[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14505-14508]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                          RABBI MORRIS SHERER

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have sought this recognition to 
compliment Rabbi Sherer, who has just delivered the Senate prayer.
  We are recognizing the outstanding work of Rabbi Sherer's father, 
also Rabbi Sherer, who died a little more than a year ago. Present 
today in the Senate gallery are some 200 representatives of a national 
convocation to recognize the outstanding work of the departed Rabbi 
Sherer.
  I must say that Rabbi Sherer's comments this morning about freedom of 
religion and the impact on everyone in America, but with special 
reference to Jewish Americans, is of great significance to me because 
both of my parents came from foreign lands to the United States and 
were pleased and honored to pledge their allegiance to the United 
States of America.
  My father left a shtetl, a small community, Batchkurina, in Ukraine, 
to come to the United States in 1911 at the age of 18, barely a ruble 
in his pocket, literally walked across Europe, took steerage in the 
bottom of a boat to come to America to seek his fortune, as did my 
mother who came with her parents when she was 5 years old in 1905 from 
a small town on the Russian-Polish border. They settled in America. 
They raised their family in America. My father fought in the American 
Expeditionary Force to help make the world safe for democracy and, in 
his allegiance to his new-found country, rose to the rank of buck 
private. Next to his family, the greatest honor he had was serving in 
the U.S. Army.
  Freedom of religion is fundamental Americana, and the Rabbi's prayer 
today brings it home to us. And I wanted to express my own views of 
thanks for this country, what it has done for my parents and what it 
has done for my brother, two sisters and me, and my sons and our 
granddaughters.
  I thank the Chair, I thank Senator Moynihan, and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Roberts). The distinguished Senator from 
New York is recognized.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I believe Senator Ashcroft would like to 
speak at this moment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, I thank the Senator for accommodating me 
from the time reserved for his control.
  I am glad for the opportunity to stand in the Senate today to honor 
Rabbi Morris Sherer, who passed away on May 17 last year. Today, I 
believe the very best way to pay tribute to Rabbi Sherer's memory is to 
celebrate his inspiring accomplishments.
  When Rabbi Sherer became the executive vice president of Agudath 
Israel in America in 1941, the organization was but a small group with 
but a few members. Rabbi Sherer transformed Agudath Israel from the 
small organization that it was in 1941 to a respected and influential 
force in the culture and community we call America in both our 
political and religious life.
  Rabbi Sherer's success came primarily from two strong leadership 
characteristics or character traits for

[[Page 14506]]

