[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12748]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  IN HONOR OF THE DEDICATION OF THE SHIRLEY GRALLA GIRLS' ELEMENTARY 
                   SCHOOL AT BE'ER HAGOLAH INSTITUTES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GARY L. ACKERMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 21, 2003

  Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Shirley Gralla, a 
life-long supporter of Jewish education around the world, on the 
dedication of the Shirley Gralla Girls' Elementary School at Be'er 
Hagolah Institutes in Brooklyn, NY.
  As a child in the early 1920s, Shirley Gralla came to America from 
Eastern Europe in search of the ``American Dream.'' As an adult, she 
has dedicated her life to making that dream a reality for thousands of 
Jewish immigrant children. With her husband Milton, Shirley helped 
transform Be'er Hagolah Institutes into the largest school in the 
United States designed to attract and educate Jewish children from the 
former Soviet Union. The Center, which was established in 1979, 
educates nearly one thousand students from kindergarten through grade 
12, and has a policy of turning no child away for financial reasons. In 
fact, most of the student body receives a full or partial scholarship.
  Shirley and Milton have endowed and named schools in Odessa, Ukraine; 
Kiev, Ukraine; Moscow, Russia, and Jerusalem, Israel. She has initiated 
a family sponsored endowment of a floor at the Albert Einstein College 
of Medicine in New York City, for the study of brain disorders. More 
recently, Shirley helped to create the Brandeis University ``Genesis'' 
Program, which invites Jewish teens from around the United States to 
participate in an enriching Judaic and academic experience at the 
university's campus in Waltham, Massachusetts. For these and other 
achievements, Shirley Gralla has been named a Fellow at Brandeis 
University and a Doctor of Humane Letters by Yeshiva University.
  When the need for new facilities at the Be'er Hagolah Institutes 
became obvious ten years ago, Shirley and Milton rose to the challenge. 
Together with Joseph Gruss and the Reichmann family of Toronto, they 
worked to fund the construction of magnificent new accommodations for 
the children. On May 28, 2003 Shirley Gralla's commitment to the school 
will be recognized when the girls' elementary school will be dedicated 
in her name.
  I commend Shirley Gralla for her continued dedication to the field of 
education and her commitment to improving the lives of Jewish immigrant 
children. I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to please 
join me in congratulating Shirley Gralla on the dedication of the 
Shirley Gralla Girls' Elementary School at Be'er Hagolah Institutes.

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