Meet our Honorees
Michelle and Norman Rutta have been pillars of the North Shore Hebrew Academy and Great Neck community for over 25 years. As a distinguished alumna of the NSHA class of 1979, Michelle’s roots with NSHA run deep. She quickly became a parent leader in the school, including serving on the Hebrew and English academic boards, serving as editor of the NSHA newsletter for twelve years, co-founding the working parents liaison committee, and is currently serving as Chair of our academic boards, Toddler through 12th Grade. She is a valued advisor to the board and administration as a member of the Board of Directors. Michelle devotes an extraordinary amount of time and expertise to NSHA, all while working as a partner in the international law firm of White & Case LLP, concentrating in securities law, corporate governance and mergers & acquisitions. She is also an active member of Great Neck Synagogue.
Norman is an active leader of core Great Neck institutions in our community including the Great Neck Synagogue where he served on the Executive Board as Treasurer. He was elected as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Great Neck Library and served as its Treasurer. In that capacity he was the first to bring the priorities and concerns of Great Neck’s orthodox Jewish community to the Library’s Board. In addition to these roles and being an active parent at NSHA, he is the founding partner of a public accounting firm in Great Neck.
Michelle and Norman “are grateful to NSHA for starting our children on fulfilling paths focused on Torah values, leadership and service to others.” Their daughter Rebecca ‘15 received a doctorate in occupational therapy from Tufts University and works with teenagers at a school for children with special needs in Manhattan. Ethan ‘19 served as president of the Orthodox Community at the University of Pennsylvania, and currently attends NYU School of Law. Abby ’25, serves as an early childhood group leader at Great Neck Synagogue, is a Tikvah Solomon Scholar and serves in multiple leadership capacities at NSHAHS, including vice president of the Matmid Honor Society, co-captain of the Mock Trial team, co-president of the Model United Nations team and vice president of the Model Congress team. The Rutta family has a special place in their hearts for NSHA, where Ethan met his wonderful wife, Halli Fein Rutta, ’19. Halli served in leadership roles at the Columbia/Barnard Hillel and currently attends Touro College of Dental Medicine.
Michelle and Norman credit their parents, Leon and Frances Birnbaum z”l and Abraham and Shirley Rutta z”l, with instilling in them the critical need for Jewish education and the importance of living a life with modesty, good midot and chesed. Michelle’s parents, proud NSHA parents and grandparents, were Holocaust survivors who exhibited tremendous emunah throughout their lives and made great sacrifices to ensure that Michelle received a NSHA education. The Birnbaums were instrumental in establishing two synagogues, supported numerous Jewish institutions and were known for their warmth and hospitality, inviting those needing a place to their Shabbat table each week. Michelle and Norman are proud to live the values lovingly taught to them by their parents and, along with NSHA, pass these values on to their children.
Michelle and Norman understand the importance of supporting yeshiva education and generously participated in our High School Capital Campaign, dedicating our 360 Studio. This studio provides a state of the art space for students to pursue their interests and passions to become accomplished and award winning engineers. Their participation in this important campaign serves as an inspiration for our community to provide impactful support to our school and students.
It is with profound appreciation that we recognize Michelle and Norman as our Guests of Honor for their tremendous leadership to the North Shore Hebrew Academy community.
Sadie and Michael Hakimian have been dedicated leaders in our school since they first joined our community as parents over a decade ago. Michael has close ties to NSHA as a graduate of the class of 1997 and Sadie took on leadership roles almost immediately once their son Ezra enrolled in our early childhood program.
As a member of the Board of Trustees of NSHA, a licensed professional engineer with a degree from Cooper Union, and a real estate professional, Michael is a trusted advisor to North Shore Hebrew Academy, and spearheaded the recently completed addition of classrooms and multipurpose space at our Cherry Lane campus. His expertise allowed us to complete this project on budget and in record time. These spaces will provide our students with extraordinary educational experiences for generations to come, G-d willing.
Sadie is well known among NSHA parents as she is continuously active and present on our campuses. As co-PTA President during Covid, she can be credited with unifying and strengthening our school community despite the challenges of her term. Her dedication to ensuring that our students received an outstanding education and programming inspired our administration, faculty and parents throughout this time. Sadie currently serves on the Early Childhood board. Sadie’s creativity shines through her design agency Logos by Sadie which beautifies her client’s smachot, milestones and businesses.
