Baruch Dayan Emes

I just received a Breaking News Alert from JTA that Tom Lantos has passed away. He was 80. I wrote about his retirement from congress just last month due to sickness. He was a longtime crusader for Jewish issues during his time spent in congress. I hope that his family finds consolation in the fact that he used his position for good and helped thousands of people throughout the United States and abroad. May God console his family among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

Tom Lantos

Tom Lantos is awesome. I just got a JTA Breaking News update that he is to retire from the US House of Representatives. He is a Holocaust survivor and has been a huge advocate for Jewish rights while spending almost 30 years in Congress. He is currently the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. I heard him speak when I interned in DC in 2001 and was impressed with his story and passion to work hard on some of the most important issues. The JTA release has him quoted as saying, "It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family, and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a member of Congress. I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country."

He is retiring because he is suffering from cancer. I wish him a Refuah Shleima, a speedy and complete recovery.