Looking at the daunting tasks facing the Conference, current chairman Bob Sugarman says: “You are called on to do the best you can. You realize that while you may not solve each problem, you must try….”
Sugarman quotes Rabbi Tarfon in Pirke Avot: “It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task. Yet you are not free to desist from it.”
Malcolm Hoenlein puts it this way:
“This generation has been blessed in ways that were not true fifty and certainly not seventy years ago. Today we can make a difference. Doors are open to us. We can see the president, the vice president, the leaders of Congress. We call on world leaders. During the UN General Assembly we often do not have enough time to see all the foreign ministers and prime ministers who want to meet with us. This is not something we should take for granted….
“And we’ve seen so many miracles in our lifetime. How can anybody fail to be inspired when you consider Israel, this little country whose name hardly fits on the map, which has survived for almost seventy years against all odds? Israel is the home of the startup nation that is an inspiration to the world. African and Asian countries look to Israel as an example of what can be accomplished. And our generation too often takes the miracles for granted.
“We must draw inspiration from all of these things. Each of us can make a difference and change this world even a little at a time.”
