Man of Principle in the Halls of Power  

In the early days, it was a raging World War II that took the bulk of young Moshe Sherer’s attention. He was born in Brooklyn in June 1921 and was just 20 when he joined forces with his cousin Mike Tress to set up a relief organization to send desperately needed food packages and obtain life-saving visas for those threatened with the imposing borders of Nazi-controlled territory.

It was the first time, but far from the last, that Rabbi Sherer worked to free captive Jews. When the cry came from behind a curtain veiling oppression and barring relief, Rabbi Sherer was there, advocating on behalf of Russian Jewry, raising awareness of their condition, fighting for their freedom and, for many, securing a triumphant victory.

And if the cry was from Iran, Syria, or anywhere else for that matter, it would ring in his ear with a deafening roar; there was no eating and no sleeping until it subsided.

Rabbi Sherer was at home in many worlds. As chairman of Agudath Israel of America from the 1960s until his passing on 21 Iyar (May 17), 1998, he was the servant and confidant of great Torah sages as well as a friend and adviser of those in the highest echelons of power — legislators, mayors, governors, even presidents — while still attentive to the needs of the simplest Jew. He pulled a drowning Torah life from the American melting pot, and much of the assistance and benefits individuals and communal structures enjoy and take for granted today were shepherded by him through Congress and the courts.