The best part of being a program director for the Jewish Pavilion is that it gives me the opportunity to meet interesting and sometimes outstanding individuals in our community. Two of these residents, whom I had the pleasure to meet recently at the Village on the Green, are Mati Braun and his wife, Rachel Heimovics.

Mati is a native of Israel where he graduated from the Israel Academy in Tel Aviv. He came to America in 1962 to study with Joseph Fuchs at the Juilliard School, and in 1969 he joined the New York Philharmonic, a position he held until 2006. Mati's musical talents were noticed...