[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10459-10461]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     GUEST CHAPLAIN RABBI BERNHARDT

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I express to Senator Biden my appreciation 
for his inviting a wonderful woman, a rabbi from Delaware, to come here 
to be our guest Chaplain, and to say how pleased we are, all of us, to 
welcome Ellen Bernhardt. She gave the invocation about 40 minutes ago. 
I told her it was one of the best invocations I have heard in the 3 
years I have been privileged to be a Senator. It was as good as any I 
have heard. We thank you for not only coming to bring the blessing of 
that invocation, but to remind us about what really matters.
  I also thank her for just what she does in Delaware. She has been a 
rabbi, I think, about 17 years. She is a native of Philadelphia. For 
the last 11 years or so, she has run a school in Delaware which is, I 
believe, the only Jewish day school in our State. We have a lot of 
schools, but only one Jewish day school--Albert Einstein Academy. There 
are youngsters in kindergarten, from age 5, up to the sixth grade. 
While it is a Jewish day school, it is nondenominational because 
whether the students happen to be Jewish or not, they can attend that 
school. I was kidding earlier about how most of them

[[Page 10460]]

are Baptists. Actually, I don't think that is the case. That gives you 
the flavor of the nondenominational school. I have been privileged to 
know a number of the kids who go there. They get a wonderful education 
and start for their lives and go on to do great work.
  We have been joined today not only by Rabbi Bernhardt, but also by 
three of her children and her husband. We are so privileged that she 
lives in Delaware and that she provides great leadership on the 
educational side, and also for a lot of us on the spiritual side, 
whether we happen to be Jewish or not. Welcome.
  Again, to my friend, Joe Biden, I thank him for making it possible 
for her to be here today.
  Mr. BIDEN. Madam President, Delaware is a small State and everyone 
seems to know everyone else. We know just about everyone in the State. 
You can't go to the grocery store, church, synagogue, or mosque without 
running into people you know. We go to each other's events. It is a 
little like Alaska--small. Alaska is gigantic, but the population is 
small. We go to each other's gatherings, and we are affected by each 
other's achievements and each other's milestones, and we are affected 
by each other's losses. Sometimes the closeness gets us in trouble, but 
I would not change it for the world.
  It has been an honor and a pleasure to represent my State and to have 
the pleasure over the years to invite several members of our clergy to 
come and be guest Chaplains.
  Rabbi Ellen Bernhardt is our guest Chaplain today. As Senator Carper 
said, she is finishing her 11th year at the Albert Einstein Academy in 
Wilmington, not far from where I live. The academy is open to all 
students, although it is the only Jewish day school in our State.
  It has been a pleasure visiting the school on a number of occasions. 
Over the years, we have spent a fair amount of time in fundraising 
events together, sharing the dais, and attempting to see to it that the 
school remains vibrant. That has been going on, actually, before the 
rabbi was running the school. But the fact is, her dedication, talent, 
faith, and deep abiding commitment to her students and her work in my 
State has touched many people in our community. For that, we are all 
very grateful.
  I believe I speak for all my colleagues when I say thank you for your 
thoughtful, inspirational invocation this morning. We need it badly at 
this moment in the United States. We are honored to welcome you to the 
floor of the Senate.
  I arrived here almost 32 years ago and I feel the same amount of 
pride today that I felt then as I walk out on this floor. I know that 
sounds corny, but I really do. I am incredibly proud of this 
institution. I remember the first time I walked on the floor; my 
temporary desk was the second from the end over there. I realized I was 
standing next to the desk where Daniel Webster sat. I thought to 
myself, it is the only time I actually thought, my God, what am I doing 
here? In the last 31 years, some in my constituency have said: My God, 
what is he doing there? I have become accustomed to it. My impression 
at that time--and I don't know the rabbi's impression--was how small 
this Chamber is. There is a closeness to it. It is a comfort. Anyway, I 
am proud we are able to share the floor with the rabbi today.
  Let me say, my relationship and personal connection with the rabbi is 
a quintessential example of the nature of the State of Delaware.
  I happen to know that the rabbi grew up over her father's drugstore 
in Belfonte, which I frequented a lot. I went to St. Helena, a Catholic 
grade school in Claymont. Everybody knew your father's drugstore. 
Everybody hung out in your father's drugstore. I am considerably older 
than the rabbi. So we basically come from the same small neck of the 
woods, the same small neighborhood.
  The rabbi's father was a heck of a guy, by the way. As a kid and a 
member of the Congregation Ades Kodesh Shel Emeth, Ellen would study 
after school with her rabbi, Rabbi Leonard Gewirtz--a man I always 
affectionately referred to as literally ``my rabbi.'' He introduced me 
frequently. He became my first tutor--literally, not figuratively--
because of my interest in theology and the Holocaust. I remember 
speaking up at a college, a rabbinical school in Philadelphia. I 
remember those big old thick shoes he used to wear, the kind that laced 
up the side and squeaked on a linoleum floor. I was speaking in this 
room that was not very commodious for speaking; it was long and with 
low ceilings, and the podium was in the middle. It was a shoal, 
actually. He came late and wanted to hear me speak. He opened the door 
and the congregation was seated and the door smacked against a pew. He 
walked in and, as you know, he walked right up to the front and sat 
down. It was kind of a tense moment. Everybody wondered who is this guy 
walking in. I said, ``My rabbi has arrived.''
  After speaking to this all-Jewish congregation, a group of ladies my 
mom's age, who were in an atrium that connected the shoal to the 
university, the school--as I walked out, they were arguing. I could 
hear them saying: Yes, he is. No, he isn't. Yes, he is. A lady grabbed 
me by the coat and said: You said ``your rabbi. He had a similar 
influence on me--though much more profound to you but no less 
significant to me.'' He was a great man.
  He was famous for his passionate sermons from the pulpit, his love 
for Jewish education, his love for Israel and the community he served.
  Rabbi Gewirtz was truly a spiritual leader and, as Ellen will tell 
you, is the reason she decided to become a rabbi. We truly miss him, 
but his spirit is with her today. I know he is looking down and is very 
proud. He was also proud of this place, proud of this country, proud of 
the Senate. To have you here, I am sure, he is smiling.
  There are a lot of other things I could and would like to say about 
Ellen. As I said, we are very similar in the sense that we are truly 
products of our parents' upbringing and, knowing her story, it is no 
surprise to me that she has devoted her life to Jewish education, 
community service, and to her family.
  Her grandparents came to this country by way of Ellis Island. Her 
entire mother's side of the family chose to remain in Eastern Europe 
and were tragically killed in the Nazi Holocaust.
  Her extended family was conspicuously absent from her life. As one 
can imagine, this had a profound effect on Rabbi Bernhardt and her 
family's life, priorities, and values.
  Her father, Herman Gordon, was one of the many heroic members of the 
Armed Forces who chose to enlist in the Army Air Corps at the outset of 
World War II. Mr. Gordon served as a waist gunner on the Flying 
Fortress B-17 bomber.
  Based in England, his unit performed missions over France and 
Germany, clearing the way for our troops to land on the beaches of 
Normandy. On his 24th mission, his plane was shot down over Germany. As 
a Jew, he became a prisoner of war in Germany for 9 months. The latter 
3 months of his imprisonment was spent marching at gunpoint on the 
infamous ``death march''--a desperate move by the Nazis to relocate 
their POWs straight into the heart of Germany, out of the hands of the 
Allied forces which were closing in, which I always thought was a 
metaphor for the insanity, the lust of Hitler and Nazi Germany. This 
nightmare all came to an end when Mr. Gordon's camp was liberated by 
General Patton's army.
  It is quite a story, quite a heritage, and quite a family. As my dad, 
who passed away about a year and a half ago, would say: Girl, you have 
good blood; you have real good blood.
  I only hope our children and grandchildren develop an appreciation 
for the sacrifices of so many Americans, such as Ellen's father, and 
the thousands of soldiers who are currently serving abroad have done 
for this country.
  One of the reasons I am telling this story is to give my colleagues 
and constituents back home an insight into what motivates our guest 
Chaplain this morning to energize her students, family, and friends to 
better the Delaware

