[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 141 (Monday, October 18, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2123-E2124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   REMEMBERING RABBI JOSEPH WEINBERG

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. LOIS CAPPS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 18, 1999

  Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, this weekend, the nation lost one of its 
foremost religious and spiritual leaders, Rabbi Joseph P. Weinberg. 
Rabbi Weinberg served for over thirty years at Washington Hebrew 
Congregation. Throughout his exceptional career, Rabbi Weinberg 
distinguished himself not only for his Jewish scholarship and the 
pastoral care he devoted to his congregation, but as a champion in the 
fights for civil rights, racial understanding, and religious tolerance.
  Rabbi Weinberg was a gracious, warm and compassionate man. He 
possessed both a softspoken demeanor and a fiery determination to 
correct the injustices of our society. Above all else, he was devoted 
to his family. I wish to extend my most sincere condolences to his wife 
Marcia, his children Rachel, Johathan, Josh, their spouses, and his 
grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit for our colleagues an article about Rabbi 
Weinberg that was published in the Washington Post. This article 
reports on Rabbi Weinberg's final Rosh Hashanah sermon, delivered last 
month with the help of his children. Using Tolstoy's famous journal 
entry, ``Still Alive,'' Rabbi Weinberg said:
  ``Dear congregants, children and grandchildren,
  It is Rosh Hashanah. . .and we are still here.
  Still alive--to stand for causes that are just.
  Still alive--to stand in solidarity with others.
  Still alive--to bear witness to the majesty of the human soul.
  Still alive! Still alive!''
  Indeed, Mr. Speaker, Rabbi Joseph P. Weinberg is still alive. He may 
no longer be physically among us, but his spirit and legacy live on.

               [From the Washington Post, Oct. 17, 1999]

                  Rabbi Joseph P. Weinberg Dies at 62

                           (By Caryle Murphy)

       Joseph P. Weinberg, 62, senior rabbi at Washington Hebrew 
     Congregation, who had been active in interracial and civil 
     rights efforts since the 1960s, died at his Potomac home 
     Friday night after battling brain cancer for more than a 
     year.
       Rabbi Weinberg, who was known for his concern for social 
     issues, had served for 31 years at Washington Hebrew, the 
     city's oldest Jewish congregation and the largest Reform 
     congregation in the Washington area. For many of its 
     thousands of members as well as many others in the community 
     at large, he was the human symbol of the congregation.
       His death came a little more than a month after the rabbi 
     delivered an emotional farewell sermon on Rosh Hashanah, the 
     Jewish New Year and one of the holiest days in the Jewish 
     calendar.
       With the help of his three children, who each read portions 
     of the sermon, Weinberg told a packed sanctuary he had just 
     learned that he must ``battle anew with my pesky invader'' 
     but wanted ``to have Rosh Hashanah as usual.''
       He said the holiday was a reminder of ``God's great gift to 
     us . . . the precious gift of time,'' which is ``ours to fill 
     wisely, joyfully, completely.'' The ailing rabbi told his 
     congregants to rejoice that ``we are still here. Still alive, 
     to stand for causes that are just . . . to bear witness to 
     the majesty of the human soul. Still alive!''
       The Sept. 11 sermon was the first time many in the 
     congregation realized ``what was really happening as far as 
     his health was concerned,'' recalled Kenneth Marks, president 
     of the Northwest Washington congregation. ``The mood was 
     quite emotional.
       ``Joe Weinberg and the congregation were one and the same, 
     basically,'' Marks added. ``What can you say when you lose 
     someone who meant so much? This is the most compassionate man 
     you ever met in your life. He always wanted to do good, and 
     he always had time for you.''
       Weinberg's brain cancer was diagnosed in March 1998, and he 
     underwent surgery twice, his wife, Marcia Weinberg, said 
     yesterday. On Friday evening, the family had gathered for the 
     traditional Shabbat prayers, and Weinberg, his wife recalled, 
     ``left us while the candles were still burning.''
       Since his arrival in Washington in 1968--a time when the 
     city was wracked by racial riots and anti-war protests--
     Weinberg played a leading role in efforts to improve racial 
     relations and fight poverty. He helped organize Ya'chad, a 
     Jewish organization promoting affordable city housing, and 
     Carrie Simon House, a transitional home for unmarried mothers 
     in Northwest Washington, which is supported by Washington 
     Hebrew.
       Weinberg also was a moving force behind his congregation's 
     annual service held jointly with local African American 
     churches to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King 
     Jr. on the Jewish Sabbath right before King's national 
     holiday.
       Marcia Weinberg, 61, said her husband had been deeply 
     affected by his experiences when he marched with King in the 
     historic civil rights march in Selma, AL, in 1965. Then a 
     young rabbi, Weinberg was arrested twice.

[[Page E2124]]

       ``It was an important moment for him as a human being and 
     as a rabbi,'' she said. ``Joseph was very motivated by social 
     action.''
       Weinberg was born in Chicago in 1937. His mother, Helen Joy 
     Weinberg, was an artist, and his father, Alfred, a 
     businessman. In 1938, as the Nazi menace was threatening 
     European Jewry, Alfred Weinberg returned to his native 
     Germany to bring his parents and several other family members 
     to the United States.
       After graduating from Northwestern University in 1958, 
     Joseph Weinberg immediately entered seminary at Hebrew Union 
     College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. After his 
     ordination in 1963, he served as assistant rabbi at a San 
     Francisco congregation before coming to Washington.
       Weinberg, who also was a fervent supporter of Israel and 
     campaigned for years to help Soviet Jews emigrate, became 
     senior rabbi at Washington Hebrew in 1986. He was only the 
     fifth rabbi to hold that position since the Reform 
     congregation was founded in 1952.
       The original congregants held services in their homes until 
     they purchased a building site in the 800 block of Eighth 
     Street NW. in Chinatown. There, they built their first 
     synagogue, which they sold 58 years later. Today, the former 
     temple, which still has the Star of David in its stained-
     glass windows, is home to Greater New Hope Baptist Church.
       Washington Hebrew, with a membership of more than 3,000 
     families, is now located on Macomb Street NW. Funeral 
     services for Weinberg will be held at the congregation 
     tomorrow at 1 p.m.
       In addition to his wife, Weinberg is survived by a sister, 
     Judith Adler, 66 of Seattle; a daughter, Rachel Weinberg of 
     Arlington; two sons, Jonathan Weinberg of Potomac and Josh 
     Weinberg of Bethesda; and four grandchildren.

     

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