A retired special education teacher who has refocused her expertise and efforts toward Chabad’s Friendship Circle will be honored during Chabad of Western Monmouth County’s 32nd annual Jewish Women’s Day program on March 3 at the Radisson Hotel, Freehold Township.
The guest speaker will be Judge Rachel Freier, the country’s first Hasidic Jewish woman to serve in public office, according to a press release.
The theme of this year’s symposium, which honors all Jewish women in the community, is “Facing Life with Positivity, Purpose and Faith.”
Freier has served as a civil and criminal court judge in New York City. She founded the first female volunteer ambulance service in Brooklyn, N.Y., called Ezras Nashim, Hebrew for “helping women,” and became a paramedic, according to the press release.
Honoree Karen Koller will be presented with the Eishet Chayil (Woman of Valor) award during the program. After retiring from her teaching job in New York City after 27 years, the Monroe Township resident turned her energy to Chabad’s Friendship Circle.
Koller is the mother of three sons and her middle child, Jonathan, is a participant in Friendship Circle’s Young Adult Division (YAD). Participants learn social and vocational skills through various projects.
Koller has been a Friendship Circle volunteer and involved parent for the past decade, helping in any capacity, according to the press release.
“Chabad is warm, welcoming and nonjudgmental,” she said. “They are there to help
everyone and I am appreciative for what they do.”
The Koller family also includes husband and father Dov, son Philip and his wife Jocelyn, and son Matthew, who is currently studying at a yeshiva in Israel.
Doors will open for a gift basket auction at 10:30 a.m. and the Women’s Day program will begin at 11:30 a.m. Reservations are required. For more information or to make a reservation, call 732-972-3687.
