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Omer yankelevich1/23/2024 Last year, Israel’s President, Reuven Rivlin, hailed the Declaration and said it held the promise of becoming a “roadmap for the Jewish future.” Inspired by his guidance, we set out to chart a new path: to crowdsource the document, surveying Jews everywhere about how they prioritized core values and to contribute to this collaborative text. We are also dedicated to making sure every Jew is respected and valued as a member of our community, empowered to take part in the building of our collective future. Out of a love and concern for the entirety of the Jewish people and for the State of Israel, we are committed to ensuring that global Jewry remains strong and united, bound together in the future as in the past, by all that connects us. Our goal was admittedly audacious: to unite the Jewish people worldwide as never before, at a time of deepening division and separation, even as rising antisemitism threatened us all. The Declaration arose from a forum of Jewish leaders and thinkers from across the Jewish world through the initiative called Our Common Destiny, which the Genesis Philanthropy Group launched in partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, under the auspices of the Office of the President of Israel. One by one, they stepped to the podium and gave their support to the Declaration of Our Common Destiny, a document to which more than 100 Jewish organizations and 125,000 Jews from all over the world contributed their thoughts during the past year. Fortunately, Alternate Prime Minster and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Minister of Diaspora Affairs Omer Yankelevich, Knesset Member Naftali Bennett, and Mayor Moshe Lion of Jerusalem found the words to express their commitment to the entirety of the Jewish people, and to the fulfillment of the deeply held values shared by all Jews despite differing religious practices, nationalities, cultural identities and political affiliations. Watching the images and words flow down the ancient stones left many too moved to speak. It began with the projection on the walls of the Old City of hundreds of photographs and blessings of Jews of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities. It was supposed to be a moment I would look over at Genesis Philanthropy Group long-time leader Ilia Salita, z”l, and see him smiling from ear to ear as he watched his hard work realized.Īnd, although it was none of those things, it was still an uplifting and inspiring series of events that marked a new chapter in the eternal story of the Jewish people. It was supposed to be the defining Jewish event of the year. It was supposed to be a huge, public celebration of the completion of the Declaration of Our Common Destiny. Over the course of the past few days, an unprecedented demonstration of Jewish unity and peoplehood took place in Jerusalem. In fact, I wish every Jew in the world could have been there in person.īut, alas, in these dark days of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us had to participate via video, even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and co-founder of Genesis Philanthropy Group, businessman, Mikhail Fridman. I wish you could have been there in person. I wish I could have been there in person.
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