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The South Florida Shomrim Society
the
Face
of Jewish Public Safety in South Florida
The South Florida Shomrim Society was formed in 1984 to satisfy the
needs of the Jewish Law Enforcement Officers, and support personnel, in
Miami-Dade County. With only a handful of members, the originators
slowly made progress in recruiting new members. The dream of an
expanded membership was realized in the early 1990's when there were
over 100 members. The Founding Members along with Irving "Red" Heller,
Chairman of the Board of Directors, forged ahead with establishing the
legitimacy of the Society. They worked tirelessly with a few dedicated
members and limited technology to get the word out and keep the
organization directed toward helping Jewish causes. Under this
leadership, the first Dinner Dance was held, scholarships handed out,
and many Jewish charities were supported, with donations and physical
labor.
Late in 1999, the leadership of the Society was passed to Steve
Leibowitz. Building upon the foundation that had been laid and using
technology not available in the Society’s beginning the membership grew.
Today, the membership numbers almost 300. Many members living in
Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Monroe, Collier counties, and a couple
in Lee County. There are also members who live in Israel, Canada, New
York, Philadelphia, Massachusetts Ohio, Illinois and California.
The Society regularly supports more than 30 charities each year. With
the expanded membership, fund raising projects, and corporate
sponsorships the funds raised by the Shomrim Society have dramatically
increased, and with it so have the amounts given away each year. The
South Florida Shomrim Society Scholarship Award was up to seven awards
in 2008, from one just seven years ago.
The Annual Dinner Dance and Awards ceremony is held each year in
November, at the beginning of the Veteran’s Day Weekend. For many years
this event went unscheduled, now it is the Society’s flagship event
attended by over 300 guests and supporters, this year celebrating the
Silver Anniversary of the South Florida Shomrim Society. The free
Kosher Picnic (fondly referred to as "Machin A Piknik") is held each
Spring and it too brings together 300 plus members, family and friends
and Supporters.
The South Florida Shomrim Society has played host to the International
Association of Jewish Public Service Employees Training Seminar. The
educational seminar series instituted by the International Association
of Jewish Public Service Employees has been sponsored by the Miami-Dade
Police Department and certified as an approved training course by the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of Justice.
January 2006 marked the inaugural Training Seminar, and the South
Florida Shomrim Society will continue to serve as the host chapter. The
2009 Training Seminar washeld in conjunction with the South Florida
Shomrim Society Annual Dinner Dance.
The revitalization and evolution of the Society is continuous. Barry
Mankes, Immediate Past President (2006-2009), re-wrote the Constitution and By-laws (2004)
to reflect the more modern make up of the Society. In the words of the
organization’s Spiritual Leader, Rabbi Pinchas A. Weberman, “This is
truly an organization of inclusion rather than exclusion”. In
October 2004, the first "forced election" was held (term limits were
instituted under the new Constitution). Under Barry's direction we
established financial stability, community recognition and expanded our
partnership with other fraternal organizations throughout Law
Enforcement circles worldwide. He guided us through the 25th
anniversary of the South Florida Shomrim Society and prepared the
future leaders for their roles.
The current mix of officers is
representative of the diverse membership; Mike Bentolila, President, (Aventura Police Department); David Lewis,
Executive Vice President
(Broward County Sheriff’s Office); Lou Bornstein, 2nd Vice President
(Massachusetts Department of Narcotics - Retired); Jorge Ghitis, 3rd
Vice President (Miami-Dade Police Department). The Executive Board of
Officers revamped the Board of Directors comprised of Law Enforcement
Officials and representatives of the business community who have put an
effort into the growing reputation of the Society.
The South Florida Shomrim Society was born from the need to have a
place for Jewish Law Enforcement Officers to turn. The seeds were
planted and it now represents the dreams of those that forged it,
setting the standards that future Fraternal Jewish Organizations will
strive to match.
Founding Member, International
Association of Jewish Public Safety Employees
THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF JEWISH PUBLIC SAFETY EMPLOYEES
Born out of the need to unite all Jewish Public
Safety Employees in a fraternal organization, this project began to
take shape in 2004. There were organizations that encompassed
members of police departments only; fire departments only; or other
specialized groups; but none were all inclusive. As Jews, we
fought for many years for inclusion and equality. The fight for
equality in the public service sector continues and the voice of the IAJPSE will represent the needs of its members. The charter
members of this parent organization have members in foreign countries,
as well, thus the international inclusion.
Shalom:
As the founding Board
of Directors of the International Association of Jewish Public Safety
Employees (IAJPSE) welcome to our Web Page outlining our Goals and
Objectives. We intend to be an organization whose charter is dependent
upon the membership for guidance, therefore, responsive to the
membership.
In order to be an
“Organization of Inclusion” we believe it is imperative to establish and
maintain open lines of communication. There is no longer a need to have
an office with walls. The 21st century has provided us with
the means of communication that make a permanent home office site
unnecessary. Historically, permanent home office sites have mandated
staffing, hard-wired telephone lines, files of paperwork, and much
more. The main problem of the permanent home office is that it lacked
portability, so control of the space was geographically accessible to a
limited number of people or groups. This limited access creates a
situation where members experience a feeling of being ostracized and a
lack of empowerment by not being near the office and their lack of
ability to be active in the operation of the organization. The IAJPSE
will have a virtual office accessible to all its members; thereby
eliminating theses counter productive negative forces.
We perceive the needs of Jewish
Public Safety Employees divided into several categories:
Education, Representation, and Support. The IAJPSE intends to address
each of these three concerns through a networking system involving the
leadership of its member organizations.
