By Carl Zebrowski
Editor

The Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley has announced the winners of its annual awards for volunteers, leaders, and others who made extraordinary contributions to the Jewish community in 2025-26.

The five winners will be honored at the Federation’s Community Celebration and Annual Meeting in the JCC’s Kline Auditorium on Wednesday, June 10. The awards will be presented, board officers and members will be elected to new terms, and an Israeli-style buffet dinner will be served starting at 6 p.m. 

The Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley President’s Award is going to Lenny Abrams. The President’s Award is not presented every year, but only when the president of the board decides to bring special recognition to a community member.

Abrams involved himself gradually in the Federation after moving to the Lehigh Valley from Brooklyn, taking a few years to get settled and comfortable. He served on the Federation board, then as chair of the Annual Campaign for Jewish Needs, and eventually as president. He also sat on the JCC board and is currently an honorary vice president of the Federation.

Always having grasped the importance of funding the Jewish community and its institutions into the future, Abrams founded the Lehigh Valley Jewish Foundation Heritage Society to recognize members who pledged $100,000 or more to the Federation.

“Everybody loves Lenny,” community leader Vicki Wax once told Hakol. “There is not a person that doesn’t love Lenny.” 

Lee Kestecher Solomon, the Federation’s director of community engagement, will receive the Mark L. Goldstein Outstanding Jewish Communal Professional Award. Named for longtime Federation executive director Mark L. Goldstein z”l, the award is given to a professional employed by one of the Lehigh Valley’s Jewish institutions. 

Born in Israel to an Israeli father and American mother, Solomon is a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces and a former shlicha (Israeli emissary) at the Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy in Toronto. Solomon moved from Toronto to the Lehigh Valley to join the Federation staff as director of community engagement in 2022. Since her arrival, she’s taken on key responsibilities and excelled, including overseeing the Federation affinity groups Women’s Philanthropy and NextGen (ages 30-45) and the Lehigh Valley’s Partnership2Gether program with Yoav, Israel. 

“From day one, her Jewish joy, positive can-do attitude, has been obvious to everyone,” said one of the community members who nominated her for the award. “She’s a non-stop, energetic, inclusive leader.” 

Mortimer S. Schiff Award for Prejudice Reduction is being presented to two recipients: Emmaus High School and Jill Kuebler, a teacher and theater director at the school. The award goes to a person or a group that has worked to promote tolerance and understanding among people of different faiths, bringing together Jews and non-Jews.

For three nights in November 2025, the seats in the Emmaus High School auditorium were filled as a 13-person cast brought the play “The Diary of Anne Frank” to life. Kuebler, a teacher and theater director at the school, directed the production. Rabbi Rebecca Einstein Schorr served as the show’s dramaturg and Jewish cultural consultant, working closely with the production team to ensure authenticity. 

In presenting Anne Frank’s poignant Holocaust story in an especially accessible way to high school students, parents, and the wider Lehigh Valley community, Kuebler and Emmaus High School helped challenge prejudice and build bridges of understanding to prevent antisemitism, racism, and bigotry. 

The first-ever winner of the Vicki Wax Jewish Student Campus Leadership Award is Emily Fulton, a sophomore studying political science at Muhlenberg College. The Wax Award, officially announced and unveiled at last year’s annual meeting, will be given each year to an outstanding Jewish college student who has demonstrated exemplary leadership in the Jewish community through service on their campus.

Fulton has spent the past two years deeply engaged with her Hillel community. Her first leadership role on campus was as an Israel chair, creating opportunities for students to explore their relationships with the Land of Israel. Now she serves the Hillel’s student president, interacting with students, coordinating the student executive board, and collaborating with staff to create an inclusive Jewish space on campus. She also is incoming vice president of the Cardinal Key National Honor Society and tutors students in writing and statistics. 

You can see the presentation of the awards and hear more about the winners’ stories by attending the annual meeting on the 10th. Dinner starts at 6 p.m. and ceremony at 7. 

Come out and schmooze with community members over an Israeli-style meal and celebrate our Lehigh Valley community and its hard-working volunteers and leaders. Registration is required at jewishlehighvalley.regfox.com/2026-annual-meeting to attend.