President Yitzhak Navon, in a Rosh Hashanah message to world Jewry, said that the year 5740 “dawns upon a troubled world, disturbed in its economic and political functioning. Not least stormy are the conditions in and about our homeland, Israel, and they require both our vigilance and our activity.”
At the same time, he continued, “within the complex of Israel’s present situation there is a new hope for the emergence of peace, and there are the constant factors of the determination and creativity of our people in Israel and the attachment and aid of those outside.”
Navon enumerated his hopes for 5740 “. . . satisfactory development of the peace negotiations with Egypt and extension of their approach to other sectors of the Middle East; a greater measure of success in closing the social gap in Israel and effectively guiding its economy; emphasis in all communities on Jewish education and on the ties that bind us to each other and to our people’s center in Israel; a vigorous and idealistic movement of olim to Israel; (and) the strength and wisdom to persevere in building a society and a culture that will truly revive the Jewish people, its heritage, and the land with which it is forever bound.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.