Political Quotes

“37 years ago, when I was 15 years old, I received a phone call that changed my life. Rabbi Robert Schur, spiritual leader of Temple Beth-El in Forth Worth, TX, called and persuaded me to attend a conclave sponsored by the youth movement of reform Judaism. I attended that conclave in August of 1957 and two things occurred. I was elected to my first office of any kind as a regional officer of the Texas Federation of Temple Youth, an event that whetted my appetite for politics. Second, I started down a path of spiritual exploration that provided me many of the values relating to social justice and civil rights that I brought to my current job as a Member of Congress. Last Thursday, Rabbi Schur died in Forth Worth after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease. He is mourned not just by the Forth Worth Jewish community which he served in an active capacity continuously from 1957 to 1984 but by the civic and religious structure of the entire city. People from all faiths and walks of life attended his funeral last Sunday in the Temple Beth-El sanctuary. Bob Schur was remembered as a community leader who stood with Martin Luther King, Jr. for civil rights in Ft. Worth at a time when members of his own congregation would have preferred silence. I was a member of his first confirmation class and he performed the wedding ceremony for my wife Valerie and me. He was a friend and an inspiration. He changed my life. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him.”