[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 22, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E880]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        AWARD FOR BARBARA GAFFIN

                                 ______


                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 22, 1996

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I think those of us who have 
the privilege of serving in this body are extremely lucky to be able to 
work as we do. There is only one major downside to our job in my 
experience--our inability to be in two places at one time. June 6 is 
one of the occasions when I will very much regret this limitation. We 
will be in session and I will therefore be in Washington. In Boston, on 
June 6, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston will 
present the Warren B. Kohn Award in Jewish Communal Service to Barbara 
Gaffin, who serves as the JCRC associate director. It is not only a 
well-deserved award, it is an award which could have been designed with 
the recipient specifically in mind.
  Barbara Gaffin has been an extraordinarily dedicated and effective 
citizen for her entire adult life. She was a leader in the effort to 
save Jews worldwide from the oppression that they faced in many 
countries, and had a major role in the efforts many of us made here in 
Congress to protect Jews from being victims of oppression and death. 
For the past few years, she has worked in Boston as the associate 
director of the Jewish Community Relations Council and continues to be 
an invaluable source of intelligence, energy, compassion, and good 
judgment on behalf of the wide variety of causes that the JCRC 
undertakes. I am regretful that I cannot attend the ceremony at which 
this award is presented to Barbara Gaffin, so I ask for an opportunity 
to note here how important her work has been to myself and to others.
  In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that Barbara 
Gaffin's husband, Doug Cahn, was for many years my administrative 
assistant here in Washington. I was very lucky to have him working for 
me, and I was additionally lucky that this brought me into such regular 
contact with Barbara, who is truly an exemplar of the ideal of Jewish 
communal service.

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