Even in the darkest period of human history, when millions were murdered and those who survived faced extreme hardship, Jews remained a beacon of light in preserving, promoting, and spreading the gospel of democracy and human rights. The days following the end of World War II saw the near extinction of the Jewish people, with those surviving doing so under inhumane conditions. Families were tragically wiped out and those who made it had no place to go back to. Nazi forces decimated entire communities and centuries-old traditions. The world struggled to comprehend the horrific reality. René Samuel Cassin was a French Zionist Jew from a Sephardic family. He fought and was wounded in World War I and served as France’s representative to the League of Nations between 1924 and 1938. With the outbreak of World War II, Cassin joined the French government-in-exile and Charles de Gaulle. He was a key figure at the war’s conclusion, having drafted the first version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and becoming a member of the UN Commission on Human Rights. Cassin’s legacy is memorialized in a Jerusalem high school named after him; a symbol of the hope that emerged from the lowest point of the Jewish people. Despite having been treated like animals, Cassin and others like him proved that the Jewish people could still generate a spark of hope that would reverberate throughout the world. For his work, Cassin was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968. In 1946, he co-founded and chaired the Consultative Council of Jewish Organizations. Throughout his life, Cassin was a tireless advocate for the rights of Jews in France and a passionate Zionist. The founding story of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is rooted in the Jewish spirit: a spirit that Nazi oppressors and other tyrants throughout history have been unable to destroy or silence. This serves as a powerful testament to the fact that democracy and liberal values originated from the long-standing Jewish tradition. Judaism has long embodied both national and universal values. Even in the aftermath of the Holocaust, when Jewish men and women experienced unfathomable hardship, this remained the case—although this has unfortunately been forgotten in recent times. We have a duty to revive the connection between Judaism and democracy, to remember that the view that they are mutually exclusive is misguided, and to reestablish the ties between Judaism and democracy, thereby uniting our people. This is the legacy of Rene Cassin and his comrades in Jewish and Zionist organizations, who shone a light of hope in the darkest days our world has ever known. —Rachel Azaria (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)
This holiday season, give to:
Truth and understanding
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