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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois State Senate were
3saddened to learn of the passing of Rabbi Isaac Neuman, a
4resident of Central Illinois for the past 40 years, on November
517, 2014; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman, who was born in Zdunska Wola,
7Poland in 1922, was a survivor of Nazi death camps and slave
8labor (Junikowo, St. Martin's, Fuerstenfelde,
9Auschwitz-Birkenau, Fuenfteichen, Gross-Rosen, Mauthausen,
10Wels and Ebensee); and
 
11    WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman lost nearly his entire family
12in the Holocaust, including both his parents, 6 sisters, a
13younger brother, and a grandmother; his left forearm was
14tattooed with his number from Auschwitz: 143945; his Ebensee
15camp was liberated by National Guard soldiers of the United
16States Army's 80th infantry division in May of 1945; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman was one of the very few people
18in America who first received a traditional Jewish education in
19some of the most prestigious Talmudic academies in Poland
20(Yeshivat Chachmei in Lublin, Eitz Chaim in Kalisch and Emek
21Halacha in Warsaw) and was later ordained as a Rabbi by the
22Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio; he was awarded a

 

 

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1Doctor of Divinity Degree by the Hebrew Union College in 1985;
2and
 
3    WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman bore witness to Nazi atrocities
4through lectures, teaching, and appearances at churches, high
5schools, colleges, and universities (including Parkland
6College and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
7throughout Illinois and around the world; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman served as Rabbi of Sinai Temple
9in Champaign from 1974 to 1987, and as Rabbi Emeritus
10thereafter; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman helped re-establish Jewish
12communities in Germany and educated rabbis and educators across
13the United States, Europe, and Latin America over a period 60
14years; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman served on the board that
16created the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.,
17(under a presidential appointment by President Ronald Reagan)
18and later was part of a delegation representing President
19George W. Bush at the dedication of the museum at the Yad
20Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman served as Auxiliary Chaplain at

 

 

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1Chanute Air Force Base from 1974 until its closing; he also
2ministered to members of United States Armed Forces in bases
3and installations around the world over a period of 40 years;
4and
 
5    WHEREAS, After retiring from Sinai Temple, Rabbi Isaac
6Neuman returned to East Berlin in 1987-88, the first new rabbi
7there since the war, and established a congregation within
8walking distance of Hitler's bunker; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman was a leader in interfaith
10activities, serving as President of the Ministerial
11Association of Champaign-Urbana; during his time as a rabbi at
12Sinai, he welcomed dozens of different church group as visitors
13to Friday night services at Sinai Temple; he also participated,
14with interfaith clergy, in the historic civil-rights march in
151965 in Selma, Alabama, with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.;
16and
 
17    WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman twice delivered the opening
18prayer in the United States House of Representatives, in 1970
19and later in 1983; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Rabbi Isaac Neuman's memoir, "The Narrow Bridge:
21Beyond the Holocaust", co-authored with Michael Palencia-Roth
22and published by the University of Illinois Press, is an

 

 

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1important first-hand account of the Nazi's crimes against
2humanity; therefore, be it
 
3    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL
4ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
5the Rabbi Isaac Neuman, and extend our sincere condolences to
6his family, friends, the Champaign-Urbana and University of
7Illinois communities, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
8further
 
9    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
10presented to the family of Rabbi Isaac Neuman as an expression
11of our deepest sympathy.