093_SR0300

 
                                     LRB093 12226 KEF 17408 r

 1                          SENATE RESOLUTION

 2        WHEREAS, The members  of  the  Senate  of  the  State  of
 3    Illinois  were saddened to learn of the death of Rabbi Shlomo
 4    Rapoport of Chicago on June 2, 2003; and

 5        WHEREAS, Rabbi Rapoport retired in 1980 after serving  as
 6    principal  for  35  years  at  the  Ida  Crown Jewish Academy
 7    school, formerly called the Chicago Jewish Academy; and

 8        WHEREAS, As a teenager, the future rabbi left his home in
 9    Des Moines and came  to  Chicago  to  further  his  religious
10    education;  he  was  ordained  in  1940  by  Skokie's  Hebrew
11    Theological  College,  where  he would receive a doctorate in
12    Hebrew literature 24 years later; he also  had  a  bachelor's
13    degree   in   mathematics  from  the  Illinois  Institute  of
14    Technology in the 1930s and a master's degree in  mathematics
15    in 1941 from Northwestern University; and

16        WHEREAS,  Rabbi  Rapoport  began  teaching at the Chicago
17    Jewish Academy when it was formed in 1942 by  the  Associated
18    of  Talmud  Torahs,  the  central agency for religious Jewish
19    education in Chicago; it was the  first  Jewish  high  school
20    west  of the Hudson River; under Rabbi Rapoport's guidance as
21    principal, it became  one  of  the  top  private  schools  in
22    Chicago; and

23        WHEREAS,  Rabbi  Rapoport  also  founded  the Hanna Sacks
24    Girls High School in 1967 and was a  past  president  of  the
25    Chicago   Rabbinical   Council,  the  Religious  Zionists  of
26    Chicago, and the Chicago Zionist Federation; and

27        WHEREAS, Early in his career, he served as rabbi of Achei
28    Yavneh Synagogue on Chicago's West Side; he was introduced to
29    his wife at a dinner hosted by her mother and the two started
30    talking, then dating, and married about three years later  in
31    1945; and
 
                           -2-       LRB093 12226 KEF 17408 r
 1        WHEREAS,   Rabbi  Rapoport  was  a  stickler  for  proper
 2    grammar, speech, and punctuation and he loved puns  and  word
 3    play; and

 4        WHEREAS,  With  a  keen  interest  in  current events and
 5    American politics,  he  was  an  avid  newspaper  reader  and
 6    watcher of televised political debates and conventions; and

 7        WHEREAS,  Rabbi Rapoport's passing will be deeply felt by
 8    many,  especially  his  wife,  Hilda;  his  daughters,  Chaya
 9    Schwartz, Gitelle Szydlowski, and Ashira  Ozarowski; his  two
10    brothers,  Paul  and Hershel; his sister, Mitzi Korb; and his
11    six grandchildren; therefore, be it

12        RESOLVED, BY  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  NINETY-THIRD  GENERAL
13    ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the death of
14    Rabbi  Shlomo  Rapoport along with all who knew and loved him
15    and extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends;
16    and be it further

17        RESOLVED, That a suitable  copy  of  this  resolution  be
18    presented  to  the  family  of  Rabbi  Shlomo  Rapoport as an
19    expression of our deepest sympathy.