Invocation by Dr. Gary P. Zola at the National Dinner Celebating 350 Years of American Jewish Life.  |
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| Transcript: Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good evening. In gathering together this evening, we are consciously following in the footsteps of predecessors who similarly assembled a century ago, on November 30, 1905, and again fifty years later, on October 20, 1954 to mark respectively the 250th and the 300th anniversary of Jewish life in this special land. So now let us begin this historic convocation — as did our forebears — with a few reflective and reverential sentiments. A story is told of how a father and his young daughter were making their way through a dense forest toward nightfall. Their path was illumined by the light of a kerosene lamp that the girl was carrying. “Father,” said the daughter, “perhaps we had better stop our journey or even turn back. The light from this lantern shines only so brightly, and we can see but a short distance ahead of us.” “Never you mind,” the father reassured, “let us proceed as far as we can presently see. For I promise you, my daughter, the light will continue to shine, and our pathway will appear before us.” On this night of historic commemoration, all of us here assembled should be mindful of our courageous forebears who carried lanterns of light along the dense pathways of generations past. As they moved forward toward the unknown, as they faced unfamiliar challenges, as they built their homes, earned their livelihoods, raised their families, they carried a lantern in their hands and in their hearts to guide them through the inscrutable future. The lamps our ancestors carried have always been fueled by faith, by courage, and by hope. Chey Ha-Olamim! ----- Eternal Source of Past, Present and Future! At this special hour of commemoration and recognition, as we gather together to commemorate 350 years of Jewish life in America, may the noble lessons of the past inspire us anew to face the daunting challenges of our own era with a vision made clearer by the light of faith, courage, and hope — eternal truths that have always illuminated our way. Yet even as we gratefully acknowledge the numberless gifts and blessings that have been laid in our cradles as a birthright, even as we fete this, our great nation and pay tribute to the generations of men and women upon whose shoulders we stand today, we are all especially mindful this evening of the terrible devastation that has befallen thousands upon thousands of our fellow citizens in the Golf Coast region. And so our rejoicing is tempered by the dimensions of their loss. Let each of us resolve to lend a hand so that this nation, in a full spirit of caring and compassion, will yet give new meaning to the immortal words of this evening’s poet laureate: “Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I [will yet again] lift my lamp” in faith, courage, and hope. In a spirit of deeply felt gratitude for this land of opportunity, and in reverent appreciation for our Constitution that has pledged liberty and justice to all, and in the hope that peace and security may yet descend on us and all humankind, we invoke now a contemporary rendering of the prayerful sentiments that the father of this nation, George Washington, conferred upon all of us two hundred and fifteen years ago. V’yigmeleynu tov v’lo rah kol y’mey chayeynu (Proverbs 31:12): “May the Eternal One scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all — in our several vocations — useful here, and in due time . . . everlastingly happy.” |
