congressional_record: CREC-1998-11-12-pt1-PgE2330-2
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| granule_id | date | congress | session | volume | issue | title | chamber | granule_class | sub_granule_class | page_start | page_end | speakers | bills | citation | full_text |
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| CREC-1998-11-12-pt1-PgE2330-2 | 1998-11-12 | 105 | 2 | 144 | TRIBUTE TO JACK LEVINE | HOUSE | EXTENSIONS | TRIBUTETO | E2330 | E2330 | [{"name": "Howard L. Berman", "role": "speaking"}] | 144 Cong. Rec. E2330 | Congressional Record, Volume 144 Issue 152 (Thursday, November 12, 1998) [Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 152 (Thursday, November 12, 1998)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E2330] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] TRIBUTE TO JACK LEVINE ______ HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN of california in the house of representatives Thursday, November 12, 1998 Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to my close friend, Jack Levine, who is receiving the 1998 TZEDEK (Justice) Award from the Labor Zionist Alliance. Before I ever ran for office, I practiced law with Jack Levine. I was overwhelmed by his brilliant legal mind, love of ideas and compassion for the less fortunate. After all these years, he remains a profound influence on my own beliefs and system of values. I know I'm a better person for having absorbed his wise teachings. The twin themes that dominate Jack's life are Zionism and the rights of working men and women. Jack's father, an Orthodox rabbi from Lithuania, instilled in his young son the importance of a Jewish homeland. The Rabbi was very persuasive: at the age of 10, Jack made a pitch for the Jewish National Fund at his father's synagogue in Brooklyn. Ten years later, as a student at City College of New York and a member of Avukah, the student Zionist organization, Jack had what can only be described as a political awakening. He found in Labor Zionism-- a literal synthesis of Zionism and Socialism--the perfect balance for his own emerging political philosophy. It was not much later that Jack became actively involved with the American labor movement and the Jewish Labor Committee, associations that continue to this day. After serving with the Merchant Marines in World War II, Jack worked on the assembly line at Ford and as a Longshoreman in San Pedro. In 1951, he entered law school at UCLA, eventually graduating third in his class. Upon graduation Jack joined Abe Levy's law firm, where he ultimately specialized in labor law. I joined him there in the mid- 1960s. It's probably superfluous to note that Jack did more than practice law. In fact, Jack spent much of his ``free'' time working tirelessly for causes in which he believed. In 1959, he successfully defended the world-famous Watts Towers from demolition by the City of Los Angeles. Sixteen years later, he served as attorney for the chairman of the Agricultural Relations Commission in Sacramento, administering the law that I sponsored in the California Assembly. Today Jack has immersed himself into the study of modern Hebrew literature at the University of Jerusalem. His hunger for knowledge is boundless. I ask my colleagues to join me in saluting Jack Levine, whose sense of decency and intellectual curiosity are a model for us all. I know his wife, Ann, children, Elinor Levine and Deborah Zimmer, son-in-law Tim Zimmer, and grandchildren, Jeremy and Daniel, are all very proud of his achievements. ____________________ |