[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 174 (Friday, October 26, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1455-E1456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING LOU LEONARD

                                  _____
                                 

                          HON. ELIOT L. ENGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 26, 2018

  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a member of the 
community who this year is being recognized by the Northeast Jewish 
Center at their annual event, Lou Leonard.
  Lou was born on May 8, 1955 at Jewish Memorial Hospital in Manhattan. 
A ``Mother's Day'' present for his Mom, he was taken home to East 
Tremont, in the Bronx. His family moved to the newly-completed Sprain 
Lake Knolls housing development in northeast Yonkers, NY in the fall of 
1957. There, they discovered and joined a new synagogue that was formed 
to take advantage of the influx of Jewish people into Yonkers in the 
post-WW2 era. Known as Northeast Jewish Center (NEJC), it was at its 
inception a storefront shul--as Lou remembers it--and his sister began 
Hebrew School classes at the synagogue located at the Hartman Home for 
Hebrew Orphans where the new hotel is presently located.
  Lou's earliest memories include his father taking him to the Friday 
night Shabbos services at the storefront shul and the ``Sunday School'' 
in the rear of the sanctuary, when he was five years old. Lou also 
remembers his Dad taking him to Rosh Hashanah services and the short 
walk down the block to a building under construction that would 
eventually become the synagogue's new home. Lou spent seven years at 
this Hebrew School that he attended on Sunday and for two additional 
afternoons each week--after his Public School No. 32 classes were over 
for the day.
  Lou's public schooling included Walt Whitman Junior High School and 
Theodore Roosevelt High School (Yonkers). Trained in science and 
mathematics, and having an interest in the electronics of the day, he 
went on to study engineering at Columbia University. Though he left 
school prematurely, Lou would later return, fortified with a new 
religious sense of direction and a greater respect for education. He 
became the Electrical Engineer he was meant to be and has been in the 
electronics business for over 40 years. He's had both fun and 
aggravation, but throughout his journey, he'll always tell you he's 
grateful to Hashem for the consideration, the blessings, and the 
learning. That's why you will see him here at NEJC and other 
synagogues.

[[Page E1456]]

  NEJC is honoring Lou at their annual event as a Guest of Honor and he 
is most deserving of the honor. Congratulations to Lou on this 
wonderful occasion.

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