Geoffrey Withnell joined the Shaare Torah community in 2012, and immediately jumped in

by volunteering as a greeter for the High Holiday services.  He continued by being an active participant in many Men's Club and Shaare Torah activities, Succah building and tear down, Yom HaShoah candle delivery, Minyan On Demand and Men's Club minyan participation,and others.  When asked to help with a Men's Club or Shaare Torah activity, his default answer is "yes".  He organized and continues to run the Empty Nesters' Summer BBQ.  In 2017 he became a trustee on the synagogue board, and currently runs the Ambassador program for the Religious Life committee.  

 

Professionally, Geoff is a subject matter expert in Quality Assurance for Advanced Systems Engineering Corporation, currently working as a contractor at a three letter government agency in Virginia. He is a Senior Member of the American Society for Quality, and has presented papers on quality to the Program Management Institute, the American Association of Blood Banks, and the Israeli Quality Society.  One principle he has learned in his career is that for an organization to function well, everybody has to do their bit, and he applies this principle to the Shaare Torah community.  His leisure time is spent with friends and family, reading science fiction, traveling to Celtic festivals, Scottish Highland games and Renaissance Faires, and visiting his 14 grandchildren. 

 

The Shaare Torah community has been a tremendous support to Geoffrey in his life and Jewish journey, and he committed to working to ensure that the community can continue to support its members and the wider community we are in.  

 

Geoff is humbled and honored to have been chosen by his peers to be Shaare Torah’s Blue Yarmulke Man of the Year.   He would like to thank the many individuals who have worked so hard to make the Shaare Torah Men's Club and the Shaare Torah community the shining examples of the best in Conservative Judaism that they are.  In particular he would like to thank Michael Weisel, David Freiman, and Connie Liss for their outstanding examples of dedicated involvement.  Finally, he would like to thank his fantastic wife, Michele, who supports all his efforts, often by working right along with him, his children, and his father Frank Withnell z'l, who showed him by example how to be a mensch.