Dear Friends,
I want to begin by thanking all of you, the wonderful members of the Southeastern communities for your warm support and gracious hospitality. I am now just ending my second year here in Atlanta. My wife Talyah, our daughters Adi and Noa and I feel at home here in the South as much as in our beloved Israel.
I am grateful for the growing intimate bond between America's Jewish youth and Israel. It is imperative now more than ever to foster the connection between your sons and daughters and the Jewish state.
Israel faces great challenges. We live today in uncertain and often difficult times, but the threats to Israel are not our own as we witnessed just last week in Libya and Egypt. Our enemies are ignorant about the nature of our two nations' freedoms and regard our liberty and pluralism with contempt. We fight against no nation. We fight against an extreme ideology that calls for our destruction.
The threat of Iran achieving military nuclear capability no longer looms on the horizon; it grows closer to our shores. With the steadfast effort of the United States and Israel and the West, Iran can be stopped from getting nuclear weapons. We must be fervent in our speech and diligent in our actions.
As we battle militants seeking to destroy our way of life, our religion and our state, we must continue to teach our sons and daughters Jewish values: Tikkun Olam - Repairing the world, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and equal rights for men and women - these are OUR values shared by Americans and Israelis alike.
On this Rosh Hashanah we not only look at the months gone past and reflect on all we could have done better; we gaze at the road ahead and prepare ourselves and our sons and daughters for tomorrow's challenges. We teach them our Jewish morals and hope they will one day become soldiers not of war, but of peace and understanding.
The relationship between American Jews and Israel is firm, but we must endeavor for an even more verdant bond.
Today is the day to go on that mission to Israel. Now is the time to sign up your children for a Birthright trip. As we continue to foster relationships between our sons and daughters, our nations will remain beacons of liberty and freedom in a sea of suppression and violence.
Members of the Southern Jewish communities, I cherish your friendships and applaud your devotion to the Jewish State. Thank you all for your support for Israel. From all of us at the Israeli Consulate, we wish you a L'Shanah Tova! Happy New Year!