The Democratic National Convention, which officially nominated Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis as the Democratic Party’s candidate for the presidency Wednesday night, was blessed by an Orthodox rabbi from Brooklyn.
Rabbi Morris Schmidman, executive director of the Council of Jewish Organizations of Boro Park, gave the benediction at the close of the session, in which Dukakis received 2,876 votes and the Rev. Jesse Jackson 1,218.
Schmidman was introduced to the convention by Rep. Charles Schumer of New York, who arranged for the rabbi to deliver the closing prayer.
A spokesman in Schmidman’s Washington office said that in the New York primary last April, Schmidman played an important part in the Orthodox vote in Brooklyn going to Dukakis, despite the strong bid made by Sen. Albert Gore of Tennessee.
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