Ira Ellis/Special to ViewBefore her death, Audrey Merkin, top, set up a scholarship fund to help teenagers travel to important Jewish sites to better understand religion. Sarah Memar, 16, bottom, spent two weeks in June traveling overseas with other teens as part of the March of the Living program.
Ira Ellis/Special to ViewBefore her death, Audrey Merkin, top, set up a scholarship fund to help teenagers travel to important Jewish sites to better understand religion. Sarah Memar, 16, bottom, spent two weeks in June traveling overseas with other teens as part of the March of the Living program.
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Although Audrey Merkin died last year, her legacy lives on with a foundation set up by her friends.
Merkin was active in Temple Beth Sholom and was an executive board member. She died last year at age 52 as a result of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a rare allergic reaction to medication. She had an affinity for helping teenagers understand the religion and history of the Jewish people.
Shirley Chaplin, temple member and a member of the board that set up the foundation, knew Merkin almost 30 years. Chaplin described her friend as outgoing, good natured and a dedicated worker who was involved in a lot of charity work.
"If you needed help, Audrey was there," Chaplin said.
The Audrey Merkin Scholarship Fund for Teens recently sent its first recipient to Poland and the Middle East under the March of the Living program.
In June, Sarah Memar, an 11th grader from Western High School, spent two weeks overseas with other teens and traveled to sites of Nazi persecution and learned about Jewish culture. They visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and Masada.
In July, Memar spoke to the Women's League of Temple Beth Sholom about her experiences.
"It was an amazing trip. It changed me," Sarah told the group. "We went to Auschwitz and Birkenau, to the gas chambers. That's when it really hit me."
For more information, contact the Temple Beth Sholom office at 804-1333, Ext. 100.
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