Remembering President Ronald Reagan's visit

Temple Hillel in North Woodmere to honor Alfonse D’Amato

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Much history is tied into Temple Hillel’s founding 60 years ago, as the North Woodmere synagogue will commemorate the 30th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s visit and honor former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato with its newly created Ronald Reagan Award on Sunday.
The event’s program includes remarks from the temple’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Steven M. Graber, Rabbi David Friedman, the son of the late Rabbi Morris Friedman, who hosted Reagan, and keynote speaker State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.
According to the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington, George Washing was the first sitting president to write a letter to a synagogue. In 1781, six years prior to becoming president, he traveled to Newport, Rhode Island and visited the Touro synagogue and attended a town hall meeting not a temple service.
President Ulysses S. Grant attended a three-hour dedication service for congregation Adas Israel in Washington, D.C. on June 9, 1876. Grant sat at the front of the sanctuary on a sofa rented especially for the occasion. On. Oct. 26, 1984, through the work of several people, including Rabbi Morris Friedman, the then spiritual leader of Temple Hillel, White House Chief of Staff Jim Baker and D’Amato, Reagan visited the North Woodmere synagogue.
“For our sixtieth year we wanted to put some kind of program to honor both anniversaries,” said Allan Greene, the temple’s president. He said that the Ronald Reagan Award was created to honor D’Amato and the past event. “The senator was instrumental at the time to bring the president here and helped to retrieve money for Holocaust victims.”
D’Amato served in the Senate from 1981 to 1999. Prior to that, he was presiding supervisor in Hempstead, and vice chairman of Nassau County Board of Supervisors 1977-’80; town supervisor in Hempstead 1971-’77; Hempstead’s tax assessor in 1969 and a county public administrator 1965-’68.

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