President Reaches Out Internationally With Rosh Hashanah Greetings

Rosh Hashanah begins this evening. It has become standard practice for the U.S. President to issue holiday greetings to those celebrating the Jewish holy days. This year the White House broke new technological ground in reaching out to Jews around the world. The President recorded video greetings which can be viewed online with French, Hebrew, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Arabic or Persian subtitles. In addition to an English language transcript of President Obama's remarks, transcripts are also available in these same seven languages. In his message, the President said in part:

Let us work to extend the rights and freedoms so many of us enjoy to all the world's citizens – to speak and worship freely; to live free from violence and oppression; to make of our lives what we will. And let us work to achieve lasting peace and security for the state of Israel, so that the Jewish state is fully accepted by its neighbors, and its children can live their dreams free from fear.