Full Text of SR1724 98th General Assembly
SR1724 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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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