[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 71 (Wednesday, April 26, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E540]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





 HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE AND THE 69TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL

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                           HON. SCOTT TAYLOR

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 26, 2017

  Mr. TAYLOR. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record on behalf of my 
constituent, Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman. Rabbi Zoberman is the Founding 
Rabbi of Congregation Beth Chaverim in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Born 
in Chu, Kazakhstan (USSR) in 1945, he is the son of Polish Holocaust 
Survivors. Rabbi Zoberman asked me to include the following remarks in 
the Record:

       We remember lest the world forgets or denies the genocidal 
     tragedy that befell the Jewish people at the hands of Nazi 
     Germany and its collaborators of the greatest crime in human 
     history. We dare not forget the six million innocent Jewish 
     victims who were all begrudged their covenantal bond with 
     Israel's God of compassion, caring and love, ever prodding 
     the human family to rise higher and higher. So much that is 
     precious has been forever lost. Nazi ideology sought to 
     eradicate Western civilization's life affirming Judeo- 
     Christian system. We remember the survivors whose numbers are 
     now being naturally diminished, and their resilient spirit 
     that allows them to rebuild their lives with the affirmation 
     of life's undying goodness and the human capacity to overcome 
     evil. We remember the rescuers, those righteous gentiles, who 
     risked their own lives and the lives of their loved ones to 
     protect and save vulnerable Jewish lives. Last but not least, 
     we remember the liberators and heroes who paid the ultimate 
     sacrifice, fighting to preserve human dignity.
       My Jewish friend, Ed Shames, is one of the greatest of the 
     Greatest Generation whose legendary legacy is captured in 
     Airborne (the Combat Story of Ed Shames of Easy Company) by 
     Ian Gardner. Edward David Shames was born on June 13, 1922, 
     in Virginia Beach, when it was but a rural community. He was 
     the youngest of the four children, of David and Sadie, who 
     ran the ``Shames Provisions'' country store, with the family 
     living above it. The father's sudden death at age 42 and the 
     Great Depression challenged the family. He grew up rowing and 
     fishing in Chesapeake Bay, target practicing with his 
     father's pistols and learning navigation when hiking with a 
     gift of maps and a compass from his sacrificial mother. 
     Shames went to great length to firmly train his third 
     platoon. Though his strictness was resented by some, it did 
     pay in saved lives. Not only did Ed hold the best record for 
     saved lives among the Division's 500 platoons, he also was 
     the Division's first to receive a battlefield commission 
     following D-Day. Furthermore, he was the first officer of his 
     Division to enter Dachau a few days following its liberation 
     and the horrors he faced are still with him today. The book's 
     sales proceeds admiringly go toward wounded warriors and 
     their families. I can personally attest to Col. Shames' keen 
     convictions, biting humor, and profound humility of a 
     soldier's soldier and a hero's hero. He was honored by the 
     French Government and the legislature in Richmond, Virginia.
        As we celebrate Israel's 69th Anniversary, we look forward 
     with lasting gratitude to the 50th Jubilee of the 1967 Six-
     Day-War miraculous victory, and the reunification of 
     Jerusalem, the Jewish people's eternal capital. We recall the 
     preceding gripping fear of another Holocaust, this time by 
     the surrounding and menacing Arab states begrudging the 
     triumphant survival of European Jewry's remnant which 
     includes my own family. At last, all of Jerusalem's holy 
     sites are safeguarded and respected. We pray for Shalom's 
     blessing of elusive peace to embrace Israelis and 
     Palestinians with the latter finally accepting the 
     exceptional return of an ancient people uprooted from its 
     native land by the Roman sword's power. For two trying 
     millennia, Israelis, never abandoned its divine bond with 
     Zion and Jerusalem, thus proving the superiority of the human 
     soul's power.
        We marvel at Israel's world-class, astonishing 
     accomplishments and innovations in its brief and challenging 
     years of renewed sovereignty, even as it faces existential 
     threats from a nuclear capable seeking Iran, its proxies', 
     and the close presence of ISIS and Jihadist groups. The 
     genocidal tragic Syrian scenario is entering its seventh year 
     of massive human destruction and the greatest refugee crisis 
     since WWII. President Trump's military response to the latest 
     gas attack on the long abandoned Syrian civilians including 
     children, reminiscent of the Holocaust, is deeply 
     appreciated. New opportunities have emerged for rapprochement 
     between Israel and the Sunni Arab states. We bemoan the 
     precipitous and alarming global rise of anti-Semitism, the 
     world's oldest hatred that made the Holocaust possible. The 
     threats within the United States against Jewish institutions, 
     the desecration of Jewish cemeteries and anti- Israel/Jewish 
     activities in American schools make mockery of sacred memory, 
     justice and truth, while enabling aggressors to persist and 
     delay peace.
        The United Nations, created in the wake of WWII and the 
     Holocaust, has shamefully turned into a bastion of anti-
     Israel propaganda as we praise Israel's valiant defense as 
     well as staunch opposition to the destructive BDS movement by 
     American Ambassador Nikki Haley, a shining light in a house 
     of darkness. The unique bond of genuine brotherhood with the 
     United States, vital to both countries, is between the 
     world's leading democracy and the only democracy in the 
     Middle East. The constructive role of American Jewry cannot 
     be overstated.

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