Former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D¹Amato (R-NY) was in Valley Stream over the weekend to be honored by the Five Towns Jewish Council for his dedicated work to the communities of Long Island¹s South Shore.
D¹Amato was largely responsible for President Ronald Reagan¹s October 1984 visit to Temple Hillel, the first time that a sitting commander-in-chief addressed a synagogue since George Washington in 1790.
On Sunday, nearly 22 years after Reagan¹s historic visit, D'Amato, who served in the U.S. Senate from 1981 to 1999, made the trek to receive the prestigious Herbert Tenzer Award for Public Service during a legislative breakfast.
The award was created in 1995 by the Five Towns Jewish Council to memorialize the late Tenzer, the former U.S. congressman from the Five Towns who served in Washington D.C. during the Lyndon Johnson administration and was an active member of the Jewish community.
"I call Temple Hillel Sen. Al D'Amato¹s shul," joked Steven Kline, the synagogue¹s past president who co-chaired the breakfast with Dr. Stanley Nussbaum.
It was fitting that the former senator was honored at Temple Hillel since it is located in the community he dedicated much of his life to the South Shore where he served as Hempstead Town supervisor, was a resident of Island Park, and now owns a home in Lido Beach.
"It is always nice to be recognized in one¹s own community," Sen. D¹Amato said in an interview before he received the honor.
Rabbis and Jewish community leaders who attended the event thanked D¹Amato for his unwavering support of Israel and the persistence he demonstrated as chair of the Senate Banking Committee, returning more than a billion dollars to Holocaust survivors from Swiss banks, which had withheld the money for decades. D'Amato was also praised for his courage to speak up on behalf of the Jewish community during the 1991 riots that erupted in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, between blacks and the large Hassidic and Orthodox Jewish population.
'We remember you as being the savior of the time, an angel from above," Rabbi Shneur Wolowik, spiritual leader of Chabad of the Five Towns, said in his closing benediction to D¹Amato.
After accepting the Herbert Tenzer Award, D¹Amato referred to the Crown Heights incident and how many were afraid to speak up and criticize the then mayor David Dinkins, an African-American, for his response to the riots, which lasted three days after a Hassidic man drove a car that accidentally struck and killed a 7-year-old black boy.
"We¹ve created an [atmosphere] of political correctness and I don¹t think that is good for the country," said D¹Amato, referring to the 1991 incident and how many feared being labeled 'racist' if they attacked Mayor Dinkins.
During Sunday¹s legislative breakfast, D'Amato also addressed the situation in the Middle East and the dangers that face Israel. He also spoke about America¹s dependence on Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia for foreign oil, and that the royal family should not be respected because of how oppressive they are when it comes to democracy. "[The Saudi royal family] are a bunch of thugs put into power," said D¹Amato. "We salute them like they are some kind of kings. What nonsense!"
The legislative breakfast was attended by many elected officials and community leaders, including Hempstead Town Council members Jim Darcy (R-Valley Stream) and Anthony Santino (R-East Rockaway), as well as Odelia Goldberg, a Democrat from Lawrence who is challenging State Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) in November.
"I don¹t know if there is any elected official that has been a greater friend to the Jewish community than Sen. D'Amato," said Darcy.
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©Herald Community 2006
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