UN and the United States should live by its resolution

Inspiration

By Rabbi Rick Sherwin

Today is the International Day of Commemoration to honor the Victims of the Holocaust. On this date in 2005, marking the 60th anniversary of the Red Army’s liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Poland, the U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution condemning all “manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on their ethnic origin or religious belief, wherever they occur.”

It is sad that the United Nations seems to have "forgotten" this resolution, choosing to ignore ISIS atrocities and Syrian subjugation leading to the current devastating refugee migration and xenophobic response. Instead, they focus on Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East that promulgates equality of all citizens – Arab, Christian, and Jewish – within the Jewish State of Israel.

This day in history should remind us to be vigilant in protecting all citizens and immigrants regardless of gender, religious affiliation, sexual orientation and identity, socio-economic status, political participation, ethnic origin, and physical abilities. We need to remind the U.N. of their landmark resolution, and speak out so that our country lives by that resolution as well.

Rabbi Rick Sherwin, a graduate of UCLA, was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. Rabbi Rick’s passion is filling spiritual services and interfaith educational programs with creativity, relevance, dialogue, and humor.