Ethiopian evening with Bahalachin
Ethiopian-Jewish Heritage Center
Wednesday, December 6, 2006, at 7:00 p.m.

It is my pleasure to welcome you to our residence this evening to help kick off Bahalachin's campaign for a very important project to construct a heritage center and museum in Jerusalem. Bahalachin has set an ambitious goal for this new complex, to dramatically raise awareness for one of Israel's key minority communities by telling the story of its members lives, language, literature and art.

Americans understand very well the challenges faced by new immigrants and by the society that welcomes them. Like Israel, immigration has played a key role in sculpting American society. This process continues today in both the United States and Israel.

Thanks to immigration, America is a thriving multiethnic, multicultural society that offers the possibility for success to virtually anyone willing to make necessary sacrifices and work hard. With the help of the principles of freedom and equality spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, the American dream has now been a success story in the making for over 200 years. Nothing symbolizes America's immigrant past better than the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Let me quote just a few words from the poem inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty. The poem was written in 1883 by a Jewish American of Portuguese Sephardic origin named Emma Lazarus. It says, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE! Isn't this what Ethiopian Jewry's struggle to reach Israel was all about? Doesn't their dream of living freely among other Jews without fear of persecution echo the same goal of American immigrants that Lazarus described so well more than a century ago?

Ellis Island houses the American Museum of Immigration. This museum contains information on more than 25 million immigrants who came to American by ship America between 1892 and 1924. Ellis Island itself continued to receive immigrants until 1954, including my father-in-law who landed there in 1940. I know that many of you can draw parallels between your own lives and the American immigrant experience.

Cultural preservation and conservation are the living memory of a free democratic society. You can't tell where you're going unless you know where you've been and can appreciate how hard your forbears worked to give you a better life. Heritage museums aid in this important work by telling the story of a segment of society, complete with all its struggles and contributions. Buildings and monuments can serve as useful reminders of our past, but history is not made by buildings or monuments. It's made by people. In reality, it's nothing more and nothing less than the sum of the life stories of individuals such as those of us gathered here tonight.

You have decided to combine your striving for better lives for you and your children with the knowledge and experience of a vast and beautiful cultural heritage. Perhaps even more wonderful, you are willing to share this gift with others. I wish you every success in this important mission - the work of preserving your unique heritage for future generations as you move forward to build an even better, more prosperous life for your families. B'Hatzlacha!