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 community and to uphold our American values with the same patriotic 
zeal exemplified by her father.
  Last year, for the fourth consecutive year, I submitted a resolution 
in the Senate to designate the week of Veterans Day as ``National 
Veterans Awareness Week.'' It explicitly underscores the need for our 
schools to develop educational programs to highlight the contributions 
of veterans in our country.
  This past year, Ellen held a very moving ceremony. The school invited 
every friend, relative, or neighbor of a student who served in our 
military to come and speak at the ceremony in front of the entire 
school and faculty about their experiences.
  Madam President, included in the list of speakers was the mother of 
LT Scott Travis, a Wilmington native, a graduate of Brandywine High 
School and West Point, who is currently serving in Iraq.
  The ceremony brought real people with real stories into the classroom 
and gave the kids a tangible sense of what it meant and what it means 
to sacrifice for one's country. The climax was when students pinned 
medals on the veterans in attendance as a way to personally thank them 
for their service.
  That is the kind of school Ellen runs. That is the kind of person 
Ellen is.
  By the way, for the record, let me say that in my 31st year in the 
Senate, Rabbi Bernhardt is only the fifth guest Chaplain I have invited 
from Delaware, following in the footsteps of Father Jim Trainer from 
St. Patrick's Church, Rabbi Kenneth S. Cohen from Congregation Beth 
Shalom, and Father Robert Balducci from St. Anthony's Parish.
  From where I sit, you are in good company and so are they.
  I thank Rabbi Bernhardt for being here this morning. By the way, you 
should be very proud of your son sitting behind me who is a relatively 
new member of my staff. He is already having an impact in the conduct 
of business around here.
  Again, I know I speak for all my colleagues when I welcome you and 
your family here today. Thank you for the sacrifices you have made for 
this country, and thank you for the values you are imprinting on the 
young men and women of my community.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Nevada.

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