CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E913 The Talmud states, ``He who does charity during World War II. And, when the soldiers does not approach the enormity of the Holo- and justice is as if he had filled the whole came home, our farmers went to work with caust, the precedent that would be set by ig- world with kindness.'' Stephen S. Wise Tem- new and dynamic technologies and machin- noring this ethnic cleansing cannot be toler- ple has recognized Steven for his many ac- ery. They have helped feed, clothe, fuel, and ated. complishments in the Jewish community. I grow our economy without ever looking back. Lenny Ben-David, the Deputy Chief of Mis- commend Steven for selflessly devoting his We can not turn our backs on our farmers sion at the Embassy of Israel, reminded us of time and his efforts. He helps enrich us with when they need our help. We can not afford our moral responsibility at the Days of Re- his zeal for life and his determination to better to. membrance ceremony. He quoted the sage our community. Our farmers and ranchers are feeling finan- advice of the late Rabbi Yosef Dov Aside from his achievements as president of cial and emotional stress. Prices of commod- Soloveitchik: ``The function of the halachic Stephen S. Wise, Steven has made his mark ities have been spiraling downward over the (righteous) man is to redress the grievances of in other aspects. He worked his way through past year. Many of our farm families have those who are abandoned and alone, to pro- college as a professional photographer, first at seen prices for their hard work hit decade tect the dignity of the poor and to save the op- USC and then as a graduate student at the lows over the recent months. We must act pressed from his oppressor.'' Mr. Speaker, this Anderson School of Business at UCLA. now to support our American farm families. is true now more than ever. In 1967, he co-founded Westwood Financial And, we can not allow nonfarm related issues Lenny Ben-David was appointed Deputy Corp., which owns and operates over 125 cloud the language of the serious request. Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Israel by shopping centers. In addition to writing three It has been 2 months since the supple- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 1997. published books, Steven is a self-taught artist, mental spending request was submitted to Prior to this appointment, Mr. Ben-David with over fifty portraits in private collections. Congress seeking emergency assistance to served as an independent consultant on public Along with his devoted service to the com- our farmers. Two months . . . It is now time and political affairs. He held senior posts in munity, Steven and his wife, Darlene, have for farmers to plant their crops and no action the American Israel Public Affairs Committee maintained an unwavering commitment to their has been taken to get this crucial money to (AIPAC) for 25 years, opening and directing family. They have raised their four children in the farm community. The money is sorely AIPAC's office in Israel for almost 15 years. a Jewish home which is compassionate, ac- needed. USDA loan funds are running dry as Mr. Ben-David is a graduate of Yeshiva Uni- cepting, moral and intellectually alive. the farm crisis has created four times the nor- versity in New York. He received a Masters Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, mal demand for farm loan programs. degree in Political Science from the American please join me in honoring Steven J. Fogel for I can not attempt to describe how important University in Washington, D.C. He and his his past, present, and future achievements for this money is to farm families across Mis- wife, Rochelle Black, have six children. both the Jewish community and the commu- sissippi and, indeed, across America. Mr. Speaker, I submit the full text of Mr. nity at large. Since this supplemental spending request Ben-David's address at the Days of Remem- f was made, over 8,000 applications for loans brance ceremony to be printed in the CON- from farmers have been received. The Amer- GRESSIONAL RECORD. KOSOVO AND SOUTHWEST ASIA ican people must understand how important DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE PROGRAM, U.S. EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL . . . how crucial the need is out there for our CAPITOL ROTUNDA, APRIL 13, 1999 APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1999 farmers. This isn't play money. Farmers need (Remarks by Lenny Ben-David, Deputy Chief money to farm. of Mission, Embassy of Israel) SPEECH OF Let's pass this legislation and support our Ever since I heard of today’s theme (The HON. RONNIE SHOWS farm families today. Let's support our farmers S.S. St. Louis), I have been obsessed with the thoughts