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Please join us at AJ on Sunday evening, June 2, 2024 to honor and celebrate David and Shari Seltzer!
Evening minyan will be at 6:15 PM. Doors open at 6:30 PM. The program starts promptly at 7:00 PM. A dessert reception will follow.
MEET THE SELTZERS!
David Seltzer
David grew up at Temple Sinai leading Junior Congregation Services and singing in Cantor Nathan Chaitovsky’s Children’s Choir. He served as President of his USY Chapter. He received a Hebrew High School degree from Gratz College; attended Camp Ramah in the 1960s, going on Ramah Seminar to Israel in 1969. In 1974, he attended Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley, California.
While attending law school from 1974–1977, he served Temple B’nai Jacob in Longmeadow, Massachusetts as a Youth Director, where he met Shari who was then serving that synagogue as USY advisor. David and Shari married in 1978 at that same synagogue.
David was a lead singer and Master of Ceremonies for two bands, N’Shamah and Shir Chadash, for more than two decades. Shir Chadash was regularly featured at rallies supporting the cause of freeing Soviet Jews, and at Israel Independence Day celebrations. David later provided mobile amplification and instrumentation for AJ’s floats in the Israel Independence Day parades so that Cantor Davidson’s Children’s Choir could properly be heard.
In David and Shari’s nearly 45 years at AJ, David served as Ritual Committee Chair, as a member of our Board of Directors, as an Honorary Director, and two terms as a Vice President. David continues to serve us as a Ba’al T’filah (on call), a presenter of innumerable Devrai Torah, and as a prolific composer of parodies and songs marking our milestone events. For the past five years, David has simultaneously served as a professional Ba’al T’filah for Melrose B’nai Israel–Emanuel.
David’s community work is exemplary, most notably in the field of interfaith interaction. David mentors pastors seeking to further understand the Jewish roots to their Christianity. He served for five years on the Elementary School Board of Education for Saint Raymond’s Catholic Church. David is an active participant in an interfaith dialogue group involving American Jewish Committee and Bucks County Christian Coalition, presenting Passover Seders and teaching Christian Bible Studies.
In his spare time, David is a respected Workers’ Compensation Attorney. He is a
member of innumerable organizations serving the needs of the legal community.
While David’s interests are many and diverse, he has also been known to occasionally (okay, frequently) tell jokes that are marginally funny.
Shari Seltzer
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, Shari was active in Junior Congregation at Temple B’nai Jacob in Longmeadow. She was only the second Bat Mitzvah to celebrate that rite of passage on a Shabbat morning. Shari served on the Executive Board of her USY chapter, becoming the Chapter’s USY Advisor; taught for many years at the local Jewish Community Center; served as a counselor at Y Day Camp; and performed locally as part of a youth chorus.
Shari worked part-time as Youth Director and Ba’al T’filah at Temple B’nai Jacob, where she met David. David insists that Shari’s mom, Pearl, of blessed memory, put a love potion in the veggies served with her Shabbas dinner when David was invited to come. The rest, as they say, is history. Shari attended Brandeis University, and following their marriage in June 1978, moved to David’s hometown, Philadelphia, where they joined the other effervescent Seltzers as members of AJ.
At AJ, Shari served as PTA Co-President, AJWA Sisterhood Vice President, Assistant Preschool Director, and Assistant Teacher. Shari was the founder and organizer of AJ College Connection, now Prozdor; served on the Pesach University programming committee; and was a proof reader of the Shabbat brochure, fundraising plaques, the Preschool Siddur, and various other publications. Shari advised on the organization and layout of our lobby display cases, and has even been a model in an AJWA Sisterhood fashion show. In recent years she has been privileged to serve on our Annual Fundraiser Committee (“SPEC”), co-chairing last year’s event honoring esteemed congregants Bernie and Lana Dishler. Shari has been involved behind the scenes in innumerable AJ projects over many years and serves as the muse for the other honoree!
Voted one of the top 10 comedians in New York City by The Hollywood Reporter, Modi is one of the comedy circuit’s most sought after performers. Featured on HBO, CBS, NBC, ABC, Comedy Central, Howard Stern, and E! Entertainment, Modi has received rave reviews in The New York Times, Time Out NY, and The New York Post.
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Modi emigrated with his family to the United States at the age of seven and was raised on Long Island. After graduating from Boston University, he worked as an investment banker until his first open-mic night made him realize that stand-up was his true calling. Equipped with a sharp wit and a knack for reading an audience, Modi has gone on to become a successful fixture in New York's vibrant comedy scene, often doing bits that incorporate his heritage, and he is a hit with diverse Jewish audiences as well as fans of all backgrounds and beliefs.
Now a regular performer at the New York and Los Angeles comedy clubs, Modi also headlines around the country and across the globe. Modi has played himself on HBO's Crashing and Netflix's When Jews Were Funny. He's also appeared in several feature films and played leading roles in two: Waiting for Woody Allen, which won the LA Film Festival, and Stand Up, a feature-length film. In 2018, Mayor Bill De Blasio declared June 26th "Mordechi Modi Rosenfeld Day" in the city of New York for his accomplishments and contributions to the artistic community.
