Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to proudly commemorate the fifth annual Jewish American Heritage Month, which takes place in communities across the country each May. Jewish American Heritage Month promotes awareness of the contributions American Jews have made to the fabric of American life-- from technology and literature, to entertainment, politics and to medicine. It is a concept that was brought to me by leaders in the south Florida Jewish community 5 years ago when I was first elected to serve in this body. It was an idea born of the concern that, although there have been 355 years of Jewish life in America, there is still a tremendous lack of understanding about Jewish culture in that Jews are both a religion and a heritage in terms of our traditions and our community. Because we are less than 2 percent of the population in America, most people in America have either never met a Jewish person or have rarely, if ever, interacted with a Jewish person, so our traditions are often a foreign concept. It was felt by the leaders in my Jewish community that, in having a month dedicated to cultural and educational programming, particularly in non-Jewish communities, it would raise awareness, foster understanding and deal with some of the concerns over the fact that, of the bias incidents that have been documented by the FBI and by the Anti-Defamation League, literally 65 percent of those bias incidents in recent years have been anti-Jewish bias.…”