Lisa and Rob Patchen are exceedingly humbled to be this year’s Gala honorees.  Both Lisa and Rob have been active and enthusiastic members of Beth El since they joined in 2004.  Rob has served on the Board of Trustees since 2009, and has held numerous Officer positions, including a two-year stint as President, which he completed in July 2023. Rob has served on and chaired or co-chaired several clergy search committees over the years, and continues to serve as a member of the Human Resources Committee. Lisa has served on the Nursery School Board, the membership committee, several Gala committees and is always willing to lend a hand to any aspect of Beth El when needed. And for nearly 20 years, Lisa has helped to organize the annual handprint tile fundraiser for the Nursery School, the evidence of which joyfully decorates the hallways in the Nursery School wing. Lisa and Rob are regular attendees of Shabbat and Holiday services, and Rob is a regular at our daily minyan.

 

Beth El has been a central part of the Patchen family since the 1940’s, when Rob’s father Stanley, of blessed memory, moved to New Rochelle with his paternal grandparents, who became members. In the 1970s and 1980s Rob was a proud member of the junior congregation, a leader of the teen congregation, and a member of the Beth El Bar Mitzvah Club, which met every Sunday morning for Minyan, a gourmet breakfast prepared by the Mens Club, and touch football on the grassy area between the back parking lots, known then as “Friedler Field” after Rev. Sol Friedler, of Blessed Memory, the teens’ spiritual leader and good-humored enforcer of discipline. Rob also worked as pool boy and assistant chef at Beth El Day Camp, under the benevolent dictatorship of then-director Jack Gruenberg. 

 

Lisa and Rob met on a blind date in New York City in April 1998, and were married by Rabbi Mel Sirner, with assistance from Cantor Lawrence Avery, on January 16, 2000. Their three children, Emily (22), Daniel (19) and Ella (13), have each been shaped by the Beth El community and the clergy, and have always been happy to participate in Youth Shabbat, to read Megillah on Purim, and to otherwise carry on the Patchen tradition of being active supporters of synagogue activities.

 

Lisa and Rob both attended the State University of New York at Binghamton, she graduating in 1993 and he in 1990.  Lisa went on to attain a DDS degree from New York University in 1997, after which she completed residencies in general dentistry at Long Island College Hospital and in pediatric dentistry at Long Island Jewish Hospital. Since 2000 Lisa has practiced at Scarsdale Pediatric Dental. Rob was awarded his JD from Boston University School of Law in 1993 and is Assistant Deputy Chief Appellate Court Attorney at the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department.  

 

As they draw closer to the “empty nester” demographic, it has truly been a joy for Lisa and Rob to witness the revitalization of Beth El over the past several years, especially the burgeoning young families community. They look forward to continuing to do their part to ensure that the next generation at Beth El will experience the shul as the vital place that has truly enriched their own religious, spiritual and social lives.

 

Finally, Lisa and Rob wish to express their warm congratulations to Lisa and Larry Mandelker, who are richly deserving of being the recipients of the President’s Ne’emanim Award.