Washington – Leaders of the United States Congress gathered last week Thursday to pay tribute to Shuvu Return, an Israeli school network that provides a stellar education to Jewish children who emigrate from Russia to Israel.
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The event featured the most powerful members of the current Congress including both House Whips, Democrat Steny Hoyer and Republican Kevin McCarthy, Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Darrell Issa, House Homeland Security Committee Chair Peter King, House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Dutch Ruppersberger, House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sandy Levin, as well as Representatives Jerrold Nadler, Eliot Engel, Ted Deutch, Marcia Fudge, and Nan Hayworth of New York State who graciously hosted the luncheon. The keynote address was delivered by the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren.
The event paid tribute to the memory of Congressman Charles Vanik, whose commitment to the cause of Soviet Jewry, allowed for millions of Russian Jews to make Israel their home. In 1974, Charles Vanik sponsored the Jackson-Vanik Act in the House of Representatives which helped refugees, particularly minorities and Jews, to immigrate from the Soviet Bloc to Israel. The Jackson-Vanik amendment was credited with pressuring the Soviet leadership with allowing immigration to Israel. The late Congressman’s wife Betty Vanik, and daughter Phyllis Vanik, attended the luncheon.
Shuvu Chairman Abe Biderman, said “By Shuvu now educating tens of thousands of children in the spirit of our forefathers, this brings full circle the great humanitarian leadership of the late Congressman Vanik and for that the Jewish people will be eternally grateful”.
According to Ezra Friedlander, CEO of the Friedlander Group which coordinated the event, “this event was an extraordinary opportunity for members of Congress to pay homage to one of the architects of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, an act of Congress that literally brought the Soviet Union to its knees, a theme that was echoed throughout the program, by Congressional leaders who expressed their deep admiration to the late Congressman and felt privileged to do so in the presence of Mrs. Vanik and her daughter Phyllis.” “I want to congratulate Shuvu for all their hard work in educating thousands of children who otherwise would not have a Jewish education–kudos to the congress for recognizing this and what a kiddush Hashem to remember the chesed of charles Vanik during the Cold War” said Friedlander
Photo Credit: Shimon Gifter
Video credit: Shmuel Lenchevsky
Photos below from the event:
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