President Roosevelt, Vice-President Henry A. Wallace and members of the Cabinet today issued through the Jewish Telegraphic Agency their greetings to the Jews of the United States on the occasion of Rosh Hashonah, expressing the hope for a better world when the foe is beaten.
The President’s message reads. "Upon this celebration of the New Year, I extend to my fellow-citizens of the Jewish faith most cordial greetings, mindful of the tragedy in which so many of their faith still live and die abroad, and determined withal to persevere until justice, tolerance and peace are re-established."
"Rosh ha-Shanah in 1944 should be more joyous for the Jewish people than any which have been celebrated for the last ten years," said Mr. Wallace. "No people has borne such a heavy burden of war; no people has lost such a high percentage by death and starvation. But now again there is a ‘saving remnant’ and this remnant will carry forward into the new day the democratic hope and high religious spirit which has always been implicit in the Jewish way of life."
Secretary of State Cordell Hull gave this message; "On this occasion of the celebration of the Jewish New Year, as I send cordial greetings to all our citizens of the Jewish faith, I should like also to express my sincere hope that the coming months will bring to an end the present devastating world conflict and with it the solution to the tragic problems that endure for others of your faith on the continent of Europe."
Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes said: "I extend greetings and good wishes for the New Year to my fellow Americans of the Jewish religion. Although the last twelve months have been a period of rising hope, the plight of your co-religionists in Europe has been only slightly ameliorated. Heroic deeds have been performed by men and woman of all faiths, struggling to restore civilization to a maddened Europe. The average of the horror has been great; how much greater then must it have been for those unfortunate ones at the very top of the scale who suffered the full vengeful lust of the bloodthirsty Hitler and his satellites.
"The grief and anguish which this war has brought to thousands, and more especially to those of Jewish faith, will leave an indelible mark on mankind. It is my fervent hope that victory can quickly be achieved and that we as a nation may help reconstruct a world in which men will respect each other as humans entitled by right to enjoy the freedoms which are the mark of civilization."
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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.