which he was most respected. One was that he was not one just to talk 
about something. He would do something. He was an activist. Second, he 
knew getting something done required more than just activism or 
motivation or inspiration. It required persistence. He could stay with 
a task until there was an achievement.
  One often cited example of Rabbi Sherer's activism occurred almost 
immediately after he became a part of the leadership of Agudath Israel. 
During Hitler's reign of terror, when all too many here and around the 
world remained silent about the unspeakable atrocities committed 
against the Jews in Eastern Europe, Rabbi Sherer spoke and insisted 
that action was necessary.
  While Rabbi Sherer attempted to get others involved in his efforts, 
he always understood that he must take the initiative and lead, and 
whether others would be involved or not was not the criterion for his 
own involvement. He knew that real leadership required the ability and 
willingness to stand alone. He knew he could not simply wait for 
someone else to do what he believed should be done.
  With his still tiny organization, he sent shipments of food to Jews 
suffering under the terrible injustices of Hitler's regime, and he 
helped many to escape to gain refuge here in the United States of 
America.
  Not only was Rabbi Sherer a man of action, but he was a man of 
persistence. He followed through. When the war ended, he didn't forget 
about the brothers and sisters who still remained in the ruins of 
Europe. Under his leadership, Agudath Israel shipped food and religious 
articles to Jews in displaced persons camps and he helped those who 
wanted to emigrate.
  Rabbi Sherer's story, as we all know, continues in this same line and 
his philosophy of activism and persistence guided Agudath Israel in 
America for decades. He fought on behalf of Jews endangered behind the 
Iron Curtain, those who were endangered in Syria, Iran, and anywhere in 
the world where he saw that injustice was an imposition upon the 
liberties of individuals and discrimination that deprived individuals 
of their opportunity to reach the potential that God placed within.
  He brought this attitude with him as he ascended to the presidency of 
Agudath Israel of America in 1963 and to the chairmanship of Agudath 
Israel World Organization in 1980.
  In all of these roles, Rabbi Sherer demonstrated the unique talent, 
unique character that provided him with the capacity to unite people 
from disparate backgrounds and interests. While this was partially a 
result of his contagious warm personality and charisma, there was 
something deeper, too. People knew him as a man of integrity. This was 
rare ore, precious metal to be mined out of the character of this great 
leader. Though they might have disagreed adamantly with his views, they 
had to respect the purity of his position, his sincerity and his 
honesty.
  This loyalty and integrity often placed him at odds with or at other 
times in alliances with unlikely groups. This, however, was Rabbi 
Sherer's great charm. This is why he was so highly respected. He was 
loyal and passionate about ideas and truth, never letting political 
maneuvering get in the way of his ultimate mission.
  I am pleased to be on the Senate floor to honor Rabbi Sherer's 
memory. He taught us that in the face of injustice we must act; in the 
face of failure, we must persist.
  When the battle is over, he taught us there is still a war to fight: 
to continue to bind up those who had been injured, those who had been 
separated, and those who had suffered.
  Finally, he taught us that there is a way to achieve success and 
ultimately respect. It is not by trying to appease all sides but by 
standing firm in one's convictions and holding fast to one's beliefs.
  That is the legacy of Rabbi Moshe Sherer. That is what he passed on 
to Agudath Israel and to all here today who respect his wondrous 
accomplishment and his faith.
  I am delighted and personally privileged to have the opportunity from 
