President of the State of Israel, Vice President of the United States of America, Holocaust survivors, brothers and sisters!
G-d promised us after the Flood that there would be no other event like this and he reminded us by giving us a rainbow. And then there were events just like that, not exactly, but they continued to come, and they continued to occur, and the word and the sign were not true. And credibility was lost and faith was lost. And hope was lost. And our dreams were lost with that hope. Because each time we saw a rainbow, we thought there would be no more death. And there was.
And then came the Holocaust. And we were told: Ko-amar Hashem, Matsa Chen Be-Midbar, Am Sriday Harev. We were told so sayeth G-d. You’ve found charm. You’ve found a special kind of charm. You, survivors, in the desert that you have survived the sword. Those who know survivors know that the last thing that one can accuse them of having is charm. They may have anger. They may have hatred. They may have vengeance. They may have violence at what happened and why their promise wasn’t kept to them. But charm? What did G-d promise?
When he promised the rainbow and no death and he promised that from the sword would come charm. And Hassidic Rabbis who lived this experience said, ‘The fact that it could be Am Sriday Harev [People that survived the sword]. The fact that after all that murder and death, destruction and all that you have seen, what could be left is still a nation, is still a people, is still something that can be put together and be one. That is a charm, which could never have been predicted. That is a promise, which could never have been dreamed of. That is a hope that could never have been given to anyone. We are that nation. And we thank you all for having come together today. To help us remember that promise. To help us give our children that charm. To help us save ourselves and others from the sword and to continue to survive as a nation. Thank you.