EDUCATION:
Since our objective
is not one of religious education (that is left to the individual person
or their families), rather we are concentrating on the goal of providing
educational seminars on current topics of interest to our members. The
entire Board of Directors will be able to select appropriate topics of
discussion; attain qualified presenters; monitor attendance; provide
comfortable venues; and create an atmosphere conducive to the sharing of
information on relevant subjects. As trends change, so must the
direction of the educational services we provide.
REPRESENTATION:
Individuals have
difficulty in being heard in large organizations. Although our
concentration is on fairness to all persons regardless of race,
religion, ethnicity, or any other trait that would differentiate them
from the rest of the organization, our emphasis will be on assisting
those members that require an outside influence to help them be heard.
The adage “There is strength in numbers” is only applicable if there is
a person or group will to take the time to let others know that they
represent a large number of people and have a pertinent message to
deliver. The objective is equality, not superiority.
SUPPORT:
At times there are
Public Safety agencies that do not conduct themselves in a
non-religious manner, thus polarizing a particular group or making them
uncomfortable. These agencies perform out of habit or indifference to
individuals. Bringing to the surface the inappropriateness of mixing
publicly funded meetings with specific religious overtones or acceptance
of inappropriate behavior is a goal we have set for ourselves. The goal
is to unify, not separate. Support shall be given to those that merit
assistance. We shall all strive to support and defend the Constitution
of the United States and traditional Jewish ethics and traditions.
The Board of
Directors of the IAJPSE is set up as and intends to act as a group of
managing partners – managing the direction and future endeavors of a
conglomerate of groups and individuals with similar goals and
objectives. We will seek to become better as a whole, not as
individuals.
JEWISH PUBLIC SERVICE
HISTORY
The first Jewish police officer in North America was Asser Levy.
He was a Portuguese Jew who lived in Recife, then the capital of Dutch
Brazil. Many Portuguese Jews fled the Inquisition of Spain and
Portugal by moving to the then Portuguese colony of Brazil. Others
fled to Protestant Holland where Jews were allowed to openly practice
their faith. When the Dutch conquered several areas of Brazil in
1620, they were warmly welcomed by the Jews who had been forced to live
as Conversos by the Catholic Church. Thirty-four years later, when
the Portuguese re-conquered Brazil, and re-introduced the Inquisition,
the Jews were severely persecuted and large numbers were killed for the
assistance they rendered to Holland during the wars. The Jewish
community of Recife, 5000 strong, fell apart and scattered. Some
returned to Holland, others lived as best they could as Conversos and
many abandoned all and fled to nearby Caribbean islands. A small
number took a ship to the Dutch colony in North America, New Amsterdam.
Twenty-three of them arrived there, penniless, in September of 1654.
One was Asser Levy.
He and his co-religionists were denied Dutch citizenship in the colony.
Levy was also denied the privilege to serve in the Burgher Guard, a
volunteer type of community militia (and was therefore taxed to pay for
his protection). Jews had been living in Holland since 1492 and
had prospered. Despite some restrictions, the Jews received far
more liberal treatment from the Dutch that found in other European
countries. By 1654 many Dutch Jews, originally from Portugal, were
investors in the Dutch West India Company (sponsors of the investment
colony of New Amsterdam) and influential members of the community of
Amsterdam. Peter Stuyvesant, governor of the colony, met their
resistance when he tried to deny admittance to the twenty-three
Portuguese Jews fleeing from Recife, among them Asser Levy. In
Stuyvesant’s letter to the Company he prayed that the deceitful race,
such hateful enemies and blasphemers of the name of Christ, be not
allowed to further infect and trouble this new colony. The
Dutch West India Company overruled their governor and allowed the Jews
to remain provided the poor among them shall not become a burden to
the Company or to the community, but be supported by their own nation.
Once Levy and the others were allowed to remain, Levy fought all
restrictions placed upon him. In 1655 he petitioned the town
council to join the Burgher Guard and be permitted to keep guard with
the other burghers. His petition was denied and Levy was told he
was free to depart whenever and wither it pleases him. But
Levy also appealed this ruling to the Company’s directors in Amsterdam,
who again sided with the wishes of Holland’s powerful Jewish community
who supported the Jewish colonists. Thus Asser Levy, became the
first Jewish watchman in New Amsterdam, winning the privilege of manning
the stockades along Wall Street against Indian attacks. (In later
years, the only attacks on Wall Street his descendants would fear, were
from bulls, bears and the SEC!) Finally in 1657, Asser Levy
petitioned for another right. According to the official court
record:
Asser Levy, a Jew, appears in Court; requests to be admitted a Burgher
(citizen); claims that such ought not be refused him as he keeps watch
and ward like Burghers and showing Burgher certificates from the city of
Amsterdam that Jews are Burghers there.
On April 21, 1657, New Amsterdam’s first Jewish watchman (and our first
Shomer) became its first Jewish citizen. Twenty years later
Citizen Levy was given a license to operate a kosher butcher shop.
Before his death in 1681, in what was then New York, Asser Levy, who
began his new life as a laborer and part time Shomer, became a tavern
keeper, a real estate investor, trader and civic leader. It wasn’t
until 1728 that the British permitted the first synagogue to be built in
New York. Prior thereto, the houses of public worship allowed were
for those that profess the faith of Christ. That first synagogue
was built on South William Street (later known as Jews’ Alley) and for
the first time the Jews of New York could publicly worship their faith.
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