this podium, in this body, to extend my condolences again to Rabbi 
Sherer's wife, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and to 
recommend his stature, his principle, his integrity, his persistence, 
and his activism as models to all Americans.
  I thank the Senator from New York for according me this time and this 
privilege.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, we thank the Senator from Missouri for 
his moving, eloquent tribute.
  I yield such time as he may require to my eminent friend, the Senator 
from Connecticut.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. I thank my friend and colleague from New York. I thank 
Senator Lott for agreeing to set aside this time this morning to honor 
the memory of Rabbi Moshe Sherer. I thank Senator Moynihan for 
providing the dignity that is always his but the intimacy that reflects 
the relationship he had with Rabbi Moshe Sherer. I thank my friend and 
college classmate from Missouri who just spoke so impressively about 
this extraordinary man.
  I am honored to have known Rabbi Moshe Sherer, a blessed memory. I 
met him after I became a Senator and benefited, as anyone did, from the 
opportunity to be in his presence, from his wisdom, insights--insights 
not just on matters of faith but on matters of the broader community.
  This was a man of extraordinary personal dignity and discipline, of 
hard work and of very good humor. He was a pleasure to be with.
  The life we celebrate today was a most extraordinary and 
consequential life, based on values that go back thousands of years, 
motivated by a single overriding towering motivation to honor God's 
name, to perform acts of Kiddish Hashem, the sanctification of God's 
name. That is to say, to do good works, to be true to the values that 
are set down in the Bible, in the Ten Commandments, in the broadly held 
ethical system that we call the Judeo-Christian tradition.
  Rabbi Moshe Sherer did that, magnificently rising to become, as we 
end this century, clearly one of the great leaders of the Orthodox 
Jewish community in America in this century, one of the great leaders 
of any faith-based community in America during this century.
  Those who have spoken before me have spoken of the extraordinary 
record of service and growth that Rabbi Sherer gave. I spoke to him 
several times about his involvement in 1943 when he was asked to take a 
position at this organization, Agudath of Israel. He spoke to friends 
and they told him he would be foolish to even consider it. This was an 
organization that had little credibility, few members. In fact, it was 
at a time when even within the American Jewish community there were 
predictions that the Orthodox community would not go with much vibrancy 
into the future. Somebody actually referred to the Orthodox community 
generally as a ``sickly weed.'' The resilience and feistiness of this 
man and his commitment to the values that were the foundation of his 
faith propelled him in the face of those pieces of wise counsel to go 
forward and prove them wrong. And did he ever do that, devoting the 
rest of his life to this organization, particularly in the context of 
the end of the Second World War, and the great suffering that occurred 
to so many suffering Jews in Europe during the war--watching the growth 
of this organization as a reaction, a kind of affirmation of faith and 
life after the temporary victories of death and antifaith, if I can put 
it that way, and anti-God certainly during the Second World War.
  This organization rose out of that experience, and enjoyed the 
extraordinary, unprecedented liberty that America provided to this 
community, becoming the great, strong organization it is today. It is 
as Rabbi Sherer passed away with thousands of members in this country 
and all over the world in an extraordinary array of religious, social 
service, and communal activities. It is a remarkable program of study.
  I don't know if anyone else has spoken of what is called the ``daf 
yomi''

