larry Lieberman of Temple Ahavat Shalom; Rabbis David Weizman and Danielle Upbin of Congregation Beth Shalom; Terri and Lane Ziegler of Temple Beth-El and Selma Kron of Temple B’nai Israel.

The Israel Bonds honorees are nominated by their congregation.

The event will be at Congregation B’nai Israel in St. Petersburg, beginning at 6 p.m.

Ambassador Yoram Ettinger, veteran Israeli diplomat and specialist on U.S. policy in the Middle East, will be the guest speaker. He also specializes in American investments in Israel’s high-tech market.

Debbie & Larry Lieberman Temple Ahavat Shalom The honorees

Gail and Steve Warren

Congregation B’nai Israel

Before her death Oct. 21, 2009, Gail Warren was a well-known, longtime volunteer, lay leader and professional member of the Jewish community. She was a trainer, counselor and coordinator for Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services and the Volunteer Coordinator at Menorah Manor, the region’s Jewish nursing center.

Her community service included serving as co-president of the St. Petersburg Chapter of Hadassah, and longtime service on the boards and committees for Congregation B’nai Israel and the Jewish Federation of Pinellas & Pasco Counties. She was president-elect of her synagogue.

Rabbis David Weizman and Danielle Upbin Cong. Beth Shalom Steve Warren, an orthopedic surgeon, is chief of surgery at Palms of Pasadena Hospital. He has been active in the Jewish community for many years and is a founding member of both the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg and Camp Ramah Darom. He received the 1999 Dr, Alfred Schick Memorial Award from the Maimonides Society of the Jewish Federation of Pinellas and Pasco Counties.

The couple visited Israel three times, and had been active with Israel Bonds for 19 years. He has been the emcee at numerous Israel Bonds dinners, including the 2009 gala.

The Warrens had been married for 20 years and have two children.

Selma Kron, Temple B’nai Israel

Selma Kron said she can’t remember how long she has been involved with Israel Bonds, or how many times she has been to Israel. That’s because it’s too many to recall. A member of both Temple B’nai Israel and Congregation Beth Shalom, both in Clearwater, she also retains a membership in Congregation Beth Or in Philadelphia.

Terri and Lane Ziegler Temple Beth-El For 26 years the director of their family-owned skilled nursing facility in Philadelphia, Kron began devoting time, money and energy to the Jewish community here and in Israel when she and her husband, Norman Kron, retired to Clearwater. Her work has been extensive. She is a longtime supporter and has served on the boards of the Federation of Pinellas & Pasco Counties and Menorah Manor. In Federation, she has been active in Women’s Philanthropy and is a Lion of Judah, the highest category of giving for women.

She and her late husband helped establish the gene therapy center at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem and she founded the Yachad Chapter of Hadassah in Pinellas County. Kron recently returned from a humanitarian visit to Cuba sponsored by Congregation Beth Or delivering medical supplies and visiting Jewish communities throughout the island.

Selma Kron Temple B’nai Israel In 2007 Kron took her entire family to Israel in honor of her granddaughter Carrie’s becoming a bat mitzvah. The family visited Hadassah Hospital while there.

Kron is the mother of five, one son and three surviving daughters.

Debbie & Larry Leiberman, Temple Ahavat Shalom

Debbie and Larry Lieberman of Oldsmar have been purchasing Israel Bonds for 15 years. They are committed to Israel, said Larry Lieberman, “to insure that our homeland will continue to grow and thrive and exist peacefully.”

Lieberman, a dentist practicing in Palm Harbor, has been active at Temple Ahavat Shalom, serving as financial secretary, vice president and chair of the Building Fund. He also is a member of the Maimonides Society of the Jewish Federation of Pinellas & Pasco Counties and a co-founder of the Gulf Coast Dental Outreach, which offers low cost dental services for the needy.

Debbie Lieberman has a string of credits of her own. She has been a Sisterhood president and board member at Temple Ahavat Shalom, as well as being a co-chair for charity fundraising for the Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services. She is a member of the Women’s Division of the Jewish Federation of Pinellas & Pasco Counties. Debbie Lieberman also mentors in the Pinellas County public schools.

The Liebermans have been married for 30 years and have three children.

Rabbi David Weizman and Rabbi Danielle Upbin

Congregation Beth Shalom

Rabbi David Weizman, at Congregation Beth Shalom since 2002, and Rabbi Danielle Upbin, associate rabbi at the congregation since 2004, are the only husband and wife rabbinical team serving in the same congregation on the west coast of Florida.

Rabbi Weizman received his ordination in 2000 from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he also earned a masters degree in Hebrew Letters. He has served as scholar-in-residence at congregations across the country and, while working as a forest firefighter in California, founded Congregation B’nai Ha’Aretz in Garberville. He was an acting chaplain on the post 9-11 emergency response team at the World Trade Center, and served as chaplain at the Long Island Jewish Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York as well.

Rabbi Upbin, a native of Manhattan, graduated from Barnard College with a bachelor degree in political science. She was ordained by JTS in 2002, where she received a masters in Hebrew Letters, as well as awards in homiletics and in writings on the Middle East peace process. Rabbi Upbin also lived and studied in Israel, including a year of intensive study in Jewish mysticism, Hasidism and art in the cities of Jerusalem and Sefat. She has served as scholar-in-residence at numerous congregations and as chaplain for the Red Cross post 9-11 disaster services. She is currently on the board of the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg and is rabbinic advisor to the Pinellas County Jewish Day School.

The couple lives in Clearwater with their three children.

Terri & Lane Ziegler, Temple Beth-El

Terri and Lane Ziegler of Largo have been active with Israel Bonds for about five years.

“It’s essential that we help Israel maintain and expand its resources,” Lane Ziegler said, adding that Israel needs “the tools to support a leadership role in the region for technology.”

The couple is involved in numerous aspects of Jewish life, including membership in Temple Beth-El’s Sisterhood and Brotherhood, the U.S. and Florida Holocaust museums and the Maimonides Society of the Jewish Federation of Pinellas & Pasco Counties.

Terri Ziegler has been the Mitzvah Corps Volunteer Coordinator for Temple Beth-El and in the late ‘90s, was Coordinator for Habitat for Humanity through the temple.

Lane Ziegler has served as board member for the Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services.

Husband and wife are both in the medical field. Lane Ziegler, a physician in hematology/oncology, has his practice in Largo. Terri Ziegler, a registered nurse, is the director of Ruth’s Promise: A Community Care Center, in Largo. The Zieglers, married for 24 years, have two children.