Remarks at a Reception Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month 
May 30, 2012

Thank you! Well, welcome to the White House, everybody. I hope you’re having fun. [Applause] Excellent.

I want to recognize Ambassador Michael Oren, and thank him for his work representing our great friend, the State of Israel. I want to recognize and thank all the Members of Congress and the members of my administration who are here today. I want to thank our musical guests, Rak Shalom. I was just meeting with all of them back there, they said they did quite a few numbers. And they were outstanding, I know.

This year, we celebrate Jewish Heritage Month—Jewish American Heritage Month—and we’re also commemorating an important anniversary. A hundred and fifty years ago, General Ulysses Grant issued an order known as General Orders No. 11 that would have expelled Jews "as a class" from what was then known as the military Department of the Tennessee. It was wrong. Even if it was 1862, even if official acts of anti-Semitism were all too common around the world, it was wrong and indicative of an ugly strain of thought.

But what happened next could have only taken place in America. Groups of American Jews protested General Grant’s decision. A Jewish merchant from Kentucky traveled here, to the White House, and met with President Lincoln in person. After their meeting, President Lincoln revoked the order, one more reason why we like President Lincoln. [Laughter]

And to General Grant’s credit, he recognized that he had made a serious mistake. So later in his life, he apologized for this order, and as President, he went out of his way to appoint Jews to public office and to condemn the persecution of Jews in Eastern Europe.

Today we have a few documents on display; maybe some of you saw them when you walked in. There are two letters of protest from Jewish organizations to President Lincoln. There is President Lincoln’s handwritten reply saying that he had taken action. And there is a receipt for the donation that President Grant made to the Adas Israel synagogue here in Washington, when he attended a service there in 1876.

So together, these papers tell a story, a fundamentally American story. Like so many groups, Jews have had to fight for their piece of the American dream. But this country holds a special promise: that if we stand up for the traditions we believe in and in the values that we share, then our wrongs can be made right, our Union can be made more perfect, and our world can be repaired.

Today, it’s our turn, our generation’s turn, and you guys, your generation’s turn. You’re younger than us. [Laughter] We got some later generations here in the front. We’re the ones who have to stand up for our shared values. Here at home, we have to rebuild an America where everybody gets a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody is playing by the same rules.

Beyond our borders, we have to stand alongside our friends who share our commitment to freedom and democracy and universal rights, and that includes, of course, our unwavering commitment to the State of Israel and its security and the pursuit of a just and lasting peace.

It’s no secret that we’ve got a lot of work to do, but as your traditions teach us, while we are not obligated to finish the work, neither are we free to desist from that work.

So today we don’t just celebrate all that American Jews have done for our country, we also look toward the future. And as we do, I know that those of you in this room, but folks all across this country will continue to help perfect our Union, and for that, I am extraordinarily grateful.

God bless you. God bless America.

NOTE: The President spoke at 5:17 p.m. in the East Room at the White House.