May 17, 2018 3 Sivan, 5778
TONIGHT IS FORTY-EIGHT DAYS, WHICH IS SIX WEEKS AND SIX DAYS, OF THE OMER
I am Jewish, humble yet proud of a heritage that has dignified me even as others have tried to destroy my race. I was twenty years old in 1948 when the Palmach/Haganah accepted me as a soldier in Israel’s War of Independence. The experience changed the course of my life. I am a Jew who believes that, though small in numbers, we have a powerful moral influence on the world, and in the words of Hillel, ‘If not now when?’ …
It is imperative that we nurture a fidelity of commitment to purpose. What is that purpose? Not just to exist, but to continue to bring to this world actions noble in thought and deed, always in courage, remembering, we are our own final solution.
Vidal Sassoon
(Sassoon, Vidal. I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl, edited by Judea Pearl and Ruth Pearl, Jewish Lights Pub., 2005, pp. 77-78.)
