I am I.

I am a human being.

Nothing that touches other human beings is strange or foreign to me. All women and men are my sisters and brothers.

I am an American.

The dreams of all the millions, native and immigrant, who sweated, struggled and died for their dreams — all this is my heritage. The dreams are not yet fulfilled. Therefore, my heritage imposes my responsibility to carry on the struggle for the dream.

I am a Jew.

My roots are deep in the millennia that formed my people's culture. My people is not chosen: it is unique, as every people is unique.

The freedom-dream of Moses is my heritage, and the picket-lines at the sweatshops. I am a descendant of the Prophets, and of the Uprisings in Europe's ghettos and death-camps. My inheritance is in the songs of Hirsh Glik and Solomon, in the wisdom of Maimonides, Sholem Aleykhem and Perets, in the heroism of the Maccabees and Hannah Senesh.

The beauty of my people's dream finds voice in Yiddish, in Hebrew, in Ladino and in all the languages of the world — the dream of a better, more beautiful, more humane world.

I am a Jew.

Every person must have roots and these are mine.

My eyes and hopes are on the future. My identity and my strength come from the past and from the present. From the heritage of all our yesterdays, I will help to build a just and peaceful tomorrow for all humanity.

Text by Hershl Hartman