[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 14, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 14, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
             IN MEMORY OF RABBI MENACHEM MENDEL SCHNEERSON

  Mr. DURENBERGER. Madam President, I rise to express my deep sadness 
upon the death of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh rebbe 
of the Lubavitch Hasidic movement.
  The rebbe's death on Sunday at the age of 92 comes 4 months after he 
suffered a massive stroke. Rabbi Schneerson led the Lubavitch movement, 
one of the world's largest orthodox Jewish communities, for more than 
40 years.
  There are a significant number of Lubavitchers in the Saint Paul 
area. Throughout my years in the Senate, I have benefited greatly from 
their perspectives concerning the U.S. policy in the Middle East, as 
well as other issues of concern.
  A refugee first from Stalinist Russia and then from Nazi Germany, 
Rabbi Schneerson studied philosophy and engineering in Berlin and 
Paris.
  He became leader of the Lubavitch Hasidim in 1951, settling with 
members of the movement in Crown Heights. Unlike other Orthodox Jewish 
movements which operated in nearly complete seclusion, the Lubavitchers 
under Rabbi Schneerson's leadership sought to reach out to secular 
Jews. Over the 43 years of his tenure, the headquarters of the 
Lubavitch movement in New York City has become a center of over 2,000 
educational, social, and rehabilitative institutions.
  For the past 16 years, we in the Congress have designated his 
birthday as ``Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A.'' in recognition of his 
extraordinary efforts in pursuit of the ideals of scholarship, 
teaching, ethics, and charity.
  As members of the Lubavitch movement seek out the leadership 
necessary for their future, I encourage all of those who followed the 
rebbe's teachings to continue the important work he began.
  He was a powerful force for good in American society--and I join 
people of all faiths in Minnesota in extending our warmest condolences 
to all who learned from his example of piety and hope.
  Thank you, Madam President. I yield the floor.

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