Mayor Michael Bloomberg was honored Sunday night at the American Society for Yad Vashem dinner in midtown Manhattan, where he was awarded the Yad Vashem Remembrance Award. The Holocaust remembrance and education organization selected Bloomberg for his “visionary leadership in the city of New York, his generous support of Holocaust remembrance and his philanthropic work in shaping a better future.”
“If I have a sincere regret this evening, it is that my parents did not live to see me receive your award,” he told the applauding crowd, according to a report by The Tablet Magazine. “For them, the creation of the state of Israel, a permanent homeland for the Jewish people, was truly a realization of a dream. From them, my sister and I inherited a lifelong devotion to Israel.”
One of the proudest moments during his tenure as mayor, Bloomberg told the crowd, was when he headed the 2005 U.S. delegation at the opening of the Holocaust history museum at Yad Vashem, a visit he called an “incredibly moving experience,” specifically moved by the detailed maps showing the towns and villages in Eastern Europe that were home to Jewish communities.
“Those communities were wiped out by the Nazis and it was a reminder of the powerful and sacred mission Yad Vashem has to keep them fresh in our minds, to preserve the memories of the six million lost in the Holocaust and to bear with us a crime that must never, ever be forgotten,” he said. “We have to show the world in the clearest and most determined way possible why we said ‘never again,’ and to teach the most important value that human beings anywhere can learn, a value that has always been central to our governing philosophy at City Hall as well, and that is the value of tolerance.”
Bloomberg called New York a “city that people of every faith can and do live side by side in,” whose greatest strength was its diversity. “We are a city where everyone can worship freely, as we wish, and without fear,” he told the crowd.
“I as a Jew I will never forget. You can rest assured, nor will my children. We better make sure that’s true of everyone, whether they are Jewish or not,” he concluded to a standing ovation, according to the report. “Whether your ancestors were taken in the camps or not, we are all human beings and those were all our parents.”
(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)
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2 Responses
“Bloomberg called New York a “city that people of every faith can and do live side by side in,” whose greatest strength was its diversity. “We are a city where everyone can worship freely, as we wish, and without fear,” he told the crowd.”
So Mr. Bloomberg, why are you against MBP ? Let us practice this ritual freely !!!!!!!!
Two facer…….
Bloomberg is Jewish, but not religious. He doesn’t follow the Torah. He only follows what’s convenient for him. There many irreligious Jews who are proud to be Jews, but in the depths of their soul they don’t have a clue of what it means to a Torah observant Jew or what Simchas HaChaim means either!