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.