LL IN THE FAA
I ra Kaufman
hen Herb Kaufman's daughters Ilene and Patty were old enough to type, they
Obituaries
daughters-in-law, Yakov and Janetta
Todromovich of Oak Park, Peter and
Larica Todromovich of Russia; grand-
children, Vladlen, Stan, Alexander,
Bella; great-grandchildren, Michael,
Olesya. Mrs. Todromovich was the
beloved wife of the late Isaak Todro-
movich.
Interment at Hebrew Memorial
Park. Services and arrangements by
Hebrew Memorial Chapel.
hand typed yahrzeit notices and envelopes on an IBM Selectric typewriter.
Knowing Ira Kaufman's great grandson Chad and great granddaughter Stephanie were
monitoring the chapel's Web site and answering e-mail inquires, we don't have to imagine
the smile on Ira's face, we just look
at Grandpa Herbie.
THE IRA KAUFMAN CHAPEL
Bringing Together Family, Faith & Community
Young Israel of Oak
THE KAUFMAN
COMMUNITY CORNER Park, 15140 W. 10
Young Israel Council
hosts Blood Drive,
Sun., June 7 in
Oak Park
Young Israel Coun-
cil hosts its annual
Blood Drive at
Mile, on Sun. June 7
between 8:45 am and
2:30 pm.
The Blood Drive is
important because
reserves are usually
low in June.
The blood will be
used by the American
Red Cross in the
Detroit area.
Donors should eat
breakfast or lunch
before giving blood
To make an appt.,
call Rose Newman
at(248) 353-9453.
18325 West Nine Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 *Telephone: 248-569-0020 • Toll Free: 800-325-7105
Please visit us at our web site: www.irakaufman.com
WE PROVIDE what no one person or family
can do alone. A sense of security. The knowledge
that someone will always care...for a lifetime.
OUR THANKS TO THE GENEROUS
SUPPORTERS WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED,
TO DATE, OVER $5 MILLION TOWARD
THE JARC ENDOWMENT CAMPAIGN.
Please join us. Call 248-352-5272
JAR C ENDOWMENT FUND
Caring for a Lifetime
5/22
1998
154
A Jewish Association for Residential Care
for persons with developmental disabilities
Moshe Sherer,
`Giant' Of
Orthodoxy
New York (JTA) — Rabbi Moshe
Sherer, president of Agudath Israel of
America and an ardent defender of
Orthodox interests, has died at 76.
He passed away May 17 at New
York Hospital/Cornell Medical Cen-
ter in Manhattan of recurrent
leukemia.
Sherer was in Israel in February,
leading a delegation of fervently
Orthodox Jews to meet with govern-
ment leaders to convince them that
the Orthodox way was the only viable
course to support in the war over reli-
gious pluralism, when he learned that
the cancer had returned.
When he was in his 20s and study-
ing in a Baltimore yeshiva, he would
often visit Washington, D.C., to try
to meet with members of Congress
and staffers at the White House.
In those days he was almost turned
away by the White House, recalled
Vice President Al Gore as he received
Agudah's humanitarian award at the
group's 76th anniversary dinner.
Recently, the rabbi was welcomed at
the White House with his choice of
kosher meals.
Dignitaries at his funeral, held in
the fervently Orthodox Borough Park
section of Brooklyn, N.Y., where he
had lived, included the mayor of
New York City, Rudolph Giuliani,
and New York Gov. George Pataki.
Sherer became a leader of the Agu-
dah in 1941, at a time when the orga-
nization was regarded, in the group's
own words, as "a sickly weed" by
some in the Jewish establishment.
He took a small group of like-
minded Orthodox Jews and built the
Agudah into a political powerhouse.
In some ways, Sherer seemed an
unlikely choice to lead the Agudah,
whose culture and policies reflect total
reverence for the world of European
Jewry that was destroyed by Hitler.
While many of Agudah's con-
stituents dress in Chasidic garb, wear
beards in the Orthodox fashion and
learn to speak Yiddish before English,
Sherer did not fit that mold.
Though he shared the same values,
Sherer, unlike much of his leadership,
was American-born and clean-shaven.
He was, say those who knew him,
a man with a deep appreciation for
the American way of doing things,
who believed that the community he
represented needed to keep a foot in
the grandeur of its European days,
but also deserved to have its religious
values and practices protected by
American law.
Under Sherer, the Agudah, from its
offices in New York and Washington
lobbied so that the rights of Ortho-
dox Jews — in the workplace, in its
dietary practices and in school —
were guarded.
He helped establish principles
enshrined in federal and state law that
permit children in private schools to
receive government benefits and ser-
vices equal to their public school
counterparts.
He also worked with the leaders of—/,
other religious faiths, like New York's
Catholic archbishop, John Cardinal
O'Connor, to convince the city not to
accept advertising on billboards in
subway stations and at bus stops that
was deemed morally offensive.
Sherer continued his work with
oppressed Jewish communities
later, aiding those behind the Iron
Curtain and in places such as Syria =---\
and Iran.
He was deeply involved with
reclaiming Jewish cemeteries now
owned by governments and private
hands in Eastern Europe, and in
retrieving Jewish assets held by the
Swiss and others after the war.
Sherer is survived by his wife, three
adult children, and many grandchil-
dren and great-grandchildren.
Obituary
Procedures
Ira Kaufman Chapel, Hebrew
Memorial Chapel and Alan Dorf-
GL-(
man Funeral Direction send
notices of all funerals they have
handled to be printed in The Jew-
ish News. Families whose funeral
has been handled by one of these
homes should not contact the
paper to place an obituary.