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Conference taveng::bagels

Title:BAGELS and other things of Jewish interest
Notice:1.0 policy, 280.0 directory, 32.0 registration
Moderator:SMURF::FENSTER
Created:Mon Feb 03 1986
Last Modified:Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1524
Total number of notes:18709

761.0. "Mickey Leland" by CASP::SEIDMAN (Aaron Seidman) Wed Aug 23 1989 15:21

    The Jewish community in Houston recently held a memorial service for
    the late Congressman Mickey Leland, who was killed when his plane
    crashed in Ethiopia.  Not many people knew it, but he played an
    important role in Operation Moses, the airlift that rescued 15,000 Jews
    from Ethiopia a few years ago.  As one of the few Americans that was
    trusted by both the Ethiopian and Sudanese governments, he helped work
    out the procedures by which the Ethiopian rulers allowed the Jews to
    cross the border into Sudan, and the Sudanese looked the other way
    while the refugees were flown from the Sudan to Israel.  Unfortunately,
    premature publicity about the mission resulted in aborting the
    operation before all the Jews could be rescued.  Leland said nothing
    publicly about his role in order to maintain the trust of the
    governments in the region, and continue both his work on famine relief
    and what additional support he could provide for Jewish Ethiopians. 
    Now that he is dead, those in the Jewish community who knew of his
    efforts, feel they can talk about it.
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761.1Zeicher Tzaddik Le'VerachaSUBWAY::STEINBERGWed Aug 23 1989 15:4211
    Re: .0
    
    And let's not forget the great Ivan Tillem ZT"L. At 32, he was a self-
    made millionaire, lawyer, publisher, assistant professor at
    Cordozo law school, investment banker, and quite learned Jewishly.
    He was involved in many worthy charitable causes, and worked very
    closely with the late and great Leland.
    May his memory be an inspiration to us all.
    
    Jem