_________ Oceanside/island park ________
HERALD I.P. kids receive high honors
Remembering a fallen officer
oceanside F.D. heroes rewarded
Page 12
Page 18
Page 10
VoL. 59 No. 19
MAY 2 - 8, 2024
$1.00
Commemoration pays tribute to Holocaust victims By KEPHERD DANIEL kdaniel@liherald.com
Keith Rossein/Herald
Nassau County Legislator Debra Mule, left, presenting a citation to Oceanside resident Alberta Biscotti for her longtime work as a volunteer at Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital.
Celebrating exceptional volunteers at Mount Sinai South Nassau
By KEPHERD DANIEL
kdaniel@liherald.com
Mount Sinai South Nassau honored several local residents, including residents from Oceanside, Baldwin and Rockville Centre for their extraordinary contributions as volunteers to the hospital, during its 68th anniversary luncheon at the Coral House in Baldwin on April 25. The celebration was a tribute to the unwavering dedication and compassion the hospital’s volunteers, past and present, have exhibited. “We think it’s important to recognize all of the time and energy our volunteers provide for our patients in our community,” Dr. Adhi Sharma, the hospital’s president, said. “I think
we can never take it for granted that these people are giving their time freely and fully. Many of them have been here for years and years. They are part of the South Nassau fabric and part of the South Nassau family. You recognize family, and that’s what families do.” The luncheon served as a testament to the enduring spirit of volunteerism that has permeated the hospital for nearly seven decades. Volunteers from various communities, including Oceanside, Baldwin, Valley Stream, Rockville Centre Malverne, Lynbrook and Freeport, have collectively contributed to the hospital’s legacy of care and compassion. Among the honorees was 76-year-old Oceanside resident Alberta Biscotti, who has embodied the spirit of lifelong learning and CONtiNueD ON pAge 15
The Friedberg JCC and the Jewish Community Council of Oceanside will co-host their annual Holocaust commemoration on May 6, bringing community members together to honor the memory of the victims. The council’s Yom Hashoah event, scheduled for 7 p.m. at the JCC, will invite people from different backgrounds in the Jewish community, as well as those interested in Jewish traditions, to commemorate the Holocaust. “The broader mission of the council is really, truly, just to sort of keep the Jewish spirit alive within the community overall,” Sam Seifman, the council’s president, said. “We encompass anybody who feels that they are a Jew, is somebody interested in Jewish traditions, and so forth, to come to participate by being an attendee, or come to some of the other events that we have during the year.” Each year, the event features speakers with compelling personal stories related to the Holocaust. They may include survivors themselves, second-generation survivors, or those with unique connections to the Holocaust. This year Monte Leeper, a longtime Oceanside resident, will present the story of how his
father, Stanley, a Jewish soldier in World War II, went AWOL at the end of the war and saved the lives of two concentration camp inmates. Leeper — who is also the Herald’s Ask the Architect columnist — will share his unique perspective on the Holocaust. His presentation promises to shed light on the bravery and resilience of Jewish soldiers amid the horrors of war. “I’ve followed in his footsteps as much as I can,” Leeper, who was 22 when his father died, said. “I wrote about him being my hero when I was in the third grade, and I never thought otherwise, which is why I’m going to do this presentation, because to me he was always a hero.” During the liberation of the Gunskirchen camp in Austria, Stanley Leeper encountered two emaciated teens, Wolfgang “Sinai” Adler, 16, and Yehuda Bacon, 15, who had been transferred from Auschwitz and were wearing Ger man unifor ms. Despite the risk, Leeper took them to a Red Cross hospital in Switzerland. When they initially were refused treatment because the facility was overcrowded, he threatened the hospital administrator at gunpoint to secure their care. “My father left his unit and drove all night to get them to a CONtiNueD ON pAge 5