SR0415 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0415 LRB093 20705 HSS 46585 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, During the month of May 2004, Temple Judea Mizpah Skokie's original Reform Jewish Congregation will celebrate 50 years of worship, providing a faith community, life-long education, social justice, and commitment to the neighborhoods and communities of its members, the State of Illinois, and the Federal Government; and

WHEREAS, Temple Judea Mizpah has served Skokie since the first service on March 4, 1954, and adopted the name Temple Judea in May of 1954; and

WHEREAS, Temple Judea Mizpah's original Rabbi, Karl Weiner, provided inspiration, leadership, education, a strong sense of social justice, and compassion that radiated throughout the congregation, the community, and Illinois; and

WHEREAS, Temple Judea Mizpah received the land it currently occupies at Conrad and Niles Center Road as a gift from congregants on July 23, 1954; and

WHEREAS, Temple Judea Mizpah initiated the first religious school classes in September, 1954; and

WHEREAS, Temple Judea Mizpah conducted the first Reform Jewish High Holy Day Services in Niles Township on September 27 and 28, 1954; and

WHEREAS, On October 17, 1954, Temple Judea Mizpah broke ground for the construction of the temple building at 8610 Niles Center Road; and

WHEREAS, Temple Judea Mizpah congregants marched in Selma, Alabama, protested the Democratic National Convention during the Vietnam War, stood up to the Neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan in Skokie, provided settlement services to new Russian immigrants, adopted Vietnamese Boat families, fed the poor and hungry at the Good News Soup Kitchen, planted trees in Israel, and presented challenging adult and youth education through such venues as the religious school and the Karl Weiner Memorial Scholar in Residence program; and

WHEREAS, Temple Judea merged with Temple Mizpah, the original Reform Jewish Congregation in the Rogers Park area of Chicago in the summer of 1977 to become one of the most significant North Shore congregations in the metropolitan Chicago area; and

WHEREAS, Temple Judea Mizpah provides educational programs, community leadership, a strong faith community, a commitment to social justice, leadership in bringing the diverse citizens of Skokie and the North Shore together, and dedicated service to its congregants via Rabbi Audrey Korotkin; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we designate the week of May 1, 2004, through May 8, 2004, as Celebration of Temple Judea Mizpah's Golden Jubilee 50th Anniversary Week in the State of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Temple Judea Mizpah as an expression of our congratulations on the occasion of its Golden Jubilee 50th Anniversary.