In addition to their active leadership in North Shore Hebrew Academy, Sadie and Michael are leaders in the United Mashadi Jewish Community of America (UMJCA). Michael has served as President of the Ohr Esther board and serves on the UMJCA Central Board.
Sadie and Michael’s children Ezra ‘28, Lexi (7th Grade), Aiden (4th Grade), Brooke (2nd Grade) and Stella (Kindergarten) continue in their parents footsteps, demonstrating the same values of leadership and ‘derech eretz’ in their classrooms, on the courts and beyond. We know that we will see great accomplishments from them in the years to come.
It is with ‘hakarat hatov’ and deep gratitude that we present Sadie and Michael with the Young Leadership Award. They are true examples to our community of the impact our parents can have by dedicating their love, time, expertise and resources to strengthen our school.
Gail and Burt Cohen, our Dor L Dor Award honorees, are long-time stalwarts of the Great Neck community and have been actively involved in the North Shore Hebrew Academy since 1982 when their oldest son, Adam, entered our nursery school. Their leadership during their years as parents created foundational successes for NSHA which we are proud to see their grandchildren enjoying.
As a parent at NSHA, Gail was very active in the PTA, working on the cookie sales, book fair and special enrichment programs. Gail was very active in the Great Neck Mikvah for which she was honored at its annual dinner. She is a long-term member of the Shalom Task Force.
Gail, a registered nurse and a member of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals, has been actively involved in clinical research for the last 30 years, now evaluating drugs used to treat neurodegenerative diseases and dementia.
Burt was a long-time board member and executive board member of the NSHA. He has been very involved with the Israel Cancer Research Fund and served as a member of its International Board of Trustees for almost 20 years.
Burt, a renowned radiologist, is a partner at New York Medical Imaging Associates. He is the author of many scientific papers and chapters and is an Associate Clinical Professor of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. His expertise has been recognized, and he has received both the Mount Sinai Alumni Association Master Clinician Award as well as its highest honor, the Jacobi Medallion.
Gail and Burt have served as chairs of the Young Israel of Great Neck dinner and were the honorees at the annual Young Israel dinner in 2014. They have also been honored at the annual Great Neck Community-wide Israel Bonds dinner.
Gail and Burt are proud of their children, Adam ’93 and his wife Naomi, Jon ’96, a member of the NSHA Board of Trustees and his wife Anna, a member of the Early Childhood Academic Board, and Lauren ’99. We know that Gail and Burt’s dedication to our community serves as a profound example for their children who also hold leadership positions in our school, our community and in their professional lives.
They are most proud of their grandchildren Sadie (6th grade), Daniel “DJ” (2nd Grade), Josie (1st Grade), Allen (Pre-K), Teddy (Nursery), Dylan (Toddler), Finn, and the newest arrival Jack, all lucky, or soon to be, lucky recipients of NSHA’s outstanding education.
It is with Hakarot Hatov and great pride that we honor Gail and Burt with the Dor L’Dor Award as great exemplars to our community of this very foundational principle of Judaism.
Dennis Nagel, our legendary Dean of Students and Math Department Chairman, receives the Distinguished Faculty Award at this year's dinner in recognition of his outstanding dedication to our school and our students since our high school’s founding. A teacher for over 39 years, he is teaching his second generation with many of his former students now parents in the school. We thank him for his many years of teaching and mentoring our students and wish him much happiness in his retirement.
Mr. Nagel, as he is known to his current and past students, is known for his dedication to instilling in our students the strong integrity that is expected of our graduates. In his role as Dean of Students, he guides students in their academic and personal growth to achieve their highest potential inside and outside the classroom. As an expert math instructor, he inspires his students to love math and understand its applications. He has taught all subjects of high school mathematics from Algebra through AP Calculus BC and now focuses on teaching advanced levels. He coaches our Math Team which competes in the Nassau Mathematics Tournament and Math Olympiad.
On the field, Mr. Nagel has coached our boys varsity hockey and girls varsity softball team. While he is best known for his math expertise, Mr. Nagel’s true passion is baseball. He has been a member of the Men’s Senior Baseball League on Long Island for over 33 years and is an avid golfer.
After nearly four decades of inspiring students, it is our honor to bestow on Dennis Nagel the Distinguished Faculty Award, given in recognition of the lasting impact he has made on his students not only in their math abilities, but on their strength of character as well.