President Johnson and American Political Leaders Greet Jews on New Year

President Lyndon B. Johnson and national, state and local leaders joined today in extending greetings to the Jewish people on the advent of the New Year. The President said in a message from the White House that “as my fellow Americans of the Jewish faith observe the coming of a New Year, I am happy to extend to each of you my warmest wishes for health and happiness.” The President noted that “we are in the midst of a trying and troubled time – a time that tests the bedrock beliefs of our fathers and the founders of this land. No citizens are better equipped than you to meet the challenge before us.” He added that “adversity and distress have been the constant companions of your people. But valor and endurance have been your steadfast friends – and our own pathfinders in need. So as you gather in these penitential days under the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man is enriched by a well-remembered past and a resurgent hope for that which is to come. And all of us are humbled – and heartened – by the sustaining faith of Judaism in our midst.”

Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey, sending his “warmest greetings” on the New Year “to so many friends and neighbors, so many families in all parts of this nation and overseas,” voiced heartfelt wishes “to you for a year of affection, a year of progress, a year of human splendor.”

Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York, offering greetings to “all Americans of Jewish faith and to the Jewish people the world over,” said that the High Holy Days were “an occasion for Americans of all creeds who live up to the ideals upon which our republic was founded to manifest their sincere friendship for their Jewish fellow citizens.” It was fitting at this time, he said, “that we acknowledge the great contribution of the Jewish people to the material and spiritual growth of our nation.” He concluded with an expression of hope “for the establishment of just and lasting peace in the Near East.”

John V. Lindsay, Mayor of New York, noting that New York City is “the home of the world’s largest single Jewish community,” stressed that “we are deeply indebted to the teachings of Judaism, with its emphasis upon freedom, justice and brotherhood. These have been the foundation stones which have enabled the House of Israel to endure through the centuries, and which have made modern Israel an example to the young developing nations of the world. At no time have these precepts of Judaism had greater meaning for us, here in our city, in the nation and in the world at large.”