Roundup
Hadassah Paying
Back $45 million
Of Madoff Gains
NEW YORK (JTA) --
Hadassah: The Women's
Zionist Organization
of America will pay
back $45 million of the
Nancy Falchuk
money it made in the
Bernard Madoff scam.
Hadassah President Nancy Falchuk in
a Dec. 9 letter told the organization's sup-
porters of the settlement reached by the
group with the trustee of Madoff's estate.
The organization, which began invest-
ing with Bernard Madoff Securities
in 1988 with a $7 million gift, depos-
ited a total of $40 million in its Madoff
accounts, and by April 2007 had with-
drawn $137 million. The last account
statement showed approximately $90 mil-
lion at the time the fraud was discovered.
The $45 million is half of what
Hadassah earned unwittingly in the scam.
With the settlement, Hadassah avoids a
lawsuit by the trustee, Irving Picard, who
already has sued a number of individuals,
organizations and foundations that made
money in the Madoff fraud.
"As painful as it is, this settlement is
in the best interest of Hadassah," Falchuk
wrote in the letter. "It allows us to put
this chapter behind us and move forward
with our critical life-affirming mission. A
charitable mission praised by the trustee
for its philanthropic value."
Commissioner Steven Schwartz
presents a proclamation to Rabbi Elliott
Pachter and synagogue President Kerry
Greenhut in honor of B'nai Moshe's
100th anniversary.
County Honor
On Dec. 9, members of the Oakland
County Board of Commissioners honored
their colleagues who will not be return-
ing to the board after their terms end on
Dec. 31. Steven Schwartz was among the
honorees.
He represents Farmington Hills and
Farmington (District 14). He was elected
to the board in 2008 and began serving
in 2009.
Commissioner Schwartz was an advo-
10
December 23 • 2010
cate of a bipartisan proposal that would
have allowed all Oakland County voters
to decide whether they wanted SMART
bus service expanded to serve the entire
county. He also championed the right
for Farmington and Farmington Hills
residents to vote whether they wanted to
maintain the current service in their cit-
ies; this ultimately resulted in over a 75
percent favorable vote to maintain that
service.
Schwartz has served on the board's
General Government as well as the
Planning and Building committees.
He is a former member of Farmington
Hills Zoning Board of Appeals the
Farmington Hills Committee for Non-
Motorized Transportation.
Evaluating 'Don't Ask'
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Jewish groups
praised the U.S. Senate's passage of a law
allowing gays to serve openly in the mili-
tary and lamented its failure to legalize
undocumented migrants who arrived as
minors.
"With today's vote,
Americans may serve
without being forced
to choose between
their commitment
to our country and
their integrity," said
Rabbi Steve Gutow,
the president of the
Rabbi Gutow
Jewish Council for
Public Affairs (JCPA),
the umbrella public policy group, after
the Senate lifted "don't ask, don't tell"
restrictions on Saturday.
The policy, introduced in 1993, ended
military investigations of suspected gays,
but forced gay service members to hide
their orientation under threat of dis-
charge.
Multiple Jewish groups, including the
JCPA, the Anti-Defamation League, the
Reform movement and the National
Council of Jewish Women, had lobbied
for its repeal.
A key element in securing the repeal
was that the military — in statements
and in reports — reversed its opposition
to open service that had led to "don't ask,
don't tell" in the first place. Advocates of
open service cited the successful integra-
tion of gays into other militaries, includ-
ing in Israel.
The effort in the Senate to repeal was
led by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.,
and the measure passed 65-31. A num-
ber of gay activists noted in blogs that
Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew, thought the
measure important enough to devote the
Sabbath to shepherding it through.
All that remains is for President
Levin Ways and Means Ranking Member
WASHINGTON -- Chairman Sander M. Levin, D-Royal Oak, was
elected by the Democratic Caucus to become the Ways and Means
Committee's ranking member in the 112th Congress.
"I told my colleagues that I believe every member of the
Democratic Caucus should participate and serve as an ad hoc
member of the Ways and Means committee because the impor-
tant issues before us — economic growth, health care reform, tax
equity, social security and deficit reduction — require all of our
efforts:' Levin said.
"There is much work to do, and I am determined to continue fighting on behalf of
middle class families and communicating to the American people that their struggle
is our struggle. We won't stop until we turn this economy around and build a brighter
future for our nation's children."
Obama to enact the repeal; ending "don't
ask, don't tell" had been one of his cam-
paign promises.
The DREAM Act, which would have
created a path to citizenship for those
who arrived in the United States as
undocumented minors, failed to muster
the 60 votes necessary to end debate;
the procedural vote Saturday was 55-41.
Voting for were 52 in the Democratic
caucus and three Republicans.
Many of the same Jewish groups that
had lobbied for the repeal of "don't ask,
don't tell" also lobbied for the DREAM Act.
"The Senate missed
an opportunity to
extend the American
dream:' said JCPA
Chairman Dr. Conrad
Giles of Bloomfield
Hills. "The children
who would have been
Dr. Giles
protected by the
DREAM Act deserve
their chance. They
grew up here, graduated high school and
contribute to our country. They serve in
our military or are attaining a college
degree. They deserve a chance to thrive
as American citizens."
The American Jewish Committee called
the failure a "missed opportunity."
"Instead of creating a clear path for the
many undocumented young people who
have graduated American high schools
and are eager to go on to college and
contribute to our economy and society,
the Senate has delivered a stunning and
painful message that they are not wel-
come," it said in a statement.
The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
called on the next Congress, which
begins its session in January, to take up
the cause.
Opponents said that opening up an ave-
nue to citizenship before controlling the
flow of illegal immigrants across the U.S.-
Mexico border was premature and could
encourage more illegal immigration.
Bolivia Recognizes Palestine
SUCRE (JTA) -- Bolivia became the third
country in recent weeks to recognize a
state of Palestine.
"Bolivia recognizes the Palestinian
state on the 1967 borders, like Brazil and
Argentina," the Palestinian Ma'an news
agency reported Bolivian President Evo
Morales as saying Dec. 17 during a visit to
Brazil.
Uruguay is expected to follow suit early
next month.
Israel, the United States and Jewish
groups have attempted to push back
against a Palestinian Authority initiative
to win recognition of Palestinian state-
hood in Latin America and Europe, the
two major regions that until now have
resisted recognizing the provisional state-
hood declared in 1988.
The Palestinian Authority is pressing
for recognition partly as leverage against
Israel's refusal to freeze settlement build-
ing.
Palestinians walked away from direct
talks in October because Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu refused to extend a
10-month partial freeze on such building.
Rubashkin Family Fined
DES MOINES (JTA) -- Members of the
Rubashkin family, who operated the now-
defunct Agriprocessers kosher meatpack-
ing plant, must pay a total of more than
$2 million after defaulting on loans.
A federal judge ordered Dec. 16 that
Abraham Aaron Rubashkin and sons
Sholom and Tzvi must pay the money to
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and
Value Recovery Group. The latter was
owed more than $1.6 million in unpaid
rent, according to court records, the
Associated Press reported. The judgment
also includes interest and litigation costs.
Agriprocessors CEO Sholom
Rubashkin was sentenced last June to
27 years in federal prison after being
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