Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Obama Offers Rosh Hashanah Greetings

President Barack Obama on Tuesday extended a Rosh Hashanah greeting to Jews in the United States and the rest of the world in a recorded YouTube message.

Watch the President’s Rosh Hashanah greeting:

This year’s video, as opposed to previous years, had a much more modest message which resembled his speech to the United Nations General Assembly, in which he said reaching peace is “hard work.”

“My Administration is doing everything we can to promote prosperity here at home and security and peace throughout the world – and that includes reaffirming our commitment to the State of Israel,” Obama said. “As Jewish tradition teaches us, we may not complete the work, but that must never keep us from trying.”

Obama also continued to stress the U.S. commitment to Israel.

“While we cannot know all that the New Year will bring, we do know this: the United States will continue to stand with Israel, because the bond between our two nations is unshakable,” he said.

In his Rosh Hashanah message in 2010, Obama urged Israelis and Palestinians to seize the opportunity for peace.

“At a time when Israelis and Palestinians have returned to direct dialogue, it is up to us to encourage and support those who are willing to move beyond their differences and work towards security and peace in the Holy Land,” Obama said.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

—  Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief 

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.