Jewish American Heritage Month, 2014

Proclamation 9109 of April 30, 2014

Jewish American Heritage Month, 2014

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

For thousands of years, the Jewish people have
sustained their identity and traditions, persevering in
the face of persecution. Through generations of
enslavement and years of wandering, through forced
segregation and the horrors of the Holocaust, they have
maintained their holy covenant and lived according to
the Torah. Their pursuit of freedom brought multitudes
to our shores, and today our country is the proud home
to millions of Jewish Americans. This month, let us
honor their tremendous contributions--as scientists and
artists, as activists and entrepreneurs. And let all of
us find inspiration in a story that speaks to the
universal human experience, with all of its suffering
and all of its salvation.

This history led many Jewish Americans to find common
cause with the Civil Rights Movement. African Americans
and Jewish Americans marched side-by-side in Selma and
Montgomery. They boarded buses for Freedom Rides
together, united in their support of liberty and human
dignity. These causes remain just as urgent today.
Jewish communities continue to confront anti-Semitism--
both around the world and, as tragic events mere weeks
ago in Kansas reminded us, here in the United States.
Following in the footsteps of Jewish civil rights
leaders, we must come together across all faiths,
reject ignorance and intolerance, and root out hatred
wherever it exists.

In celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month, we also
renew our unbreakable bond with the nation of Israel.
It is a bond that transcends politics, a partnership
built on mutual interests and shared ideals. Our two
countries are enriched by diversity and faith, fueled
by innovation, and ruled not only by men and women, but
also by laws. As we continue working in concert to
build a safer, more prosperous, more tolerant world,
may our friendship only deepen in the years to come.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim May 2014 as Jewish
American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans to
visit www.JewishHeritageMonth.gov to learn more about
the heritage and contributions of Jewish Americans and
to observe this month, the theme of which is healing
the world, with appropriate programs, activities, and
ceremonies.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirtieth day of April, in the year two thousand
fourteen, and of the Independence of the United States
of America the two hundred and thirty-eighth.