By COLlive reporter
Israeli President Shimon Peres has recorded a special message to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in honor of the International Kinus Hashluchim convention that is taking place in New York.
Speaking from the president’s mansion in Jerusalem to the websites COLlive.com and COL.org.il, the elder Israeli statesman paid tribute to the Lubavitcher Rebbe and his emissaries worldwide.
“20 years have passed since the great and respected rabbi who created Chabad has left us,” he said.
“I merited to meet him and was deeply impressed by the majesty of his personality and the strength of his spirit. He lives within us, as a great legacy to preserve the Judaism of the Jewish nation and preserve the Jewish nation as the shared home that cares for its offsprings.”
“I see you, the Shluchim of Chabad, in many places in the world, among them distant, remote and hostile places, and I know you are Shluchei Mitzvah,” President Peres said, seating in front of a background of filled bookshelves.
“The advice of the Rabbi, his will, and the commandment of the Jewish nation, is to grow and exist as a nation,” he said. “Although we have our country, we returned to our land, but only half of the nation lives in Israel.
“The other half is scattered in many places in the world and you go to every place as pioneers, as people that sustain a community, as people who save lives, as people who teach the Torah of Israel.”
In the video message, Peres alluded to the terror attack on the Chabad center in Mumbai in 2008, saying that Shluchim operate “in difficult circumstances and at times at danger to lives, and it was indeed so. There were sacrifices.”
He added, “I would like to thank you, in the name of the entire nation, for this great mitzvah, for this great legacy. As it says, whoever saved one life of Israel it is as if the entire world was saved. We are a nation that sees in each person a full and whole world.”
The President concluded that when he is asked who is a Jew, his answer is “a Jew is one who worries that his children and descendants remain Jews, and you are investing in this a lot of heart, dedication and Shlichus. Good on you!
“My best blessings to this important convention of yours. My hope is that you continue in this holy work of yours. May you be blessed,” he said.
גוט געזאגט
I agree with # 1 hundred percent! Hundred Percent!
You said everything in one sentence!
Thats so right.
A sweet jew who should have never entered into the political arena.