(Communicated by the President’s Spokesperson)

In honor of Passover, President Herzog has recorded a special greeting for World Jewry:
 
Full text of President Herzog’s Passover greeting:
 
“Dear sisters and brothers in Jewish communities around the world, Chag Pesach Kasher VeSameach. Happy Pesach! Pesach, or Passover, as we will all discuss at length with our children and children’s children on Seder night is the holiday of freedom. It is the chag haherut, freedom. It is the landmark of our transformation from a group of individuals into our own nation, one people. With the passage of time, it becomes increasingly challenging to preserve this mindset of one people, of unity. Yet, with the shift of generations, cementing our collective identity, strengthening our sense of peoplehood, and rebuilding our unity becomes that much more important, in fact critical, for our own future.
 
“Just as a secure State of Israel is critical to the future of the Jewish family, thus vibrant global Jewish communities are critical to the wellbeing of the Jewish state. We need each other and we are responsible for one another. Kol Israel arevim ze lazeh. When a Jewish community in any part of the globe experiences distress, we feel our hardship, your hardship, here in Israel. When our family is under attack in Ukraine, the pain reverberates in Miami, São Paolo, and Jerusalem. And therefore I am so proud and moved by the outpouring of support, funds, and emergency assistance for Ukrainian Jewry and Ethiopian Jewry on behalf of individual organizations and communities, who are dealing with this day-in, day-out.
 
“I deeply believe that mutual responsibility must be not just an abstract aspiration, but our guiding light and core operating principle. As President of the State of Israel, I have made it a top priority to find new avenues through which to deepen the bonds between the Jewish People and the Jewish national home. our worldview and politics may differ greatly, but we cannot forgo the ability or the willingness to gather around the Seder table as one big, beautiful family.
 
“Passover is also the holiday of spring, chag ha-aviv, a time of renewal, rejuvenation, and new beginnings. On the national level, as our skies open up, we are excited once again to welcome you here in Israel, your home away from home. On the regional level, new winds of warm peace are blowing through the region following the Abraham Accords, presenting new opportunities for the entire Middle East.
 
“So to each of you, our friends, in every corner of the globe, I wish you all personal renewal and any new beginnings to which you aspire. This Pesach, may you carve out your own path from slavery to freedom. Enjoy your families and loved ones and don’t fight over the afikoman. Happy Pesach, and leshanah haba’ah birushalayim habnuya—Next Year in a Rebuilt Jerusalem!"