[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 26, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E358-E359]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            STATE OF ISRAEL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JENNIFER A. KIGGANS

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 26, 2023

  Mrs. KIGGANS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record 
remarks submitted at the request of a Virginia Beach constituent, Rabbi 
Dr. Israel Zoberman of Temple Lev Tikvah, and are a reflection of his 
views:

       The significant 75th anniversary of the State of Israel, 
     the world's only Jewish state and a staunch U.S. ally, 
     behooves to reflect on the major personality behind the only 
     country whose people restored its sovereignty following 2,000 
     years of forced exile and oppression. While the modern 
     Zionist movement with roots in 19th century Europe, saw the 
     rebirth of Jewish statehood the solution to historical 
     antisemitism culminating in the unfathomable Holocaust, the 
     tormenting reality remains that antisemitism's deadly venom 
     has not died out and is a potent force aimed at both Israel 
     and world Jewry, with a precipitous rise in the U.S.
       Against great odds Israel not only survived but has 
     thrived, literally making the desert bloom and is the only 
     source of Western and democratic enlightenment in the 
     troubled Middle East. The world is a better place because 
     Israel is in it, contributing to its progress in diverse 
     ways. However, Israel is the only country threatened with 
     annihilation since its inception. The terrorizing Islamic 
     Republic of Iran and its proxies challenge both Israel and 
     the U.S. The Abraham Accords have broadened the scope of 
     Israel's rapprochement with the Sunni Arab world that regards 
     Israel an asset facing the common Iranian Shite threat. The 
     complex conflict with the Palestinians awaits permanent 
     peaceful solution, as Israel preserves its Jewish and 
     democratic identity.
       The latest critical biography by esteemed professors Motti 
     Golani of Tel Aviv University and Jehuda Reinhartz of 
     Brandies University (the Founding Father. Tel Aviv: Am Oved 
     Publishers. 2020), establishes Dr. Chaim Weizmann (1874-
     1952), the Zionist leader and Israel's first president, as 
     the unquestionable founding father. David Ben-Gurion, 
     Israel's first prime minister and Weizmann's disciple and 
     rival, read the Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948, 
     as the British departed. President Harry Truman, the first 
     world leader to announce his critical support, only eleven 
     minutes following the historic proclamation despite the State 
     Department's opposition. Weizmann's ceaseless efforts secured 
     Truman's support, saving the Negev region for the future 
     state when showing the map to sympathetic Truman who 
     requested that Weizmann become president. As the authors 
     insightfully assert, ``A biography like history is a story of 
     encounters.''
       It was Dr. Weizmann, the East European Jewish scientist 
     with a doctorate in chemistry from the University of 
     Manchester and his inventive aid to the British in WWI 
     coupled with dogged personal efforts and diplomatic skills, 
     that paved the way for the first international breakthrough 
     of the budding Zionist enterprise, the Balfour Declaration of 
     November 2, 1917 supporting a Jewish national home in 
     Palestine. Weizmann's foremost goal was creating a Jewish 
     state even if entailing territorial concessions to the Arabs, 
     with steadfast concern for maintaining morality as he opposed 
     Jewish terror against the British Mandate rulers of 
     Palestine. He was a British citizen since 1910 and held that 
     the British empire and the Jewish Zionist cause were mutually 
     interdependent, later adding the United States as a desired 
     friend and essential big brother.

[[Page E359]]

       Weizmann could not convince the United States to accept 
     Jewish refugees after Hitler's rise to power, nor the British 
     Eden and Churchill to bomb Auschwitz. He only partially 
     attracted German Jewish scientists of Noble Prize stature to 
     join the Hebrew University which he cofounded with Albert 
     Einstein and Judah Magnes in 1925, as well as his Ziv 
     Institute. Those scientists that Weizmann sought to save were 
     blind to the coming disaster and not impressed with what was 
     offered them, including Freud and Einstein. The Holocaust 
     weighed heavily on Weizmann who had a complex bond with East 
     European Jewry from which he emerged. It remained his ever-
     beloved family though Western Europe became his preferred 
     physical and cultural home. He could not bring himself to 
     visit the DP Camps and facilitated sending Ben-Gurion 
     instead, strengthening his rival's stature. Yet, Ben-Gurion 
     said about Weizmann, ``That the state did not make him but he 
     made the state.''

  Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman is founder of Temple Lev Tikvah in Virginia 
Beach. He is past president of the Hampton Roads Board of Rabbis and 
Cantors. He was born in Chu, Kazakhstan (USSR) to Polish Holocaust 
survivors who met in Siberia. Rabbi Zoberman and his family were at the 
Wetzlar DP Camp, Germany, American Zone, from 1947 to 1949. He grew up 
in Haifa, Israel.
  His maternal great grandma, Rachel Leah, and the mother of Dr. Chaim 
Weitzmann, Rachel Leah, were first cousins.

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