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1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois State Senate were | ||||||
3 | saddened to learn of the passing of Rabbi Isaac Neuman, a | ||||||
4 | resident of Central Illinois for the past 40 years, on November | ||||||
5 | 17, 2014; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman, who was born in Zdunska Wola, | ||||||
7 | Poland in 1922, was a survivor of Nazi death camps and slave | ||||||
8 | labor (Junikowo, St. Martin's, Fuerstenfelde, | ||||||
9 | Auschwitz-Birkenau, Fuenfteichen, Gross-Rosen, Mauthausen, | ||||||
10 | Wels and Ebensee); and | ||||||
11 | WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman lost nearly his entire family | ||||||
12 | in the Holocaust, including both his parents, 6 sisters, a | ||||||
13 | younger brother, and a grandmother; his left forearm was | ||||||
14 | tattooed with his number from Auschwitz: 143945; his Ebensee | ||||||
15 | camp was liberated by National Guard soldiers of the United | ||||||
16 | States Army's 80th infantry division in May of 1945; and | ||||||
17 | WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman was one of the very few people | ||||||
18 | in America who first received a traditional Jewish education in | ||||||
19 | some of the most prestigious Talmudic academies in Poland | ||||||
20 | (Yeshivat Chachmei in Lublin, Eitz Chaim in Kalisch and Emek | ||||||
21 | Halacha in Warsaw) and was later ordained as a Rabbi by the | ||||||
22 | Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio; he was awarded a |
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1 | Doctor of Divinity Degree by the Hebrew Union College in 1985; | ||||||
2 | and | ||||||
3 | WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman bore witness to Nazi atrocities | ||||||
4 | through lectures, teaching, and appearances at churches, high | ||||||
5 | schools, colleges, and universities (including Parkland | ||||||
6 | College and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) | ||||||
7 | throughout Illinois and around the world; and | ||||||
8 | WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman served as Rabbi of Sinai Temple | ||||||
9 | in Champaign from 1974 to 1987, and as Rabbi Emeritus | ||||||
10 | thereafter; and | ||||||
11 | WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman helped re-establish Jewish | ||||||
12 | communities in Germany and educated rabbis and educators across | ||||||
13 | the United States, Europe, and Latin America over a period 60 | ||||||
14 | years; and | ||||||
15 | WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman served on the board that | ||||||
16 | created the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., | ||||||
17 | (under a presidential appointment by President Ronald Reagan) | ||||||
18 | and later was part of a delegation representing President | ||||||
19 | George W. Bush at the dedication of the museum at the Yad | ||||||
20 | Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem; and | ||||||
21 | WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman served as Auxiliary Chaplain at |
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1 | Chanute Air Force Base from 1974 until its closing; he also | ||||||
2 | ministered to members of United States Armed Forces in bases | ||||||
3 | and installations around the world over a period of 40 years; | ||||||
4 | and
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5 | WHEREAS, After retiring from Sinai Temple, Rabbi Isaac | ||||||
6 | Neuman returned to East Berlin in 1987-88, the first new rabbi | ||||||
7 | there since the war, and established a congregation within | ||||||
8 | walking distance of Hitler's bunker; and
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9 | WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman was a leader in interfaith | ||||||
10 | activities, serving as President of the Ministerial | ||||||
11 | Association of Champaign-Urbana; during his time as a rabbi at | ||||||
12 | Sinai, he welcomed dozens of different church group as visitors | ||||||
13 | to Friday night services at Sinai Temple; he also participated, | ||||||
14 | with interfaith clergy, in the historic civil-rights march in | ||||||
15 | 1965 in Selma, Alabama, with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.; | ||||||
16 | and
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17 | WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman twice delivered the opening | ||||||
18 | prayer in the United States House of Representatives, in 1970 | ||||||
19 | and later in 1983; and
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20 | WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman's memoir, "The Narrow Bridge: | ||||||
21 | Beyond the Holocaust", co-authored with Michael Palencia-Roth | ||||||
22 | and published by the University of Illinois Press, is an |
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1 | important first-hand account of the Nazi's crimes against | ||||||
2 | humanity; therefore, be it
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3 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL | ||||||
4 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | ||||||
5 | the Rabbi Isaac Neuman, and extend our sincere condolences to | ||||||
6 | his family, friends, the Champaign-Urbana and University of | ||||||
7 | Illinois communities, and all who knew and loved him; and be it | ||||||
8 | further
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9 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
10 | presented to the family of Rabbi Isaac Neuman as an expression | ||||||
11 | of our deepest sympathy.
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