[[Page 14507]]

program, a page-a-day of Talmud study done under the auspices of 
Agudath Israel. It takes 7\1/2\ years to finish the Talmud--a 
compilation of Jewish literature attempting to interpret the values and 
the specifics of the Torah, the Bible. On the last completion of that 
cycle, which occurred in September of 1997, if I am correct, 70,000 
people gathered, filling Madison Square Garden in New York, Chaplain 
Ogilvie. It reminds me in some sense of the Promise Keepers or groups 
of other faiths coming together to do some of the work you have done 
with Reverend Graham, and others--70,000 people, first filling Madison 
Square Garden, and then in the halls and chambers all over America and 
all over the world on one night to celebrate what is called the A 
Siyum, the completion of the 7\1/2\ year day-by-day trek through this 
experience, a remarkable achievement, and a commitment to live by the 
values that were part of that organization and that experience.
  Rabbi Sherer, it has probably been said here--and I will say it 
briefly--not only built the inner strength of the American Orthodox 
Jewish community through study, through social service, through 
communal strength, but was a remarkable ambassador to the broader 
community of faith-based organizations working with people of other 
faiths, and then reaching out into the community, and particularly the 
political community during his time in recent years. He opened an 
office here in Washington, a kind of government relations office for 
the good of Israel--working again with other groups to support across 
religious lines commonly held principles, even when they were 
controversial.
  On the day that Rabbi Sherer was buried and his funeral occurred, 
there was a remarkable outpouring in New York to pay tribute to him. 
More than 20,000 people stood outside the synagogue where the service 
was held. They lined the streets to pay final honor to Rabbi Moshe 
Sherer. It was heartfelt, it was emotional, and it was also an 
expression of gratitude to all he had meant to the organization, to 
them personally, to their children, to the institutions from which they 
had benefited, and to their sense of freedom and confidence being 
religious people in the America context. And now, as we are taught the 
way to continue to honor his memory is to live by the principles that 
guided his own life, we are taught that when a person dies and leaves 
this Earth and their soul ascends to heaven that they are in that sense 
unable to do more to elevate themselves, that it is up to those of us 
who survive them here on Earth to try to do deeds that are good in 
their name, if you will, to be of support and strength to them.
  I think that is the work that has continued in the organization and 
in the lives of the individuals and all of us who were touched by Rabbi 
Moshe Sherer.
  I join my colleagues to pay tribute to him, and to those who continue 
the strong and important work for the good of Israel, and to offer 
condolences to his wife, to his children, to his grandchildren, and to 
his great grandchildren.
  May God come forth and give them the strength--as I know He will--to 
carry on the extraordinary good work that characterizes the life and 
times of a great Jewish American, Rabbi Moshe Sherer.
  I thank the Chair.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Connecticut for 
his beautiful words.
  My dear friend and colleague, the Senator from New York, has asked to 
speak, and I yield him 3 minutes, if we may, of the time that is 
beginning to run out. Also, the distinguished majority leader has come 
on the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I thank my colleague, Senator Moynihan.
  I, too, want to join my friends, Senator Moynihan, Senator Lieberman, 
Senator Lott, Senator Ashcroft, and others in honoring the memory--the 
blessed memory--of Rabbi Moshe Sherer, who is truly one of the great 
heroes of the Jewish community and of all of America in the second half 
of the 20th century.
  I am proud to have called him a friend as well as a mentor. He would 
guide me regularly on political and moral events. He is missed by 
myself, and my wife and my family, as he is by millions of others.
  Rabbi Sherer did so many good things. Senator Lieberman spoke about 
how he gave great strength to the orthodox community which had been 
through one of the worst periods of history ever inflicted on any 
people, and they came to America. What Rabbi Sherer did more than 
anything else was show them that they could live by Torah values, and 
the values of teaching, as well as by American values--in fact, that 
the two strengthened each other; that the values we have learned in the 
Torah, the Bible, and our teachings, the Talmud, which was mentioned by 
Senator Lieberman, would make people better Americans; and the values 
that America allowed us to grow in, no matter who you were, or where 
you came from, if you worked hard, you could achieve something for you 
and your family, were consonant with Torah values.
  What Rabbi Sherer did through the guide of Israel, aside from the way 
he touched all of our lives, is that he helped my State of New York and 
our great country grow, because today there are hundreds of thousands--
maybe millions--in America who follow Rabbi Sherer and who follow what 
he taught. They are living the ways that have been lived by our 
ancestors for thousands of years--the way of Torah, the way of life. 
But at the same time, they are building this country by the American 
values consonant with Torah values of hard work and dedication. And as 
they build and work hard to help themselves and their families, they 
help America grow; they start companies; they work in other companies; 
they teach.
  So Rabbi Sherer's loss has been a loss for us who know him and knew 
him and miss him. It has been a loss for the Jewish community in 
America--one of our greatest leaders who taught us about education and 
who taught us that living a life of Torah values and being proud 
Americans is totally consistent. So it is also a great loss for America 
because America has always depended on and relished in the glory of 
lives such as that of Rabbi Moshe Sherer.
  So I join with my colleagues, my friends in the gallery, in 
remembering him, remembering his life and his good deeds, and knowing 
that, as a Jew and as a New Yorker and as an American, I am proud to 
stand before my colleagues and before all of our country and say words 
of praise in memory, in blessed memory, of Rabbi Moshe Sherer.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from New 
York.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, might I add I am proud of the warm and 
insightful remarks of my junior colleague. I thank him.
  I see the eminent majority leader is on the floor. Through his 
courtesy, this time has been made available. I wish him to take 
whatever time he requires.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the majority leader.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I extend my appreciation to the 
distinguished senior Senator from New York. It is always a pleasure to 
work with him. I thought it was appropriate we have this time this 
morning to pay tribute to this great man.
  Mr. President. today, along with other Senators from both sides of 
the aisle, I note the first anniversary of the death of Rabbi Morris 
Sherer, the long-time president of Agudath Israel of America.
  This is a sad memorial, in that the nation has lost his ethical 
leadership and his commitment to justice and religious liberty. But 
this should also be a celebratory observance, to honor the memory of a 
man who, while treasuring the past, always looked forward.
  Rabbi Sherer was a living example of President Reagan's favorite 
saying: there's no limit to what you can accomplish when you don't care 
who gets

