who was returning from an Afghanistan
mission, was declared lost at sea three
days later.
"He held the plane level for them to do
so, despite nearly uncontrollable forces:'
Navy Rear Adm. Philip Davidson wrote
to Zilberman's parents, emigres from
the Ukraine who settled in Columbus,
Ohio.
"His three crewmen are alive today
because of his actions."
Zilberman, who was based in Virginia
Beach, Va., also is survived by his wife and
two small children. He was 31.

Ruth Nussbaum, Activist
In Reform Zionist Movement
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Ruth Nussbaum,
a former neighbor of Anne Frank's family
who later played a key role in the Reform
movement's embrace of Zionism, has
died.
Nussbaum died Tuesday in her Los
Angeles home of congestive heart failure
and complications of pneumonia. She was
98.

Born Ruth Offenstadt into a prosperous
and assimilated Jewish family in Berlin,
Nussbaum later studied languages, phi-
losophy and art at universities in Berlin
and Geneva.
Nussbaum and her daughter from a
brief marriage moved to Amsterdam in
1937. Among their neighbors was the
Frank family, whose daughter, Anne, fre-
quently visited.
In 1938, Ruth married Max Nussbaum,
a rising young Reform rabbi, in Berlin,
with the eminent Rabbi Leo Baeck offici-
ating. In late 1940, with the war raging in
Europe, the young Nussbaum family man-
aged to acquire visas to enter the United
States.
Rabbi Nussbaum was offered the pulpit
at Temple Israel of Hollywood in 1942,
and served for 32 years until his death in
1974.
The young couple invested much of
their time and energy in their two great
passions, Zionism and the American
civil rights movement. Ruth Nussbaum
was instrumental in the creation of

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the Association of Reform Zionists of
America.
Five years ago, ARZA conferred a pres-
tigious award on Ruth Nussbaum, and on
the occasion, Rabbi Stanley Davids, then
the organization's president, lauded the
honoree.
"Ruth played a pivotal role in helping
to reshape the Reform view of Zionism:'
Davids said.
"She sees the need for pluralism and
democracy in Israel; to her, these are
Reform Jewish values. To her, Jewish
nationalism is a seamless and natural
aspect of Reform Jewish identity:"
In 1965, the Nussbaums welcomed the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to the pulpit of
their temple.
Ruth Nussbaum was described by Rabbi
John Rosove of Temple Israel as "perhaps
the most remarkable person I have ever
known. She was a historical figure and she
was our conscience'

Gedaliah Anemer,
A Leading D.C.-
Area Rabbi
WASHINGTON (JTA)
— Rabbi Gedaliah
Anemer, who helped
found a major Orthodox
community in suburban
Rabbi Anemer
Washington, has died.
Anemer died of a
stroke on April 22. He was 78.
He founded the Yeshiva of Greater
Washington in 1964, helping to lay the
groundwork for the Kemp Hill community
in Silver Spring, Md.
Anemer, an Akron, Ohio, native, also
was respected nationally as a halachic
authority and headed the Rabbinical
Council of Greater Washington, which
functions as the area's bet din, or rabbini-
cal court.

Obituaries on page 154

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