President Johnson, Hubert H. Humphrey and Richard M. Nixon Greet Jews on New Year

President Lyndon B. Johnson today headed the list of national, state and local leaders who extended New Year’s greetings to American Jewry. In a message from the White House, Mr. Johnson said “to my fellow Americans of the Jewish faith, I send my warmest wishes for health, happiness and spiritual refreshment on this eve of the High Holy Days.” The President noted that “according to sacred tradition, this is the time when Jewish people reconsecrate their covenant with God…It is a time for meditation on the past and prayer to God for the strength and ability to do what is right in the future.” The President said that “we have much to do before we can say, in good conscience, that all Americans live as brothers, that no man lives in want. I have faith that the day will come when this beloved land will know in fullness the true blessings of justice and equality and I have faith that Americans of the Jewish faith will continue to do their share in helping us reach this desired destiny. For the years ahead, I hope that all Americans may be inscribed in the Book of Life — so that all may work in unity to help bring God’s blessings to our country.”

Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, the Democratic Presidential nominee, and Richard M. Nixon, the Republican nominee, also addressed themselves to the American Jewish community. Mr.

Humphrey said, “As the Jewish people have faced challenges for 5,728 years, so the American nation is challenged today — at home and abroad.” He warned that America’s proven record of progress in peoples’ lives cannot “be abandoned to slogans motivated by fear and hatred.” The Vice President said, “Our choice is clear — whether this nation moves forward towards one society of opportunity and justice, or whether we abandon this commitment out of fear and prejudice and move backward instead… In this season let us resolve to move forward.”

Mr. Nixon declared, “to my fellow citizens of the Jewish faith, I extend heartfelt New Year’s greetings — l’shana tovah — and join in your prayer that the year 5729 will bring peace, progress and prosperity to all mankind.” The former Vice President went on to note that “according to Jewish tradition, the Commandments were given to the Jewish people not merely as a personal possession, but as a blessing for all mankind.” He said, “for the people of Israel, we pray for a genuine and enduring peace. To the Jews behind the Iron Curtain, suffering the ravages of anti-Semitism and discrimination — as well as to the other oppressed citizens of those countries — we offer our prayers for freedom and equality.”

Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York, in his message to the Jewish community, said that “the Jewish New Year is the oldest anniversary in the history of the human race…This is an historic fact whose implications inspire feelings of profound respect. It shows us a vast group of men and women for centuries scattered over the wide earth who, in the face of almost continuous persecution, have steadfastly adhered to the faith of their fathers, a faith whose canons were laid down nearly 6,000 years ago.” Mayor John V, Lindsay of New York City extended greetings to the nation’s largest Jewish community. “There is both joy and sorrow in the Jewish experience of the year past,” he said. “Israel’s people continue to build a strong and democratic nation in spite of the many formidable problems they face, yet in other areas of the world Jewish people have been denied their full rights and freedoms. Never has it been more true than in our own time that ‘No man is an island.’ We are all bound together in the same common destiny…and what contributes to the well-being of a single person contributes to the common good.”