Board of Governors - 12.05.2000

 

 

PRESS RELEASE NCSJ Meeting Elects New Leaders,  Presents Honors, Hears Experts
	Harold Paul Luks NCSJ Chairman	Robert J. Meth NCSJ President

New York – Harold Paul Luks of Washington, DC, and Dr. Robert J. Meth of Los Angeles were elected as Chairman and President, respectively, when the NCSJ Board of Governors met here today. 

At Tuesday’s meeting, outgoing President Howard E. Sachs was honored for his leadership and service to NCSJ, as was Executive Director Mark B. Levin, who has served with NCSJ for 20 years.  Among those addressing the meeting were Andrew Weiss, Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia on the National Security Council; Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, Executive Director of ARZA/World Union North America, the representative of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and an affiliate of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations; and Josef Zissels, Executive Vice President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine. 

photo: David Karp

(l.-r.) Howard E. Sachs, Harold Paul Luks, Dr. Robert J. Meth, Mark B. Levin

New Leadership

Mr. Luks, an international trade expert and Jewish community leader with a strong background in legislative affairs, succeeds Denis C. Braham as NCSJ Chairman.  Dr. Meth, a family physician, has a record of activism and leadership in the United Jewish Communities and other national organizations as well as local involvement as an officer of the Los Angeles Jewish Federation and Jewish Community Relations Committee.  Both men previously served as Vice Presidents of NCSJ.

In congratulating Harold Luks and Robert Meth, Howard Sachs said, “Based upon their past dedication and their past service and their understanding of our issues, we can all be very confident that NCSJ is in very good hands.”  Speaking for himself and Mr. Braham, he added, “Denis and I are fully committed to continue to work with you.”

Tributes to Sachs and Levin

The tribute to Mr. Sachs was presented by Rabbi David Hill, NCSJ Vice President, and Mr. Levin.  Referring to Mr. Sachs as “a gentleman from the South,” Rabbi Hill noted, “I have been given five minutes to describe three years of dedication.”  He spoke not only of Mr. Sachs’ dedication to NCSJ but of his personal devotion and friendship to others.

(l.-r.) Mark B. Levin and Rabbi David Hill 
presenting NCSJ leadership award to Howard E. Sachs

Jeanne Ellinport, Associate Director of Public Liaison for the White House, presented a letter of congratulation from President Bill Clinton.

NCSJ Executive Director Mark Levin observed that Mr. Sachs “has always been there when we’ve needed him.”  Mr Levin added that, in the course of Mr. Sachs’ work with NCSJ, “No issue has been too large, no issue has been too difficult to tackle, and to tackle head-on.”

After accepting his own award, Mr. Sachs introduced a surprise tribute to Mr. Levin, who first joined the NCSJ staff in 1980 and has served as Executive Director since 1992.  “Mark as Executive Director has taught me, has guided me, has made my job easier,” Sachs said.  “Mark does not allow anything to slip through the cracks.  He is one of the most respected individuals in Washington today.  Respected on both sides of the aisle in Congress, in the State Department, in the National Security Council, in the White House and, mostly, by the 15 governments of the former Soviet Union.”

Daniel S. Mariaschin, Executive Vice President of B’nai B’rith International, addressed Levin on behalf of his fellow Jewish community professionals: “In a city of high-powered lobbyists, hundreds of advocacy groups, turf battles, Mark Levin has been a giant in more than one way.”  In Washington,” he noted “getting someone’s attention is not always easy, and I have never seen a meeting that Mark didn’t get, or a meeting that he didn’t leave, where something very important wasn’t accomplished…. He is trusted, he is believed.”

Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, which hosted the event, added, “I have been very privileged to be able to work with Mark…. We as a community and we as a people…are very lucky that you have given of your heart and soul, skill and life to bring about…safety and security” for Jews in the successor states.  “And we are lucky that you are leading us.”

Presentations by Weiss, Hirsch, and Zissels

In his off-the record remarks, Andrew Weiss reflected on the challenges and achievements during the Clinton administration and discussed current concerns such as the nature of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policies and governing style.

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch praised NCSJ, asserting that “your commitment is not only a model to our people, but to all people around the world.”  He reported on the development of Progressive congregations in the Soviet successor states.  Within the context of the revival of Jewish life, ARZA/World Union is reaching previously unaffiliated Jews and providing them an opportunity to learn and celebrate their Judaism in nearly 100 synagogues and communities, as well as camps and training centers.

Josef Zissels, a dissident of the Soviet era who was imprisoned twice for his work on behalf of Jews, thanked NCSJ for its work with the Ukrainian Jewish community over the past twenty years, and outlined the community’ needs for the future.  Speaking through translation, Zissels said of the Ukrainian Jewish community, “we have to restructure ourselves because what we were doing twenty years ago is no longer suitable today.”  Zissels emphasized the need for expansion of the Kehilla community partnerships in Ukraine, which he hopes and predicts will be “the central point of our work together.”  Zissels also reiterated the need for continued support of restitution projects.     

Mr. Zissels honored Mr. Levin with Zissels’ book, saying “If it weren’t for our joint struggle we would not have this joint victory. . . there wouldn’t be this revival of Jewish life, and there wouldn’t be this book.” 

NCSJ, a non-for-profit agency created in 1971, is the mandated central coordinating agency in the United States on behalf of the 1.5 million Jews in the successor states. Today, NCSJ continues its commitment to safeguard the religious and political freedoms of Jews living in the successor states, protect their right to emigrate without impediment, monitor and combat anti-Semitism, and ensure that Jews have full access to Jewish education, culture, and heritage.