Jewish American Heritage Month, 2016

Proclamation 9431 of April 28, 2016

Jewish American Heritage Month, 2016

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

At America's birth, our Founders fought off tyranny and
declared a set of ideals--including life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness--that would forever guide our
country's course. For generations since, Jewish
Americans, having shared in the struggle for freedom,
have been instrumental in ensuring our Nation stays
true to the principles enshrined in our founding
documents. They have helped bring about enduring
progress in every aspect of our society, shaping our
country's character and embodying the values we hold
dear. This month, as we pay tribute to their indelible
contributions, we recommit to ridding our world of
bigotry and injustice and reflect on the extraordinary
ways in which Jewish Americans have made our Union more
perfect.

Many of the Jewish people who reached our Nation's
shores throughout our history did so fleeing the
oppression they encountered in areas around the world.
Driven by the possibility of charting a freer future,
they endeavored, on their own and as a community, to
make real the promise of America--in their individual
lives and in the life of our country. Determined to
confront the racism that kept this promise from being
fully realized, many Jewish Americans found a cause in
the Civil Rights Movement that--in its call for freedom
and justice--echoed the timeless message of Exodus and
the Jewish people's journey through the ages.
Reflecting on the march in Selma, Rabbi Abraham Joshua
Heschel once noted, ``I felt my legs were praying.''
From the fight for women's rights to LGBT rights to
workers' rights, many in the Jewish American community,
drawing on lessons from their own past, have trumpeted
a clarion call for equality and justice.

We cannot pay proper respect to the legacy of Jewish
Americans without also reflecting on the rise of anti-
Semitism in many parts of the world, and in remembering
the lessons of the Holocaust, we recognize the
imperative need to root out prejudice. Subjecting men,
women, and children to persecution on the basis of
their ancestry and faith, the scourge of anti-Semitism
demands that we declare through action and solidarity
that an attack on one faith is an attack on all faiths.
That is why the United States is leading the
international effort to combat anti-Semitism--we helped
organize the first United Nations General Assembly
meeting on anti-Semitism last year, and we are asking
countries around the world to join us in giving this
challenge the focus it demands. In celebrating Jewish
Americans' contributions to our country, we also
reaffirm our unshakeable commitment to Israel's
security and the close bonds between our two nations
and our peoples. Throughout my Administration, the
multifaceted relationship between our countries has
grown and strengthened to an unprecedented degree,
particularly with regard to U.S.-Israeli security
assistance and cooperation.

The Jewish American experience and our Nation as a
whole have always been held together by the forces of
hope and resilience. During Jewish American Heritage
Month, as we reflect on our past and look toward the
future, let us carry forward our mutual legacy,
grounded in our interconnected roots, and affirm that
it is from the extraordinary richness of our bond that
we draw strength. And let us renew our dedication to
the

work of building a fully inclusive tomorrow--one where
a great diversity of origins is not only accepted, but
also celebrated--here at home and around the world.

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 2016 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 with appropriate programs,
activities, and ceremonies.

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