‘International flair’ marks YLD celebration
Mariela Dybner of Maplewood and Mark Glajchen of Livingston were honored as the 2012 Julius and Bessie Cohn Young Leadership award winners at a reception at the Montclair Art Museum. With her connection to the Jews of Argentina and his early years spent in Johannesburg, South Africa, the March 19 evening had an international flair.
More than 200 people wandered around the museum galleries with cocktails before settling into the formal portion of the event, which was sponsored by the Young Leadership Division and Young Women’s Campaign of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ. David Feuerstein of Hillside and Stacy Merkel of Short Hills were event cochairs.
As audience members sat around small tables, the honorees watched as their children were featured in a short video, explaining their — sometimes hilarious — understanding of the volunteer work their parents do. Eventually, Dybner and Glajchen accepted their awards, and those gathered to celebrate with them enjoyed dessert and coffee.
Dybner, a resident of Maplewood, is executive compensation and employee benefits lawyer at the law firm of Bryant Rabbino. She serves on the board of Women’s Philanthropy, where she chairs the Vanguard Campaign. She has chaired or served as a committee member of CHOICES and the YLD’s opening event and was a participant in the 2012 Seymour Epstein Leadership Development Mission to Israel.
She and her husband, Ariel, who have five children, both have family in Argentina and retain strong ties to the Jewish community there. A Tango Night proved a successful entry into federation work when she was attempting to raise money for the Argentine community after its economic collapse. She quickly learned, she said, that it made more sense to partner with federation, which already had the infrastructure and ties to that community, to facilitate her efforts.
The Dybners belong to Congregation B’nai Israel in Millburn, where she is a member of the board, cochair of the Hedwig Gruenwald Early Education Center board, and has run fund-raising and educational events. She played an instrumental role in the synagogue capital campaign, which raised over $6 million.
Glajchen came to New Jersey in 2000 from Johannesburg, where he was born and raised, attending day school and eventually becoming a trustee of the synagogue where his parents were among the earliest members.
He and his wife, Fran, live in Livingston with their two daughters and are members of the Synagogue of the Suburban Torah Center, where he served on the board for six years. He and his wife were honored by the congregation with its 2006 Young Leadership Award.
Glajchen attended his first Super Sunday in December 2001, which set him on his path of growing involvement in the Greater MetroWest Jewish community.
A 2006 participant in the Arthur Borinsky Young Leadership Development program, he also served as YLD’s liaison to Super Sunday that year. He served as YLD campaign vice chair for two years before joining the federation board in 2009.
An alumnus of the 2009 Epstein Leadership Mission to Israel, Glajchen cochaired Super Sunday in 2010 and 2011. For the last two years, he has been a member of the Center for Jewish Connections committee.
Glajchen is also a member of the New Jersey Jewish News board and cochaired the Readership Expansion project starting in 2010.
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