[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 9956]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     JEWISH AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 25, 2006

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to thank Representative Debbie 
Wasserman Schultz for her hard work on behalf recognizing Mayas Jewish 
American Heritage month and to express my gratitude to the President 
for his proclamation making May Jewish American Heritage Month.
  After the burning of the Second Temple and the final dispersion of 
the Jews from Zion, people of Jewish heritage have settled in every 
comer of the world. There are Jews in China, in India, in Mexico, in 
Greece. While Hitler almost murdered all the Jews of Europe, he did not 
entirely succeed.
  Because of the moral values of this country we put our entire nation 
into the fight against the Nazi's in World War II. What is so 
remarkable about the fact that the United States fought so fiercely and 
so bravely in World War II is that they did so to save the world. That 
desire arose from the nation's character, which is an amalgam of the 
religious heritage of its people--including its Jewish people.
  Today I think about the Jewish soldiers in World War II who fought in 
the WWII not even knowing of the death camps and the ovens. I think of 
the men who risked their lives every day in the mud of France and the 
fields of Belgium because they knew what was spreading and taking over 
Europe was immoral. When Eisenhower's troops first came upon a death 
camp, he made the camp guards and the German villagers who had lived in 
the green fields and gardens around the camp come to view the bodies 
and to bury them. The message was clear: Americans find what you have 
done here and you villagers have tolerated here to be an immense crime, 
an unimaginable crime.
  The greatness of our people is their character. Jewish people have 
brought a lot to the making of that character. Jews have known that the 
values in the Five Books of Moses are universal and throughout two 
thousand years of Diaspora brought their values with them to the shores 
of all the countries where they settled including America.
  Judaism is a religion and a value system. No one who is not a Jew is 
considered less a person by a Jew. No stranger can be left without 
shelter, no hungry man without bread.
  I could not help but notice in the Save Darfur Coalition and other 
grass roots organizations working so hard to stop the genocide in 
Darfur that many Jewish organizations are involved in the grass roots 
efforts. Among them are the American World Jewish Congress, The 
American Jewish Committee, Jews against Genocide Religious Action 
Center for Reform Judaism. I have received letters from children in 
Jewish schools asking me to help the people of Darfur. Jewish people 
have a special understanding about genocide. The parents of these 
children who write to me may have lost grandparents, uncles, aunts, 
cousins. But they also know they can write to their congressman and 
their children can write and ask for help for these people so far away 
who are in desperate trouble as their relatives once were.
  One of the characteristics I most admire is the activism many of the 
Jewish people engage in. That activism has meant a great deal to the 
Civil Rights movement. I also admire the way Jews have contributed to 
the ``personality'' of New York. As a New Yorker, I feel especially 
lucky because I have learned some Yiddish, some great jokes and have 
met some truly amazing people who love books, culture, art and life. 
I'm glad for the Jewish heritage I experience in my district every day 
I am at home.
  I say to Jewish Americans today: Congratulations and Mazol Tov!

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