[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 64 (Tuesday, May 19, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E891]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    TRIBUTE TO THE UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CHARLES E. SCHUMER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 19, 1998

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. Speaker, I am speaking today in honor of a leading 
organization in America's Jewish community, the Union of Orthodox 
Jewish Congregations of America, in recognition of its 100th 
anniversary.
  The Orthodox Union represents over one million members from one 
thousand congregations across the country in matters religious and 
communal. In its efforts to assist Orthodox Jews in America, the 
Orthodox Union runs the renowned Kashruth Certification Program to 
guarantee certified kosher food for the observant. The Orthodox Union's 
National Council for the Jewish Disabled serves as an outreach program 
for the deaf and the developmentally disabled which has helped 
thousands of disabled live fuller lives. The Orthodox Union has always 
been at the forefront of the fight for the concerns of the world's 
Jewish population, working to strengthen and protect the state of 
Israel as well as defending Jewish civil rights and playing a vital 
role in the struggle to save the Soviet Jewry.
  The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America was established 
in 1898 by Dr. Henry Pereira Mendes, the leader of the Spanish & 
Portuguese Synagogue in New York to promote Torah Judaism and help 
organize the fragmented American Orthodox Jewish community. Since then, 
the Orthodox Union has served the needs of over 1 million members in 
more than 1,000 congregations nationwide. To address the need for 
Jewish continuity the Orthodox Union created the NCSY, a dynamic 
outreach movement for teenagers. Through its efforts, the Orthodox 
Union has helped the modern orthodox congregant prosper in a world 
which often seeks to strip them of their religious and cultural 
identity. In this role, the Orthodox Union has played a vital part in 
the worldwide advancement of Judaism.
  On this anniversary, I call upon all of my colleagues in the House to 
join me in giving tribute to the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations 
of America in recognition of the defining role that it has played in 
the formation of modern American Judaism. I congratulate the Orthodox 
Union on its successful first one hundred years, and wish it many more.

                          ____________________