of ships. OF MISSISSIPPI because they support us everyday. f First, the St. Louis, with more than 900 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Jews, including children. We are told that Thursday, May 6, 1999 ADDRESS OF LENNY BEN-DAVID, little children on board played a game: they DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION AT formed a barricade from the deck chairs. The House in Committee of the Whole THE EMBASSY OF ISRAEL, AT Two children served as guards and other children sought permission to pass. House on the State of the Union had under THE NATIONAL CIVIC COMMEMO- consideration the bill (H.R. 1664) making ‘‘Are you a Jew?’’ asked the child guard. emergency supplemental appropriations for RATION OF THE DAYS OF RE- ‘‘Yes,’’ was the other child’s reply. military operations, refugee relief, and hu- MEMBRANCE ‘‘Jews are not allowed to pass,’’ the guard manitarian assistance relating to the con- responded. flict in Kosovo, and for military operations HON. TOM LANTOS ‘‘Oh please let me in. I am only a very lit- in Southwest Asia for the fiscal year ending tle Jew.’’ OF CALIFORNIA September 30, 1999, and for other purposes: Little or big, Jews on that ship never dis- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES embarked in Cuba or America. Mr. SHOWS. Mr. Chairman, today I stand Tuesday, May 11, 1999 A few years later, another ship was fitted before my colleagues and the American peo- up in the Baltimore harbor. Ultimately it be- ple to discuss the American Farmer. I stand Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, came known as the Exodus. Loaded with before you to urge quick and complete pas- April 13, Members of Congress joined with 4,500 survivors, this boat could not deliver its sage of the emergency supplemental bill for representatives of the diplomatic corps, execu- human cargo to the shores of Eretz Yisrael America's farm families. tive and judicial branch officials, and Holo- in 1947. Like the passengers on the St. Louis, My district, in Mississippi, is largely sup- they too were forced to return to the coun- caust survivors and their families to com- tries from which they had fled. Thank God, ported by agriculture. Family farmers, and memorate the National Days of Remembrance for their sake, the Nazis had been defeated, might I add I was once a farmer, are our in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol. but anti-Semitism was not. Jews could still neighbors, friends, and community leaders. The ceremony coincided with the 60th anni- not disembark from a sinking ghost ship They provide a foundation of sound American versary of the voyage of the SS St. Louis, called Europe. Pogroms were still taking values and a strong work ethic to communities which set sail from Germany in April 1939, place. all across our nation. When you get right down carrying more than 900 Jews away from Nazi Finally in May 1948, safe haven was se- to it, they are good people who work real hard terror. Denied entry to both Cuba and the cured when Israel was founded. I am reminded of another boat. Some 30 to make a living and raise their families. United States, the St. Louis was forced to years later, another ship full of refugees was There's more, much more, to say about our send its frightened passengers back to Europe floundering in the China Sea. Vietnamese farmers, though. The American family farmer just months before the onset of World War II. refugees, starving and thirsty, they were is the most successful and efficient farmer in Many of them were eventually murdered in picked up by an Israeli ship. In his first offi- the world. Our agricultural industry feeds and Auschwitz, Treblinka, and other death camps cial act in office, Prime Minister Menachem clothes more people than any other system of of Hitler's Holocaust. Begin ordered that they be given haven in agriculture on the planet. The American farmer While we cannot rectify the wrongs of gen- Israel. And other ships come to mind: Small boats is one of America's greatest success stories. erations ago, we can apply the lesson of the smuggling the precious cargo of Jews from They have excelled through the best and St. Louis to the crises of today. In the Europe North Africa. Some never made it. Missile worst of times. of 1999, innocent civilians are once again boats of the Israeli Navy quietly sailing up Our farmers fed a hungry nation during the being deported, abused, raped and murdered. to the shores of Africa in the dead of night to Great Depression, sustained our great army While the scale of Serbian atrocities in Kosovo take the Jews of Ethiopia home, a journey of E914 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks May 11, 1999 hundreds of miles and hundreds of years of How could the civilized world allow it to darkest of