Hillel's Angels

Hillel's Angels - a (not so) brief history

In 1997 Cantor Ilan Mamber of Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff, NJ, a motorcyclist for many years, organized a rather unique group of bikers. At the time, this had been the only known Jewish motorcycle club in the country. They were only a hand full of riders initially, riding under the name, 'Galgalei Shalom', the Wheels of Peace.

It was a great name but the Hebrew was not easily remembered and in a moment of great inspiration in 1998, Cantor Ilan re-named the club the Hillel's Angels. Soon, many more motorcyclists from across the state of New Jersey had heard of this band of Jewish riders and could not resist the allure of riding with the new Angels.

But the life of a Cantor, at least a Cantor as productive as Cantor Ilan, does not allow for all that much time for riding! While the concept was great, it was a struggle to get rides scheduled and Ilan and the club needed someone to help share the load of leading and organizing rides.

1999: enter a new Temple member and motorcyclist, Mel Morris.

Mel was instrumental in creating the first club logo and building a real ride schedule that we maintain to this day. The last Sunday of every month, from March through October is a Hillel's Angels ride day!

Of course, now, with the advent of our forum, we have more rides than ever before but that is jumping ahead in the history of the club.

Mels passion for the club, the name, the new logo, and growing participation worked together to draw the attention of the Jewish press and a number of articles appeared through out New Jersey. This lead to even more participants.

Through all of this time, Hillel's Angels was a club in name only, i.e., it was not structured. There was no charter or mission statement, no meetings, no dues, and no officers other than its de facto ride leaders: Cantor Mamber, Mel Morris, and more recently, Steve Kaplowitz.

This created a few issues that gave the above mentioned ride leaders and club founders reason for concern. First, with Mel having moved to Florida, he was not longer available to lead rides. Steve K had noted a desire to dramatically cut down on the number of rides he did lead and the Cantors schedule was no more forgiving than it had been in the past.

Calls for volunteers to lead rides went unanswered and it appeared as though the Hillel's Angels would ride no longer or would at least revert back to a few rides each year.

It was during this time that Gil Paul, an avid motorcycle enthusiast, having ridden with the Hillel's Angles through two seasons, had volunteered to lead a group of about 30 Angels down to Whitwell, Tennessee to participate in the 2006 Ride To Remember - the Paper Clip Ride. The 1,800 mile, week long trip required a tremendous level of organization, planning, and good communications skills. The ride was seen as a great success. Mel Morris, Ilan Mamber, and Steve Kaplowitz recognized in Gil the skills needed to create a -real- motorcycle club and asked that he consider taking on the role of Interim President in 2006.

While it took many months for Gil to make the commitment, there has been no turning back. The first task was to create an organizational structure that would assure the long term survival of the club, even if any one ride leader were to move away or just not be able to devote time to lead any longer. The second task was to create a mission statement that an active and interested membership could stand behind and support.

With this mission statement in hand, an organizational structure that assured that every member had a direct hand in defining the club and its purpose, and policy guidelines that work to assure rider safety and continued rider education, the Hillel's Angels had become a real organization.

In March of 2007, Gil Paul was unanimously voted into position, becoming the first formal President of the Hillel’s Angels. Fellow board members included; David Levine - Vice President, Larry Edelman – Secretary,Steve Goldfrad – Treasurer, Ari Wallach - Safety officer, and Arthur Wein – JMA Rep. In March of 2009, this board was unanimously re-elected on an uncontested ballot for an additional two year term and was pleased to welcome a new addition to the board, Mr. Mark Zalaman - Master Ride Coordinator. Gil Paul recently stepped down from his position as President with David Levine accepting the role of interim President until elections are held in the Spring.

Current officers of the Board:
David Levine - Interim President
Mark Zalaman - Master Ride Coordinator
Larry Edelman - Secretary
Steve Goldfrad - Treasurer
Arthur Wein – JMA Rep

The above shot was taken at Van Sant Air Strip near New Hope, PA.

Current officers of the Board:
David Levine - Interim President
Mark Zalaman - Master Ride Coordinator
Larry Edelman - Secretary
Steve Goldfrad - Treasurer
Arthur Wein – JMA Rep

Download Charter and By-laws Here

If you are interested in seeing where your fellow club members ride from, check out the map below. The map shows placemarks, each representing at least one member and in some instances, several members all living in the same town. If you are interested in finding a member near you, please email info@hillelsangels.org

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