"They who lead the many to righteousness will be like stars forever and ever." Daniel 12:3  The leader in our midst, Diane Seltzer, who came to Shomrei Torah 16 years ago, lived in Luxembourg and Germany from ages 1 to 3 while her father served in the Air Force, settled in Syosset, NY for her elementary education, to Dix Hills for Junior High and beyond, possesses the qualities of an exemplary volunteer who encourages others to follow in her path of good deeds.

Graduating from Rider University with a degree in Business Education, she has worked in Manhattan for the magazine THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS for 30 years as Office Manager and List Rental Manager. (Yes, she rents out subscriber names so that others can receive "junk" mail.) She proofreads all of the direct mail and ads and manages the mail room. Knowing more about postage, copiers, websites and computers than she has ever dreamed of understanding, she admits not to be an expert on any of them.

Diane and her husband, Rich, are anticipating celebrating their 25th anniversary this year.  They moved to Wayne because they wanted to live in a town that had a Conservative Shul and was not too far from NYC.

They proudly speak of their children. Paul, 21, is a senior at George Washington University in D.C. majoring in Women's Studies and hoping to get a Teaching Assistant job after graduation so he can work toward his doctorate.  Laura, 18, a senior at Wayne Hills High School, will be attending Kutztown University in the fall and plans to pursue a major in Art Education.

Diane relates that four years ago, Rabbi Mark suggested that she attend a FAMILY PROMISE meeting.  That was her initiation into becoming involved.  Presently, she is a board member of FAMILY PROMISE, holds the office of secretary and IS the coordinator for Shomrei Torah.  Through her efforts and the work of others, and with the acquisition of a van and beds, FAMILY PROMISE OF PASSAIC COUNTY will officially open in September.  She is continuing to work on securing other congregations to come on board.

This winter, Diane initiated the awesome task of housing and hosting needy families for seven days in our Shul.  Under her direction, many of our fellow congregants kept our "guests" warm, fed and sometimes entertained.  FAMILY PROMISE  has become very personal for Diane since she has a friend who lost his job and is now in jeopardy of losing the family home.  She is acutely aware of how easily any one of us could become homeless.

Volunteerism in a family appears to react like a revolving door.  Diane learned about volunteering from her mother who was always helping others. In the past, she has co-chaired the Youth Committee and has been a class mother.  Paul volunteers at GW by helping women get into the Planned Parenthood building without any mishaps. Laura volunteers at Shomrei Torah's Hebrew School on Sunday mornings, helping the teachers and encouraging the younger children to focus and stay on task.  Diane is hopeful that her children will follow her example and will pass it along to their children.

"I don't consider myself particularly religious," Diane says of herself, "but I do believe in tradition." It is because of tradition that she keeps a kosher home and it is important to her that her children learn about Judaism.  She'll attend a minyan when her work schedule permits because she wants to be there for those who need to say Kaddish or have yahrtzeit.

Diane just takes pleasure in helping others and, as an aside, says that Shomrei Torah is a nice place because many others like to help, too.

"A person must see himself and the world as equally balanced on two ends of the scale; by doing one good deed, he tips the scale and brings for himself and the entire world redemption and salvation."
Maimonides. Laws of Repentance3:4