Alpha Omega President Goes To Europe

What an amazing time these last couple of weeks has been? My Presidential visitation began the evening of Thursday, November 18th, when Richard and I left from JFK International Airport for Zurich. As our flight arrived early Friday morning, we were met at the airport by terrific, enthusiastic and energetic Zurich chapter president Mark Margolin, who transported us to the hotel that he had recommended, prior to going into his office to see some patients in the morning. He gave us a chance to check-in, settle in, and acclimate to the six hour time change, before picking us up later in the afternoon, and showing us around, prior to bringing us to his home, where his wonderful wife Susi fussed and prepared a fabulous Shabbat dinner, where we were joined by several of the members and spouses of the Zurich chapter. This chapter is quite active and philanthropic, despite being a relatively small chapter of 29 fraters. However, when one considers that there are only about 19,000 Jews in all of Switzerland, and not too many Jewish dentists, this is quite an impressive group!
Susi and Mark were wonderful hosts on Saturday, and gave us an opportunity to understand their country, and the needs of their chapter. We had the opportunity to see three distinctly different sets of stained glass windows, and witness the incredible precision that the Swiss are renowned for. The Swiss enjoy a far higher than average income, but also have some of the highest costs anywhere. We really got to know the Margolin’s, and Susi, who years ago worked at Hebrew University Hadassah School of Dental Medicine Founded By Alpha Omega as a dental technicians and instructor, provided superb insight. In addition, because Susi is extremely involved and active with Hadassah as Vice President of the Zurich chapter, she and I discussed the logic of some sort of cooperative efforts between Hadassah and Alpha Omega. I have begun discussions with some of the Hadassah leadership this year, and hopefully, with Mike Tenenbaum’s blessing, will be able to strengthen the ties between our two organizations sometime in 2011.
The Zurich chapter held their Semi-Annual meeting on Sunday at the incredible home of Martin and Nitza Katz. The Katz live in an historic building in Schaffhausen, and hosted this meeting with charm and ease. Nearly 70% of the Zurich chapter attended the meeting, and I had the opportunity to discuss various aspects of Alpha Omega. This was an extremely interesting and involved group, and my extensive conversations with Robert Levy, the Chapter Treasurer; David Reinisch, who has volunteered to be the chapter’s webmaster; Robert’s partner Mirjam, who works for a local television station; Isaac Weinberg, who does an incredible amount of dental outreach(GOHI) including his most recent work in the Amazon; and Debra Hofer, who has relocated to Zurich from Rhode Island; as well as Mark and Susi; and Martin and Nitza; gave me a spectacular insight into how, while there are many different needs throughout the world, we are all joined together by our common thread of the Judaic values of tzedaka and tikun olam.This group was particularly interested in the GOHI concept, and committed $15,000 to Tel Aviv University Dental School, for endodontic microscopes. What an amazing effort from such a small group! Since there are so few Jewish dental students, the one dental student attends all the Zurich chapter’s activity. We had a terrific conversation with Lani Gati, the student, as she so kindly drove us back to Zurich from Schffhausen.
After spending a considerable amount of time with Mark and Susi again on Monday, we boarded our Eurail train early Tuesday morning, for Stausberg, for our two hour train ride. As we disembarked in France, the unbelievable Philipe Levy was there waiting for us. Phillipe was extremely attentive, making sure that everything was okay, and that we did not need anything and understood the French language. He took us all around his beautiful city, and we joined several other members of his chapter, including Thierry Ross, for the dedication of a dental unit at the Jewish retirement home. This was a very significant event and many dignitaries were present representing the local and state government and the press coverage was extensive .GOHI concepts certainly resonated with the members of this chapter, and because my French skills are so poor, it was particularly great that Phillipe stayed by my side as my translator and interpreter. That evening, Thierry and his wife hosted us at their lovely home, and we were able to better understand the needs of this chapter, and much more insight into Alpha Omega France.
Early the next morning (Wednesday), we boarded the mostly “fast” train to Paris to attend the ADF Convention, and have the opportunity to meet with representatives from most of the French chapters. In next week’s blog, I will review the activity during the four days in Paris, and our exciting meeting with the incredible Tree of Peace of Artist.
With less than a month left in my term as International President of Alpha Omega International President, it has been a year of striving to serve the fraternity to the best of my ability, and to emphasize our members, while really listening to the voices of members from around the world. I hope to see many of you at the Convention in San Diego at the end of the month, where Marshal Bob Simon and his committee have worked very hard to bring attendees a fun and fraternal week. I look forward to greeting all of you there.


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