Gateways selected Eliana Lipsky of Brookline as the recipient of the 2009 Samuel A. Nemzoff Book Prize.

Ms. Lipsky teaches at JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School, in Watertown, MA. She has been the 7th and 8th grade History and Tanach teacher at JCDS for five years.

The award was presented at the Gateways' annual gala, Sweet Sounds: An Afternoon of Jazz & Chocolate, Sunday, November 8th, at Congregation Mishkan Tefila, in Chestnut Hill, from 4-6pm.

Samuel A. Nemzoff was the principal of the religious school of Temple Israel in Boston from 1942—1974. In those years, it was the largest synagogue-based program in America.

He subsequently became President of the National Association of Reform Jewish Educators. He was an early leader in providing classes and support for students with disabilities.

This annual award, created in 2007, is given in his memory by his daughter, Ruth Nemzoff, and her family, to a teacher in a participating Gateways Jewish day school who exemplifies the ideals and practices which allow all students to receive a Jewish education.

Previous winners have been Shira Goodman, 2007, of the South Area Solomon Schechter Day School in Stoughton, MA, and Tova Rabinovitz, 2008, of Torah Academy in Brookline, MA.

Mr. Nemzoff cherished the Jewish people and nurtured them through education. The work of Gateways is a tribute to his memory.