Thomas Daschle: “this evening, Jewish families and communities will come together to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and…”

“this evening, Jewish families and communities will come together to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and offer their prayers for a sweet and peaceful year ahead. Growing up in Aberdeen, my family was close to three Jewish families, the Franks, Feinsteins, and the Preds. They introduced me to the Rosh Hashanah celebration. I have always remembered the warmth of their celebration as well as the generosity and friendship they offered to a young Catholic boy growing up in the neighborhood. I wanted to take this opportunity to extend my wishes for a Shana Tova, a good year, to my friends in the Jewish community across the country and around the world. This year, Rosh Hashanah arrives at an auspicious anniversary. This month, we mark the 350th anniversary of the first Jewish settlement in America. In September of 1654, a small ship carrying 23 Jews from Brazil arrived at the southern tip of Manhattan. They had been told of a new land founded in the name of religious freedom. So this small group of settlers set out across the ocean to find a home where they could live in peace and follow the tenets of their faith and the dictates of their conscience. As has been the case with so many immigrants of every faith, from every part of the world and every generation since, they found that home in America.”