[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 112 (Wednesday, July 12, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S9793]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     TRIBUTE TO RABBI JUDEA MILLER

  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a great 
man, Rabbi Judea Miller. He passed away July 9, 1995, and the loss of 
his presence is already felt by all those who knew him.
  A much respected fixture in the city of Rochester, NY, Rabbi Miller 
led an exciting life in which he continually challenged the status quo 
and injustice in society. Born in New York City in the early 1930's, 
Rabbi Miller first served as a rabbi in the U.S. Army at Fort Riley, 
KS. After completion of his service, he moved to Temple Emanu-El in 
Witchita, KS and then to a temple in Malden, MA before settling at 
Temple B'rith Kodesh in 1973. Yet throughout his geographic moves, the 
rabbi held dear the notions of equality and acceptance. In 1962, he 
traveled south to Mississippi to assist in the voter registration 
drives. There, he and a local minister dined at a Woolworth's lunch 
counter, marking that restaurant's first integrated meal.
  He continued this fight for justice taking stands against slumlords 
and poor education and capital punishment. He was a defender of faith 
in the largest sense and he reached out to other religions. Said the 
Reverend Dwight Cook of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, ``Rabbi Miller was 
about bringing people of different races and different religions 
together.''
  He will be remembered dearly by his friends, his congregation, and 
the city of Rochester. He will be remembered, the Rochester Chronicle 
and Democrat said, as, ``a voice of dignity, reason and compassion, 
speaking always on behalf of justice and peace.'' Those who knew him 
already miss him dearly.
  Rabbi Miller is survived by his wife, Anita; his son, Rabbi Jonathan 
Miller; his daughter, Rebecca Gottesman; his mother, Yetta Waxman; and 
five grandchildren.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following article 
from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle be placed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       [From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, July 11, 1995]

                           A Voice For Peace

       Regular readers of the Democrat and Chronicle editorial 
     pages knew Rabbi Judea Miller well. He was a frequent 
     contributor, a voice of dignity, reason and compassion, 
     speaking always on behalf of justice and peace. His writings 
     consistently revealed his sense of scholarship and history; 
     and his empathy for peoples of every race and religion.
       His death Sunday is a loss to us all.
       He wrote often of his wish for security for the Jewish 
     state of Israel, but he often ran into criticism from those 
     who saw him too ready to make peace with the Palestinians. In 
     1989, for example, he wrote of his visit to the Palestinian 
     refugees at Ramallah, and described in moving terms the 
     conditions he found there. In 1992, he compared Serbian 
     attacks on the Bosnian Muslims to the Nazi attacks on Jews.
       Miller was full of intellectual curiosity, and he went 
     where his restless mind took him. In 1987 he journeyed to 
     visit the Russian dissident, Andrei Sakharov, who had only 
     recently been released from his exile. In 1990 he defended 
     the writer Issac Bashevis Singer against Yiddish critics who, 
     Miller said, were so wounded by the pain of the Holocaust 
     that they could not see the uncomfortable truths that Singer 
     was writing.
       Hundreds of Rochesterians knew Miller personally, through 
     his unceasing efforts to bridge the racial and religious gaps 
     that divide blacks, whites, Protestants, Catholics and Jews 
     in our community.
       In April, when he announced his retirement from Temple 
     B'rith Kodesh, he assured a reporter: ``I will still be 
     around to make trouble.'' The only trouble he ever made was 
     for those whose prejudice or ignorance stood in the way of 
     the world of peace and justice that he envisioned.
     

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