[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 27, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E22-E23]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING SHIRLEY GRALLA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GARY L. ACKERMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 27, 1998

  Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join with my constituents 
and the friends

[[Page E23]]

and family of the Milton and Shirley Gralla family as they come 
together to celebrate Shirley being awarded an honorary doctorate of 
humane letters from Yeshiva University.
  Shirley Gralla's story is that of a child of Eastern European Jewish 
immigrant parents who came to America. Through her many talents, keen 
insight and most compassionate nature, Shirley has succeeded in giving 
aid and hope to those people seeking to come to America and experience 
the blessings of freedom and prosperity that she has experienced. For 
more than a decade Shirley Gralla has been recognized as an 
international leader in assisting refugee families trapped in the 
former Soviet Union. More recently, Shirley Gralla has become immersed 
in a comprehensive approach to provide Jewish education and communal 
services for such refugee families in the United States.
  Mrs. Gralla has striven mightily to provide the emotional stability 
and compassion these people need to establish new and successful lives 
in America. In conjunction with her husband Milton, a Trustee of 
Yeshiva University, Mrs. Gralla has initiated a ``Celebration of 
Religious Freedom,'' enabling Soviet Jewish couples who have immigrated 
to the United States to be remarried in traditional religious 
ceremonies denied them under the Communist regime. These ceremonies 
have taken place throughout the United States as well as Canada and 
Israel.
  Shirley Gralla has consistently demonstrated that she can not only 
develop dynamic and far-reaching programs, but also roll up her sleeves 
and join in making things happen. In 1985, with her husband Milton, 
they sponsored a ``Freedom Flight'' of Soviet Jews from Bucharest to 
Israel and personally accompanied these refugees aboard the plane. As 
more and more Eastern European Jewish emigres obtained their freedom 
through the demise of the Soviet Union, Mrs. Gralla has extended her 
efforts and resources to assist and help stabilize these people through 
educational support programs at Yeshiva University and elsewhere. The 
Grallas have recently endowed a scholarship fund at Yeshiva University 
for such students. In addition, Mrs. Gralla and her husband have become 
Yeshiva University Benefactors by endowing the Gralla Family Research 
Center for Brain Disorders at the University's Albert Einstein College 
of Medicine.
  It is in the truest tradition of our great country that we give of 
ourselves freely to assist others. Shirley Gralla has taken this 
timeless tradition and filled the lives of countless people with love, 
hope, stability and a realization that even in the darkest moments of 
one's being there will always be hope. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues 
to rise with me in honoring this great woman.

                          ____________________