Jewish Heritage Week, 1996

Proclamation 6887 of April 19, 1996

Jewish Heritage Week, 1996

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The Jewish experience in America has been a mutually
rewarding one for this country and for the Jewish
people. Jewish Americans have made great contributions
in such fields as the arts and sciences, business,
government, law and medicine, enriching America's
heritage with the resonant tradition of an ancient
people. And America, for its part, has been a land of
opportunity for its Jewish citizens.

In many ways, the Jewish experience is unique,
freighted with the anguish of frequent persecution, but
ennobled by an unyielding spirit that has always found
a way to turn darkness into light. In the crucible of
sorrow, the Jewish people have reaffirmed, time and
again, the basic human values of faith, community,
justice, and hope.

On the tolerant soil of American democracy, the Jewish
people have flourished. We will be forever grateful for
the remarkable contributions of our Jewish citizens,
and it is fitting that we set aside a week to give
thanks for their inestimable gifts and to honor the
traditions of their remarkable religion and heritage.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim April 21 through April 28,
1996, as Jewish Heritage Week. I call upon the people
of the United States to observe this week with
appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twentieth.