PASSOVER EDITION 5785 SECTION C PAGE 24
Every year the IJN salutes people — known or obscure — who bring freedom into our lives. Passover, with its message of gratitude to G-d for our freedom, is the appropriate moment to say thank you. This year, the IJN salutes H. Michael Miller, Maya Bajayo, Paul Shamon and The Oleskys.
H. Michael Miller
Leadership
Aside from that mysterious “H.” at the head of H. Michael Miller’s name, there is never a hidden agenda in Michael Miller’s leadership. Whether as a longtime respected attorney in Denver’s legal community or as a voice for vision and stability at BMH-BJ, Michael Miller is a straight shooter. That term often implies a certain sharpness or “let the chips fall where they may,” but not in the case of Michael Miller’s leadership.
Whether as president or respected elder at BMH-BJ, he has steered the venerable congregation through crises in a sensitive and informed way, always relying on persuasion rather than authority, always straightforward in his approach to issues and people.
Long-term. Unwavering. Steadfast. Natural. Such are what perhaps distinguishes Miller from other effective leaders, for already as a teenager in the 1950s Michael Miller emerged as a youth leader in the BMH synagogue. His leadership and devotion have sustained for some seven decades. That is long-term commitment! Not to mention, his daughter is now the synagogue’s president.
Jacky Rosen, US senator from Nevada, prepared for her position as a synagogue president. With a smile she’ll tell you which job is harder. Michael Miller has stayed the course longer due to his unflappable character and love for the congregation and the larger community it impacts. Excellent traits in and out of the legal profession, not to mention for the family that he and Bobbi Lou have raised.
Maya Bajayo
Activism
On Oct. 7, 2023, hearing in real time from family back home, Israeli-Denverite Maya Bajayo reeled in shock. The faces of the innocent men, women and children who had been kidnapped by Hamas galvanized her. Within a month, she had organized a local chapter of the hostage-awareness group Run For Their Lives. She hasn’t stopped since.
Over 550 days, 73 weeks — and counting. Since its inception, the group has not missed a single week advocating for hostages held by Hamas. The group has wept, comforted each other and also celebrated hostages returning home, all under Bajayo’s consistent, unfailing, quiet but passionate leadership.
Bajayo’s work is not flashy. There is no monetary reward, nor even accolades. Her work is not exciting or creative. There are no large dollar grants. One might even perceive it as drudge work — making her commitment all the more noteworthy.
Setting aside Sunday afternoon’s prime leisure time — who else does that? Week in and week out? Actually, there are a number who do, kindred spirits of Bajayo’s, also no doubt inspired by her example. Along the way, she has attracted three co-leaders who help amplify the basic message of humanity that permeates the group under Bajayo’s leadership.
A true volunteer, Bajayo does the work because her fellow Israelis and Jews are that important to her — and to the many she inspires.
Paul Shamon
History
Paul Shamon is a man who provides for the future by honoring the past. This noble philosophy comes to life in the form of the 10-foot-tall bronze statue of General Maurice Rose in Veteran’s Park across the street from the Colorado State Capitol, erected and dedicated in 2023.
In 2019, Shamon, the son of a WW II veteran, attended a presentation about Rose, Denver’s Jewish war hero, by Rose biographer Marshall Fogel. Shamon became inspired to conceive of a permanent memorial to Rose, and then undertake the funding, the commissioning and the installation of the formidable statue.
This was during a time when statues throughout the US were being torn down by protesters whose values were at odds with those honored with the statues. But no one could dispute General Rose’s valiant battles against the Nazis in Europe.
At the time of the statue’s dedication, Shamon told the IJN, “As a child growing up in Colorado, there were no monuments or statues to Jews. When my children were young there was not a place to take them and learn about their local heritage. My future grandchildren will have such a place.”
Paul Shamon is a proud patriot, Coloradan and Jew. His values and dogged persistence have honored the memory of a Denver-born Jewish military hero, personalizing the man behind Rose Medical Center and Rose Community Foundation.
The Oleskys
Community
More than 25 years ago, Neil and Vicki-Bluma Olesky moved from Colorado Springs, Neil’s hometown, to Greenwood Village so they could join the then-fledgling southeast suburban Jewish community that blossomed into what is now Aish of the Rockies. Not only did they join the emerging community, they built it — literally.
Neil Olesky drew from his background as a metal worker and business owner to spearhead the remodeling of a former church into Aish’s first building. Then he was the project manager for the sleek new permanent Aish of the Rockies facility. His metal working skills also gave Aish the bas-relief sanctuary doors and the decorative metal “papercut” grillwork adorning the bimah and sanctuary windows.
Vicki Olesky manages Aish’s Mizel Family Mikvah. She is faithfully on call seven nights a week to facilitate the fulfillment of family purity for the women of her community. Seven nights a week: there is no more dedicated Jewish community servant.
Vicki Olesky’s leadership reaches beyond the local Jewish community as a national spokesperson for the National Cord Blood registry. She educates parents about donating life-saving umbilical cord blood for the treatment of leukemia.
Together, the Oleskys run what is lovingly dubbed “the Olesky hotel,” opening their comfortable home to guests from all over the world for Shabbat or holidays. What would we do without the Oleskys?
This article was updated on April 11 to correct the number of weeks the Denver group of Run For Their Lives has met.
© IJN 2025
