What defines a "good" man; effective, efficient, dependable, honorable, respectable?  Its challenging to define.  So, for our purposes, let's just say that he is one who makes a positive impact within his community. And so we have Sid Blecherman.

Last year Caroline and Sid celebrated their 50th anniversary.  They have been residents of New Jersey and members of Shomrei Torah since 2004, when they relocated from Connecticut.  They were both born in Brooklyn and settled in Connecticut, where Sid was a nuclear and gas turbine engineer for Pratt and Whitney and Caroline taught at Connecticut State University.  They have three children, Barry, Neil and Diana. As you know, Barry and Sarah and their four superkids (Sid's words) have been members of Shomrei Torah for some time.  Neil and Diana are married to their wonder spouses and together have five super sons.  They all live in the Bay area.

When the Blechermans settled into their Connecticut home, which they occupied for 40 years, they joined Congregation B'nai Shalom in Newington and were active in synagogue and town affairs.  Sid was president of the Newington Synagogue and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Newington Public Library.  They are both comfortable with the practice of the Conservative Movement and joined Shomrei Torah upon moving into the Four Seasons condo community in Wayne.

The membership committee  has been pleased to welcome Sid as a member since day one in the Synagogue.  He volunteered to be captain of the Thursday evening Minyan and leads the Minyan when needed. Congregants have been responsive to  his emails and phone calls to attend Minyan and through his effort there is always a Minyan on Thursday nights.  In addition, Sid has assisted in conducting Shiva Minyanim when needed.

Outside of Synagogue activities, Sid presents a short program, one hour each semester, on the subject of  ETHICS AND YOU  at William Paterson University as part of the "Students of Life" volunteer mentoring program.  He has also led a roundtable discussion on Ethics/Morality with students.  For the past three years, Sid has maintained a position on the Board of Trustees of the Four Seasons Condo community.

As if all of these activities would take up most of his time, Sid loves gardening, sailing (in his younger days), landscape painting and card playing.  Just last month he earned a Bridge Life Master Recognition. But his most enjoyable pastime is seeing his four New Jersey grandchildren regularly as well as skyping  and talking with his five California grandkids.

Shalom Aleich'em once described a person's ability to get along well with people this way: a man must always be considerate of the feeling of his neighbors. We at Shomrei Torah are so fortunate to have as our fellow member an individual who possesses a kind and caring nature. Thank you, Sid, for your participation, your inspiration, your warmth and generous spirit.