[[Page 14508]]

  the credit for it. But today, we rightly give him credit for a 
lifetime of good works on behalf of this people, his faith, and his 
country.
  More than a half-century ago, in the worst of times for European 
Jewry, he put Agudath Israel in the forefront of assisting the 
persecuted and saving the hunted. And with the defeat of Nazism, his 
organization pitched in to help refugees and immigrants.
  Here at home, he took a small organization that seemed to be on the 
sidelines of American life and transformed it into an active, weighty, 
influential factor in the mainstream of national affairs.
  He was not reluctant to apply the value of his faith of public 
policy. Because religious education was at the very core of his 
community's life, he fought for equitable treatment of students in 
faith-based schools, whether Christian academies or Orthodox schools.
  Because he understood that a culture without values is a culture 
without a future, he foutht against the moral decline that has brought 
so much suffering and sorrow to our country in recent decades.
  His concern to preserve and strengthen the Jewish religious heritage 
in American did not prevent him from working with those outside his own 
community who shared his principles. We need to have more of that in 
America, not less.
  In matters of public policy, it is easy to win applause, but it is 
even harder to win true respect.
  Rabbi Sherer sidestepped the applause and earned the respect that 
today brings members of the Senate of the United States to pay tribute 
to his memory.
  I know he would be especially pleased by this observance, not because 
we are here praising him, but because his son, Rabbi Shimshon Sherer, 
is serving today as our guest Chaplain.
  We thank him for that, as we thank the men and women of Agudath 
Israel for their continuing commitment to defend their faith and 
advance the humane vision of Rabbi Morris Sherer.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from New 
York.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, our time has expired. Might I ask for 1 
concluding minute?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. I thank the majority leader for his fine, perceptive 
remarks and for making this occasion possible.
  It is a little over a year since the passing of Rabbi Moshe Sherer, 
one of American Jewry's most distinguished communal leaders. Rabbi 
Sherer was the president of Agudath Israel of America for over 30 years 
and served as a reasoned, wise voice whose counsel was widely respected 
in the Yeshivot of his beloved Brooklyn and the halls of government in 
lower Manhattan, Albany, Jerusalem, and here in Washington.
  I first met Rabbi Sherer in the early days of the Kennedy 
administration when he came to Washington on behalf of Agudath Israel. 
I quickly learned to admire his sagacity and rely on his insightful 
counsel and abiding integrity. For over 35 years he was a treasured 
mentor and a trusted friend.
  Rabbi Sherer's earliest work on behalf of the Jewish community was 
the grassroots, and largely illegal, organization and transport of food 
shipments to starving Jews in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe in 1941. His 
efforts also produced affidavits for European Jewish refugees that 
helped them immigrate to the United States.
  After the end of World War II, he and Agudath Israel continued to 
assist European Jews--survivors interned in displaced person camps--
with foodstuffs and religious items, and helped facilitate the 
immigration and resettlement of Jewish refugees on these shores. In 
ensuring decades, Rabbi Sherer spearheaded Agudath Israel's efforts on 
behalf of endangered Jews behind the Iron Curtain and in places like 
Syria and Iran. In 1991, years of clandestine activity on behalf of 
Soviet Jews culminated in his establishment of an office in Moscow to 
coordinate Agudath Israel's activities in Russia. Under his leadership, 
Agudath Israel also played an important role in providing social 
welfare and educational assistance to Israel Jews, and in advocating 
for Israel's security needs.
  Ignoring the pessimistic predictions about Orthodox Jewry made by 
sociologists and demographic experts in the 40s and 50s, Rabbi Sherer 
went on to help engineer a remarkable change in the scope, image and 
influence of the American Orthodox Jewish world. A staunch advocate of 
Jewish religious education as a early as the 1960s, he helped establish 
the principle in numerous federal laws--like the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965--and State laws that, to the full 
extent constitutionally permissible, children in non-public schools 
were entitled to governmental benefits and services on an equitable 
basis with the public school counterparts. In 1972, his efforts on 
behalf of education led to his being named national chairman of a 
multi-faith coalition of leaders representing the 5 million non-public 
school children in the United States.
  On the day of his funeral last year I took the Senate floor to 
declare that:

       World Jewry has lost one of its wisest statesman. America 
     Orthodoxy has lost a primary architect of its remarkable 
     postwar resurgence. All New Yorkers have lost a man of rare 
     spiritual gifts and exceptional creative vision.

  Rabbi Sherer passed away only hours before the President of the 
Senate, Vice President Al Gore, addressed Agudath Israel's 76th 
anniversary dinner in New York. He spoke for the Senate and for all 
Americans when he eulogized the Rabbi as ``a remarkable force for the 
understanding and respect and growth of Orthodox Jewry over the past 
fifty years,'' whose ``contributions to spreading religious freedom and 
understanding have been truly indispensable in defending and expanding 
those same rights for all Americans in all faiths.''
  I know I speak for the entire Senate when I express my condolences to 
his widow Deborah, his loving children Rachel Langer and Elky 
Goldschmidt, who join us today in the visitor's gallery, and his son 
Rabbi Shimshon Sherer whose inspiring prayer opened this morning's 
Senate session.
  ``There were giants in the Earth in those days,'' the book of Genesis 
teaches. Rabbi Moshe Sherer was a giant in our midst, whose counsel and 
wisdom will be missed by all of us who were privileged to enjoy his 
friendship.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 12 
noon shall be under the control of the Senator from Minnesota, Mr. 
Grams, or his designee.
  The Senator from Minnesota.

                          ____________________