Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E815]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING REMARKS OF RABBI DR. ISRAEL ZOBERMAN
______
HON. ELAINE G. LURIA
of virginia
in the house of representatives
Friday, June 21, 2019
Mrs. LURIA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to include in the Record a
statement submitted by Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman, founder and spiritual
leader of the new Temple Lev Tikvah (Heart of Hope), a Reform Jewish
congregation in Virginia Beach.
My heart indeed overflows with hope, gratitude and love as
I humbly though proudly announce the blessed birth of the
youngest synagogue in Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads. It is
housed in a unique ecumenical Christian setting, the only
such in the world, making it now an even more exceptional
interfaith center. Church Of The Holy Apostles, established
in Virginia Beach in 1977, is both an Episcopal and Catholic
congregation. Their loving embrace of my new Reform Jewish
Temple is ample and inspiring testimony to their genuine
ecumenical spirit reaching beyond their own common and
diverse Christian traditions. With this golden opportunity we
are making and impacting history. Our one God is surely
smiling upon us.
They graciously invite their Jewish brethren to tend to our
four-thousand-year-old nourishing roots that have blessed the
human family, instrumental in birthing the two other great
monotheistic world religions of Christianity and Islam.
Bishop James Magness of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern
Virginia and Bishop Barry Knestout of the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Richmond are to be commended for their broad
ecumenical vision, spiritual fortitude and shining faith in
action. Together we reaffirm a holy bond in face of a complex
and trying history. We are committed to overcome troubling
past shadows. Having already made major strides forward, we
should maintain and build upon those breakthrough
accomplishments of monumental change.
We are mutually enabled to cultivate a precious interfaith
linkage, appreciating each other's differences and
particularities while celebrating our often overlooked but no
less important commonalities, as we collectively admit to our
shortcomings, ignorance and biases. This awesome journey of
mutual discovery while interfacing under one roof, challenges
us all to bring out the best God planted within us. It gains
added critical significance against the unsettling backdrop
of the global resurgence of consuming dark forces. Anti-
Semitism with its recent deadly and shocking manifestation in
American synagogues, along with horrific terrorist attacks on
Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and others at worship and
elsewhere.
I am acutely mindful of my personal sacred responsibility
to ever be a builder of Shalom's essential bridges of
healing, hope and harmony. After all, I am a family member of
the Holocaust's surviving remnant of European Jewry.
Let us count our blessings even as we commit to turning
blemishes into blessings and keep from turning blessings into
blemishes. We shall together yet repair our blemished planet
into a blessed and better home for all of God's children. The
Divine delights in diversity, God's divinity and human
dignity are one and inseparable.
____________________