Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 39

Introduced by Senators Block, Allen, Hertzberg, Jackson, Leno, Stone, and Wolk

(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Bloom, Levine, Linder, Medina, Nazarian, and Thurmond)

April 9, 2015

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 39—Relative to Jewish American Heritage Month.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 39, as introduced, Block. Jewish American Heritage Month.

This measure would state that the Legislature recognizes May 2015 as Jewish American Heritage Month, encourages all Californians to participate in appropriate observances with activities that celebrate and commemorate Jewish American Heritage Month, and commends Jewish Americans for their notable accomplishments and outstanding service to the state and the nation.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, For thousands of years, the Jewish people have
sustained their identity and traditions while persevering in the face
of persecution, enslavement, years of wandering, forced
segregation, and the horrors of the Holocaust; and

WHEREAS, Ever since the first Dutch Jew set foot in New
Amsterdam in 1654, Jews have been contributing bountifully to
the culture and history of the United States of America, have
achieved great success, strengthened the country, and helped shape
the American way of life through their deep commitment to faith,
family, and community; and

WHEREAS, When the first Jewish settlers came to this country,
they sought a place of promise where they could practice their
faith in freedom and live in liberty; and

WHEREAS, In his second year in office, President George
Washington wrote a letter to the Touro Synagogue in Newport,
Rhode Island, which was one of first Jewish houses of worship in
the United States of America, reaffirming the nation’s commitment
to religious freedom where he noted that the government of the
United States would give “to bigotry no sanction [and] to
persecution no assistance,” and that all Americans are entitled to
“liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship;” and

WHEREAS, It was such a belief that drew generations of Jewish
immigrants to the United States of America to rebuild their lives,
whether it was Jewish families fleeing pogroms or persecution in
Europe during the last century, Holocaust survivors, or Jews
trapped behind the Iron Curtain; and

WHEREAS, This history led many Jewish Americans to find
common cause with the Civil Rights Movement, as African
Americans and Jewish Americans marched side by side in Selma
and Montgomery, boarded buses for Freedom Rides together, and
united in their support of liberty and human dignity; and

WHEREAS, Jewish Americans have continued their strong
support for ending discrimination in voting, employment, public
accommodation, and in society at large, by prominently
participating in virtually every civil rights effort in the American
experience, including those for women, farmworkers, the disabled,
and for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans; and

WHEREAS, As a nation of immigrants, the United States is
better and stronger because Jewish people from all over the world
have chosen to become American citizens; and

WHEREAS, Jewish American Heritage Month is the time when
the rich history of Jewish Americans is celebrated and their
contributions to this nation are honored; and

WHEREAS, Anyone interested in learning more about the
heritage and contributions of Jewish Americans should visit
www.JewishHeritageMonth.gov; and

WHEREAS, Jewish American Heritage Month is also an
opportunity to remember and thank the many Jewish Americans
who defend this nation’s ideals as members of the United States
Armed Forces; and

WHEREAS, Jewish American Heritage Month is also a time to
renew this nation’s unbreakable bond with the nation of Israel.
This bond is a partnership built on mutual interests and shared
ideals that transcend politics. Israel and the United States of
America are enriched by diversity and faith, fueled by innovation,
and ruled not only by men and women, but also by laws; and

WHEREAS, Jewish Americans continue to guide the nation’s
progress as scientists, teachers, entrepreneurs, public servants,
private citizens, leaders, and parents; and

WHEREAS, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz
sponsored House Concurrent Resolution 315 (H. Con. Res. 315
(109th)) that urges the President of the United States to issue each
year a proclamation calling on state and local governments and
the people of the United States to observe American Jewish History
Month, now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes May 2015 as
Jewish American Heritage Month, encourages all Californians to
participate in appropriate observances with activities that celebrate
and commemorate Jewish American Heritage Month, and
commends Jewish Americans for their notable accomplishments
and outstanding service to the state and the nation; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.