[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8521]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     JEWISH AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize and celebrate 
Jewish American Heritage Month. As a proud Jewish American, I am 
honored to have the opportunity to acknowledge our heritage and the 
ways by which it has helped shape this country. The list is a long one, 
but this year, I want to focus on Mendes Cohen, whose legacy serves as 
a microcosm of our community.
  Mendes Cohen was born in Richmond, VA, in May of 1796 to Israel and 
Judith Solomon Cohen, both of whom were immigrants. Mendes's father 
came from Germany, and his mother came from England. His father died 
when Mendes was just 12 years old. The event was a tragedy, of course, 
for Mendes, his six siblings, and his mother, who moved the family to 
Baltimore for a fresh start shortly thereafter.
  Mendes grew up not far from where I grew up; he was raised not unlike 
I was raised. He believed in the value of public service. He believed 
in serving his country and working for the good of his community. He 
held fast to an ideology based on tolerance, equality, and fraternity. 
It was precisely this ideology that led him to fighting in the War of 
1812 at Ft. McHenry. After the war, he and his brother Jacob began 
lobbying to change Maryland's constitution so that Jews could run for 
public office. In 1826, he was successful, and by 1847, he was a 
delegate in the Maryland General Assembly. He carried his love of 
country and belief in public service with him throughout the remainder 
of his life, going on to serve as a delegate to the State Peace 
Convention during the Civil War.
  Mendes was, simply put, a historic marvel. He was a forward thinker, 
an activist, a consummate public servant, and a proud Jew. He broke 
down the single greatest barrier to Jewish entry into public life and 
opened the door for Jews--including me--to pursue public service. 
Today, as I stand in this Chamber as a U.S. Senator from Maryland, I am 
struck by the impact of Mendes Cohen's legacy. If I were able to speak 
to him now, I would tell him: thank you. Thank you for paving the way 
for me to have it all: my faith, my family, my heritage, and my career 
in public service. If Mendes were able to speak now, I imagine he would 
tell us that his work is unfinished. He would encourage us to continue 
carrying the torch of public engagement and civil service. He would 
remind us that path toward progress, by its very definition, has no 
endpoint.
  These values underpin the broader Jewish community in Maryland and 
across the country. We learned early in our own history that the tide 
of oppression and bigotry can rise quickly and that, when it floods one 
shore, it floods them all. We learned that, when it comes for one 
community, it spares none. We learned that we must be our own 
stewards--that pluralism and equality demand constant guardians and 
that, when prejudice threatens them, nothing but our own tenacity can 
fend it off.
  That tenacity is needed now more than ever, as we are confronted by 
resurgent anti-Semitism in every corner of the world--even here, at 
home. In the past few months, we have witnessed hate speech targeted at 
the Jewish community on social media, the ostracism and vilification of 
Jewish students on college campuses, and attacks against Jewish 
businesses and synagogues; yet it is precisely because the Jewish 
community has endured generations of persecution that promoting 
tolerance, equality, and inclusion has become a central tenant of 
Jewish American culture.
  Jewish Americans participated in the abolitionist movement in the 
19th century. They joined the ranks of the Student Nonviolent 
Coordinating Committee during the Civil Rights movement. The 
partnership between Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington resulted 
in the construction of thousands of schools for African-American 
children in the South throughout the 20th Century.
  Jewish Americans are proud of their history promoting such causes. 
They are proud of their faith and their heritage, but they are also 
proud to profess their support of other people's faiths and heritage. 
They are proud to be guardians of a free and pluralistic society; they 
are proud to weave love out of millennia of knowing hate. That is the 
story of Jewish Americans. From Mendes Cohen to the American Jewish 
community's defense of diversity and inclusion today, every chapter we 
write, though unique, shares the same theme: progress--progress and 
equality.
  Jewish Americans have, therefore, helped make the United States the 
force for human and equal rights that it is today, but each day, we 
face challenges to those ideals, challenges that have felt increasingly 
ominous in recent months; yet this country will remain a beacon for the 
oppressed and the downtrodden. That beacon will stay lit due, in no 
small part, to the continued activism and conviction of the Jewish 
American community. This month, we thank them for that service, as we 
remind ourselves that our work goes on.

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