[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 152 (Thursday, November 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO JACK LEVINE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 12, 1998

  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to my close friend, 
Jack Levine, who is receiving the 1998 TZEDEK (Justice) Award from the 
Labor Zionist Alliance. Before I ever ran for office, I practiced law 
with Jack Levine. I was overwhelmed by his brilliant legal mind, love 
of ideas and compassion for the less fortunate. After all these years, 
he remains a profound influence on my own beliefs and system of values. 
I know I'm a better person for having absorbed his wise teachings.
  The twin themes that dominate Jack's life are Zionism and the rights 
of working men and women. Jack's father, an Orthodox rabbi from 
Lithuania, instilled in his young son the importance of a Jewish 
homeland. The Rabbi was very persuasive: at the age of 10, Jack made a 
pitch for the Jewish National Fund at his father's synagogue in 
Brooklyn.
  Ten years later, as a student at City College of New York and a 
member of Avukah, the student Zionist organization, Jack had what can 
only be described as a political awakening. He found in Labor Zionism--
a literal synthesis of Zionism and Socialism--the perfect balance for 
his own emerging political philosophy. It was not much later that Jack 
became actively involved with the American labor movement and the 
Jewish Labor Committee, associations that continue to this day.
  After serving with the Merchant Marines in World War II, Jack worked 
on the assembly line at Ford and as a Longshoreman in San Pedro. In 
1951, he entered law school at UCLA, eventually graduating third in his 
class. Upon graduation Jack joined Abe Levy's law firm, where he 
ultimately specialized in labor law. I joined him there in the mid-
1960s.
  It's probably superfluous to note that Jack did more than practice 
law. In fact, Jack spent much of his ``free'' time working tirelessly 
for causes in which he believed. In 1959, he successfully defended the 
world-famous Watts Towers from demolition by the City of Los Angeles. 
Sixteen years later, he served as attorney for the chairman of the 
Agricultural Relations Commission in Sacramento, administering the law 
that I sponsored in the California Assembly.
  Today Jack has immersed himself into the study of modern Hebrew 
literature at the University of Jerusalem. His hunger for knowledge is 
boundless.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in saluting Jack Levine, whose sense 
of decency and intellectual curiosity are a model for us all. I know 
his wife, Ann, children, Elinor Levine and Deborah Zimmer, son-in-law 
Tim Zimmer, and grandchildren, Jeremy and Daniel, are all very proud of 
his achievements.

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