[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 111 (Thursday, July 31, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S8385]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    WELCOMING RABBI DANIEL M. COHEN

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I thank all of you here. I thank our 
Chaplain, Dr. Ogilvie, and I thank you, Mr. President, for the 
opportunity to present my rabbi. Youthful though he is, he is wise. I 
think the Presiding Officer knows one does not have to have age to have 
wisdom. And we credit Rabbi Daniel Cohen with having wisdom.
  This is an honor that I so much wanted to have bestowed upon him 
because he has earned the respect and the admiration of so many in our 
congregation. I think about 800 families worship and have their 
children taught by Rabbi Cohen.
  He is a native of New Jersey, as I am. And it is just an honor to 
have him and Mrs. Cohen, who is witnessing this from the balcony, join 
us this morning.
  Thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity to hear from Rabbi 
Cohen.
  I am pleased and proud to have Rabbi Daniel Cohen from my own Temple 
Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange, NJ here today to convene this 
session of the Senate.
  The fact that Rabbi Cohen is here to give this invocation means a 
great deal to me. It speaks to the diversity of religions and races 
that make up this body, and this great Nation.
  As Rabbi Cohen said, we are all privileged to live in this country. 
And it benefits us to work together and to use our individual talents 
to make this place as great as it can possibly be. I couldn't agree 
more.
  Rabbi Cohen and I have similar family backgrounds and share many 
values.
  He and I are respectively the grandson and son of immigrants. We have 
gotten to where we are today by taking advantage of the opportunities 
that were given to us, and we are both committed to giving back to the 
communities that treated us so well.
  We both believe in the right and ability of all people to be accepted 
and get ahead. It is symbolic that the name of our synagogue, ``Sharey 
Tefilo,'' means the ``Gates of Prayer.'' These gates of prayer to me 
represent open gates through which people of all faiths and backgrounds 
should be able to pass in order to succeed, find refuge from 
persecution, or simply start a better life.
  I want to add some quick words about Rabbi Cohen himself:
  He grew up in Berkeley Heights, NJ.
  He did his undergraduate work at Duke University, getting his degree 
in anthropology and religion. Some of that time he spent abroad 
studying in Israel.
  He went on to receive his masters in Hebrew letters from the Hebrew 
Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and received his rabbinic 
ordination in 1993.
  He has been with my temple in New Jersey since his ordination, first 
as a rabbinic intern and then as the assistant rabbi. He currently 
serves as the associate rabbi of our congregation, enjoying a great 
deal of respect from members of the temple.
  He does a great deal of work in our synagogue with youth groups and 
educational programming, but has an exceptional ability to reach 
everybody in the congregation, both young and old.
  I want to thank Rabbi Cohen for coming today, and I am proud to have 
been able to share a bit of my heritage and home State with my 
colleagues in the Senate.

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