Speech #1140076966

Joined by the three great Eastern religions they have served as humanitys conscience and civilizations journey forward. We are taught in the Torahs inerasable lessons begrudged by humanitys enemies. burning the Torah and its people that each human being is equally though uniquely created in the Divine image. that we should love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We are reminded time and again that we. who were rejected and enslaved in Pharaohs Egypt. ought to embrace the stranger. namely the "other" and the refugee. as members of Gods family and our own. The Exodus soaring saga of liberation uplifted Dr. King whose celebration we just observed to remind America to live up to the Pilgrims vision of fleeing refugees. walking in the shoes of the Biblical Israelites while yearning for a new land free from the persecution of the "other." Freedom of and from religion has allowed America to flourish like no other nation. immeasurably benefitting from the greatest human diversity anywhere. Diversity is divine. We must remember the Jewish refugees. including so many children. fleeing Nazism. who were denied entry to these promising shores. In 1939. the SS St. Louis ship. with its desperate human cargo from Hamburg. Germany. was tragically turned away. I address you from the midst of the children in Europes Displaced Persons Camps following World War II and the Holocaust. There I spent my formative early childhood. there my family along with a multitude of uprooted survivors and homeless refugees on the run. gradually learned to believe again in human goodness and renew our trust in God after such heavy genocidal losses. Todays refugees too are knocking on the door of "the land of the free and the home of the brave." The Syrian ones. the most vulnerable. are heroically escaping their genocidal regime. They too are in displaced persons camps with their childrens bodies washed ashore on European beaches. How can we remain silent? Those allowed to enter following a most careful vetting process. will become along with their progeny. patriotic and taxpaying Americans. Steve Jobs biological father was a Syrian immigrant. Refugees and immigrants keep alive the American dream for us all. ensuring that America may ever be a blessing. We reassure our dear Muslim neighbors. colleagues. and friends. which we unreservedly appreciate their indispensable contributions without which we would be diminished. Barbaric ISIS targets them too and they fight it with fellow Americans.