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WHEREAS, Howard Balsam was born in Pittsburgh in 1931 and attended Yeshiva Achei Tmimim, the predecessor to the current Yeshiva Schools, in Pittsburgh; and,
WHEREAS, he attended Torah V'Daath Jewish high school in New York and Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore, Maryland, receiving Smicha/Rabbinic Ordination in 1956; and,
WHEREAS, Elsie Balsam, daughter of a distinguished Jewish Yemenite family, attended Brooklyn College, earning a Masters Degree in Education from Loyola College; and,
WHEREAS, Howard and Elsie married in 1956 and moved to Squirrel Hill in 1957 to join Balsam Insurance Agency, which merged in 1987 with Wagner Agency Inc. where Howard Balsam is currently an associate with the firm; and,
WHEREAS, while raising a family in Squirrel Hill and working, Howard continued to teach Torah to young adults in there homes, and the Balsams brought rabbinic scholars here and started classes--especially for women-before there were former outlets for adult study in Pittsburgh; and,
WHEREAS, in 1960, the Balsams were instrumental in relocating the Mikvah/Jewish ritual bath house on Fifth Avenue in Oakland, and assisted in its subsequent move to Squirrel Hill; and,
WHEREAS, Mr. Balsam served as a Board Member of the United Jewish Federation and Chairman of Yeshiva Schools Board of Directors for 27 years; and,
WHEREAS they are the parents of three children, 19 grandchildren, and one great grandchild; and,
WHEREAS, Mr. Balsam helped bring to Pittsburgh the worldwide Daf Yomi study program, in which a page of Talmud is learned each day, and delivered the daily class for two years; and,
WHEREAS, the Kollel Jewish Learning Center, Pittsburgh's Post Talmudical Academy and Torah Study Center, is honoring Howard and Elsie Balsam with the Rabbi Shaul Kagan Legacy Award at its Annual Melava Malka Dinner.
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NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby congratulate Mr. & Mrs. Howard Balsam...
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