Slovenian President and messages of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah
Ljubljana, 27.12.2011 | press release
The President of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, attended the Hanukkah 5772 ceremony organised by the Jewish Community of Slovenia at the close of the eight-day celebration of the holiday. In his opening address, President Türk highlighted the symbolic messages of Hanukkah that surpass the boundaries of a single religion or a single cultural and historical experience. Similarly to the Christian Christmas Day, Hanukkah spreads the messages of light, hope and a better world, as well as the message that in our everyday life, although complicated and difficult, pleasant things also happen. According to the president, this is a precious message to people of all religions, cultural traditions and ethnic origins.
President Türk went on to highlight the importance of common concern for co-existence, tolerance and understanding. He emphasised that when reading our press a while ago, he had been deeply saddened by insulting and unacceptable language directed towards the Jewish community, religion and culture. The president stated that we must reject all such forms of intolerance and inappropriate speech; in doing so, we can use the message of Hanukkah as a good starting point. Moreover, President Türk explained that everyone has the right to foster one's traditions and identity, and to provide for the development of one's culture, which, in a way, can also be considered as an obligation towards one's ancestors. This right must be respected if we want to make our world better, to survive as mankind, and to find solutions for the problems we are faced with.
The president said that on this occasion he had the opportunity to light a candle on the Hanukkiyah candelabrum for the first time. He nevertheless added that for several years, he had been living in an environment that had enabled him to learn more about respect, kindness, tolerance and mutual trust which Hanukkah brings to people of different religions and cultures in their common efforts for a better world. In this spirit, he expressed his wish that the evening's ceremony would also help consolidate our common human essence and our endeavours to resolve problems together, while demonstrating tolerance, kindness and consideration for each other.