times, more than eager to profit culture. Later, the air ships would fly the happen? Why were we so abandoned? Six mil- from the German war against the Jews. Ethiopians to Israel by the thousands as lion times, why? None of the so-called ‘‘neutral’’ nations they did their Yemenite brothers and sisters This year’s national Days of Remembrance has fully assumed responsibility for its con- 40 years earlier. theme is dedicated to the voyage of the SS duct during the Holocaust. The bankers, bro- Today, the ships of the air continue to fly, St. Louis. It is a story of refuge denied; it is kers, and business people who helped Nazi loaded with Jews from Moscow and Minsk, a tale of international abandonment and be- Germany now offer some money to survivors, Bucharest and Bukhara, Kiev and St. Peters- trayal. Why were they refused entry into but they say little about their collaboration. burg. In recent weeks, they have been arriv- this country? How can we ever understand They utter not a word about how they sent ing from Belgrade and Kosovo, too. As Israel why this was allowed to happen? Today, it is fleeing Jews back to the German Nazi’s ma- has been a haven to Jews, so it has also been, inconceivable to us just how that ship in chinery of destruction, nor about how they in its small way, a haven to Moslem refugees those days was turned away. supported the Nazis in other ways—no ad- from Bosnia and Kosovo. Today 54 years ago the American soldiers mission of guilt; no regret; no expression of Ladies and gentlemen, I am reminded of came across Nazi Germany slave labor camps moral responsibility. one other boat. The ship’s log is found in the and liberated Buchenwald and saved many of We must guard against dangerous, unin- Tanach, the Jewish Bible, ‘‘The Lord then us who are here present today. Our gratitude tended consequences arising from all that is hurled a furious wind upon the sea; there was will remain with us forever. We will always going on now. Hopefully, family properties a heavy storm at sea, and the ship was about remain grateful to these soldiers for their and other valuables will be returned to their to be broken up. The sailors were frightened, kindness and generosity, and we will always rightful owners. But the blinding glitter of each cried to his own god and they threw remember those young soldiers who sac- gold—the unrealistic expectations created by overboard the cargo that was in the ship in rificed their lives to bring us liberty. all the international publicity—has diverted order to lighten it; but Jonah had gone down Today, wherever Jews live—from Antwerp attention from the evil which was the Holo- below deck and was lying fast asleep.’’ Later, to Melbourne, from Jerusalem to Buenos caust. when they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Aires, from New York to Budapest—we come For five decades, we survivors vowed that Jonah, the ship’s crew turned to Jonah and together to remember to say Kadish collec- what happened to our loved ones would be re- asked, ‘‘What have you done?! They knew tively. membered and that our experiences would that Jonah was running away from the Remembering the Holocaust is now a part serve as a warning to future generations. We Lord’s presence.’’ of the Jewish calendar. We are together in must continue to make sure that the images Friends, Jonah could not run away from our dedication to Memory and our aspiration of gold bars wrapped in yellow Stars of David his duties, and he realized after experiencing for peace and brotherhood. Yom Hashoah, do not overshadow the impressions of a the dark and dank belly of the great fish, the Days of Remembrance, time to collec- mother protecting her daughter with her that you could try to run from your respon- tively bear witness as a community. coat, upon which a Star of David is sewn, or sibilities even to the depths of the ocean, but And what lessons did we derive from these of a young boy desperately clutching his fa- you cannot hide. That is why the book of horrible experiences? The most important ther’s hand a Auschwitz/Birkenau before en- Jonah is traditionally read in synagogues on lesson is obvious—it can happen again the tering the gas chambers. Yom Kippur. impossible is possible again. Ethnic cleans- The search for lost and stolen Jewish- The late contemporary sage, Rabbi Yosef ing, genocide, is happening as I speak. It can owned assets has generated enormous pub- Dov Soloveitchik, would quote his grand- happen to any one or any group of people. licity and excitement, but it also has created father, Rabbi Chaim of Brisk: ‘‘The function The slaughter in Kosovo and in other places serious concerns. Gold, bank accounts, insur- of the halachic (righteous) man is to redress must be brought to an end. ance policies and other assets have become the grievances of those who are abandoned Should there be another Holocaust, it may the focal point of the Holocaust. That some- and alone, to protect the dignity of the poor be on a cosmic scale. How can we prevent it? how minimizes Germany’s murderous role. and to save the oppressed from the hands of All of us must remain vigilant—always Great care must be taken to find a balance. his oppressor.’’ aware, always on guard against those who The various investigations must continue to Yes, that is how we can and must avoid the are determined to destroy innocent human uncover the hidden or little publicized truths moral shipwreck caused by apathy and indif- life for no other reason than birthright. about the so-called neutral countries that ference, and bring humankind to safe port. It is vital that we remember; it is our com- collaborated, and to recover what rightfully Thank you. mitment to those who perished, and to each belongs to the victims, survivors and their other; a commitment taken up by our chil- f families. dren and, hopefully, by the generations to The focus should never be shifted from the BENJAMIN MEED SPEECH ON THE come. What we remember is gruesome and moral and financial responsibility of Ger- painful. But remember we must. Over the DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE many for the slaughter of our people—acts years, we have tried to make certain that for which there is no statute of limitations, what happened to us was communicated and acts for which Germany remains eternally HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY continues to be told, and retold, until it be- responsible. Our books should not and can- comes an inseparable part of the world’s con- OF NEW YORK not be closed. science. Let us Remember. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES And yet, some fifty years after the Holo- Tuesday, May 11, 1999 caust, we continue to be repulsed by revela- f tions about the enormity of the crimes Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, against our people. And we are shocked to PERSONAL EXPLANATION I would like to share with my colleagues the learn of the behavior of those who could have remarks of Mr. Benjamin Meed who recently helped us, or at least, not hurt us, but who, gave an exceptionally moving speech about instead, actually helped those whose goal HON. ALBERT RUSSELL WYNN Yom Hashoah, The Days of Remembrance, at was to wipe us out. Sadly, many of those who OF MARYLAND Congregation Emanu-El in my district in New claimed they were neutral were actually in- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES York City. Mr. Meed is Chairman of both The volved with the German Nazis. They were anything but not neutral. Tuesday, May 11, 1999 Warsaw Ghetto Resistance Organization The world has now learned that the Holo- (WAGRO) and The Days of Remembrance Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, I missed rollcall caust was not only the greatest murder of vote No. 97 and subsequent votes due to a Committee, United States Holocaust Memorial humanity, the greatest crime against hu- bout with pneumonia that resulted in a stay in Council. He is also the President of the Amer- manity, but also the greatest robbery in the ican Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. history of mankind. Driven from our homes, the hospital. I have listed each missed vote Mr. Meed is a champion of humanitarian stripped of family heirlooms—indeed of all below and how I would have voted on each causes around the world. our possessions—the German Nazis and their measure had I been present. collaborators took anything that was or Rollcall votes: No. 97 ``yes''; No. 98 ``yes''; TRIBUTE TO THE SIX MILLION JEWISH MAR- could be of value for recycling. They stole No. 99 ``no''; No. 100 ``no''; No. 101 ``no''; No. TYRS—56TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WARSAW from the living and even defiled the Jewish 102 ``no''; No. 103 ``yes''; No. 104 ``yes''; No. GHETTO UPRISING dead, tearing out gold fillings and cutting off 105 ``yes''; No. 106 ``yes''; No. 107 ''yes''; No. Today, Jews gather to pay tribute to the fingers to recover wedding bands from our memory of our Six Million brothers and sis- loved ones who they had murdered. 108 ``yes''; No. 109 ``yes''; No. 110 ``no''; No. ters murdered only because they were Jew- But the German Nazis did not—could not— 111 ``yes''; No. 112 ``no''; No. 113 ``yes''; No. ish; We gather to honor the fighters of the do it alone. The same people who now offer 114 ``no''; No. 115 ``yes''; No. 116 ``no''; No. Warsaw Ghetto; to grieve; and to continue reasonable sounding justifications for their 117 ``no''; No. 118 ``yes''; No. 119 ``no''; No. asking the questions: Why did it happen? conduct during the Holocaust were, in those 120 ``yes''.