https://www.cfhu.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/CFHU-100Alumni-Day23-Margery-Hecht-Kugelmass-and-Stanley-Kugelmass.jpg
Reflections on our time at HU
By Margery-Hecht Kugelmass & Stanley Kugelmass, Toronto
We came to study on the One Year Abroad program at HU during the academic year 1970-1971 quite independent of one another. I was from the US (New Jersey) and Stan was from Montreal. Both of us had been studying at University and had been considering spending a year abroad. We both grew up in very traditional Jewish homes with strong ties to Israel.
It was a dream for both of us to spend a year in Israel and we couldn’t have imagined how that year would provide us so many defining moments in our lives. The courses we took were so academically sophisticated and taught by world scholars in their chosen fields. We made lasting friendships, people who remain a part of our lives even today.
We travelled in Israel extensively to parts of Israel which are no longer within their borders. We climbed Har Sinai and saw the sunrise and watched the moon rise over the Golan every night. Meeting one another has shaped so much of our lives and given us a solid foundation both in our love for each other and our love of Israel.
Our year in Israel has shaped our lives. We met and then married. Made our home in Canada and had four children. Our oldest daughter also studied at the Rothberg program thirty years after we did! We have returned to Israel many times since 1971. Every time is magical.
- Margery is a registered clinical Social Worker who has operated a private practice in midtown Toronto for over thirty years
- Stanley is a partner at Blayney McMurty LLP