[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 8, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H2813-H2814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     TO WELCOME RABBI RACHEL MIKVA

  (Mr. PORTER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  [[Page H2814]] Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I have the great pleasure 
today of welcoming to the House Chamber Rabbi Rachel Mikva of Temple 
Hakafa who graciously began our session this morning with her opening 
prayer. It is an honor to welcome Rabbi Mikva to Washington and to the 
House of Representatives, and the wonderful words she shared with us 
today reflect the strong leadership she provides to the people of her 
congregation in Glencoe, IL.
  But my connection with Rabbi Mikva goes far beyond the fact that her 
synagogue is located in my congressional district. Her farther, Abner 
Mikva, is well known to all of us in this Chamber for his distinguished 
service as a judge and later as chief judge for the Circuit Court of 
Appeals for the District of Columbia, a position to which he was 
appointed by President Jimmy Carter. After many years of outstanding 
work as a jurist, Ab agreed last year to leave the bench to serve in 
his current office in the White House as counsel to the President.
  What newer Members may not know is that Ab Mikva once represented the 
10th District of Illinois. And in 1978, I challenged him for the seat. 
Our campaign that year was heated and energetic and was a race of ideas 
and respectful debate in the greatest tradition of American politics.
  The victor of the campaign was not known on election evening. And 
when we awoke the morning after, Ab had retained his seat by a margin 
of 650 votes. Rachel at that time was 18 years of age, and one can 
expect that with her hard work for her father perhaps she provided 
enough of her fellow 18-year-old votes to win so close an election.
  Shortly thereafter, Ab was appointed to the bench by President 
Carter, and I ran successfully in the special election that followed to 
succeed him and represent the wonderful people of the 10th District 
here in Washington.
  We have remained good friends over the years, and it is a pleasure to 
welcome him here today. He is in the gallery to my right with his 
grandchildren and Rachel's children, Jacob and Karen, and I thank his 
daughter, Rabbi Rachel Mikva, for inspiring us with her opening prayer 
today.
  Mr. MYERS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. PORTER. I yield to the gentleman from Indiana.
  Mr. MYERS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I join many friends of the Mikva 
family in welcoming Rabbi Rachel. The Mikva family and my family became 
friends many years ago when they first came to Washington. We lived in 
the same neighborhood. Little Rachel and our youngest daughter, Lori, 
became very good friends, schoolmates.
  I can recall and I can recommend it to about 350 high school kids 
here this morning, when they would come to visit their fathers. Rachel 
would sit on this side of the aisle, on the center aisle, and our 
daughter, Lori, on the other side, and just stare at each other, good 
friends at home and in school, but they became very competitive here. 
So we always remember that little Rachel, so proud today as we join the 
Mikva family and their grandchildren and welcome Rachel. We thank her 
for joining us today.


                          ____________________