[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 9983-9984]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    WELCOMING RABBI MANNY BEHAR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, QUEENS JEWISH 
                           COMMUNITY COUNCIL

  (Mr. WEINER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, it is appropriate that today, as we 
commemorate Yom Hashoah, the commemoration of the Holocaust here in 
Washington, DC, that I ask the House to join me in welcoming Rabbi 
Manny Behar, who gave the invocation this morning.
  Rabbi Behar is one of the most prominent spiritual leaders in the 
Queens community. Since 1992, he has been the executive director of the 
Queens Jewish Community Council, an umbrella organization for more than 
90 synagogues and Jewish institutions throughout our borough.
  In this position, he oversees a network of social service programs 
which include every service we can imagine, from counseling for victims 
of September 11 to assistance for homebound elderly to food 
distribution to job placement and training.
  Rabbi Behar should feel at home here in the halls of Congress, 
because before coming to the Queens Jewish Community Council he had a 
distinguished career working in government. He was special assistant to 
Queens Borough president Claire Shulman, where he played a critical 
role in obtaining the historic New York State Supreme Court decision 
upholding the validity of Eruvim under American law.
  During his tenure working for New York City controller Elizabeth 
Holtzman, he did research which led to the first conviction of an 
American company for participating in the Arab boycott of Israel.
  It is my pleasure to also welcome Rabbi Behar's wife Evelyn, his two 
sons Moshe David and Nathan Benjamin, his father Moshe, and his 
cousins, Shalom and Cynthia Brilliant, who are here today. We wish 
Rabbi Behar's mom Rivka a speedy get well.
  On behalf of the House of Representatives we would like to thank him, 
not only for his eloquent words this morning, but more importantly, for 
his service to his faith, his community, and to his country.

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