US Senator Cory Booker Speaking in Lakewood 9 14 14

that I reached out to a senator's office on Sunday morning at 8 30 and by 11 o'clock I had the senator personally call me and reassured me we know that you're a very close friend of our communities we know that you understand our needs and with that I turn the floor over to you thank you very much thank you and thank you everybody thank you guys uh gentlemen uh and ladies for first of all being here uh more than you know when I come to a person's home and see the home overflowing with people of Goodwill and good energy it just really lifts me up and encourages me uh I want to say something about uh Meredith's beautiful bride uh there's an ideal uh that's an abrahamic ideal that Abraham was favored by God because he kept his tent open on all four sides did anybody walking from any direction felt welcome here well I've actually walked in a couple doors now and I see that you're keeping your tent open in a very abrahamic way to thank your brother-in-law as well where is he oh there he is uh for your generosity you are the co-host of this event uh and I appreciate that uh uh very very much so thank you so much for your generosity and your support and your leadership here look this is let's make this very complicated uh I have the privilege right now to represent the entire state of New Jersey uh because of Titan in New Jersey named uh senator Frank Lautenberg a businessman who knew how to create and run a business uh somebody who served uh in the World War II a veteran uh as well as a great state center or public servant uh God called him home he passed away and so for the last year I've been fulfilling the last year of his term and now in November I I have the privilege to put myself before the voters to run for another a full term as a United States senator now look the the reality is is that we now more than ever need uh Representatives who are going to represent all of us and the critical ideals of America and to me what this community is about is in many ways the same Ambitions that I have in my life of Public Service which is to protect our communities or neighborhoods to protect our heritage uh to allow people the freedom whether it's freedom of religion uh whether it's Freedom From Fear the freedom to grow up and live their American dream and so what I'm very passionate about is trying to do everything I can in service of people who are struggling to that end now this is a great community in fact it's putting New Jersey on the map nationally because it's one of the fastest growing towns we have in the United States of America and will soon be if not already one of the top five four or five biggest towns in the state of New Jersey and for me what makes this special all the times I've had the privilege of coming to visit this community is truly how tight-knit it is and how people watch over from if we're watch over each other I did get a call from mayor about one of our own children here from New Jersey but the reality was is this this community was already rallying Around the Clock when I visited the family uh uh when they were sitting shiva I was amazed I must have got there on 10 o'clock at night and it was still buzzing like a beehive of people to support and so my prayer my hope my ambition God willingness wrath Hashem I can be the kind of uh Senator that supports the community in the way that the community is showing that kind of leadership already whether it's from city council people whether it's local police whether it's some of the great rabbis in the United States of America who are right here teaching and supporting this community I want to be a part of that community and they're it's challenges the educational challenges you were telling me right now are something that for years for decades I've been standing up and saying we've got to find a way to support all children in New Jersey and frankly as a Democrat even I've gone out to say that in things like tax credits and the like this support families especially poor families who are struggling to make it to have educational choice to choose the best educational environment for their kids is something that's important to support and what I'm excited and encouraged about is that we are winning this battle that more and more children coming from disadvantaged backgrounds in New Jersey or having better and better opportunities to go to good schools but there's a lot more work to do the crisis going on in this city right now demands attention and I look forward to supporting in any way I can because for this community to lose resources at a time that the most valuable thing going on in this community and I know there's a lot of great business people here but the most valuable thing in this community going on is the education of your children uh because that to me is the foundation for this country period is making sure every generation is equipped to do better than the one before I do want to say something also while we're here because I'm going to go back to Washington we're going to have to pass some legislation and continuing resolution is what's really called uh to get to to make sure there's money in the budget to do some very important things the president when it's going along with isil has actually asked Congress to include more money in the budget to train and equip uh people to fight against terrorism in the Middle East uh and I just want everybody to know here if you do not know this already this is a high priority for me I'm very conscious of the fact that we live in a perilous and dangerous world when I watch what went on in in Mumbai and in Kenya terrorists with automatic weapons went in there and killed indiscriminately indiscriminately killed uh uh uh people with automatic weapons except for in Mumbai remember this indiscriminate horrible killing but one family was sought out just because of how they prayed to a god a Jewish Family a rabbi Holtzman uh was was was sought out uh and tragically killed in the Mumbai Terrace attacks you have to understand that we in America have to be guarded against that it may seem like a long way away in Iraq and Syria but what's going on there affect us directly and especially when it comes to the state of Israel when the state of Israel has Hezbollah uh to their North uh who've killed Americans before who are looking to destroy the state of Israel the Jewish people when you have Hamas uh to the to the West uh if you've ever read the the the charter of that organization it breathes like a Mein Kampf uh quoting the protocols of the Elders of Zion uh interchanging Israel and Jews blaming Jews for all the world's problems you know that that is a terrorist organization that has killed Americans and is seeking to do violence and harm and I want you all to know that I will be uh for as long as I'm in office and even when I'm not in office somebody that will stand steadfast against terrorism and for the state of Israel so now I just want to return and end uh with this idea of this abrahamic values these values of love this values that are in my opinion evidenced by the Jewish people because Judaism is not an insular Faith Judaism has a calling we know Isaiah calls to the Jewish people to be a light unto Nations it's this ideal of goodliness and godliness of cassette of sadaka this idea that we are here on this planet to heal the world to come along that is a calling that goes to the Jewish people as well as the heart of this of this Christian of this Glory as well and I want to return to those values just to remind everybody whether it is a child in Lakewood whether it's a child in Camden whether it's a child in Gaza whether it's a child in Jerusalem we have a calling to try to bring Justice to this world and I want to end with this idea these twin pillars the legs upon which Humanity stands on there were evidence by Abraham uh uh right before he got the blessing and right after he got the blessing right before he got the blessing he was sitting in pain having circumcised himself and he saw strangers this idea in Judaism in the Torah The Stranger is talked about so often somebody that's not like you not from your community and Abraham saw strangers approaching from the distance and the Torah says he got up and he ran to those strangers and greeted them and gave him up his best food and I know I'm not from Lakewood but when I walk in and see that hummus right there I know that Spirit of goodness and kindness to strangers giving them your best food is alive and as well and that was the last thing he did those strangers revealed themselves to be Angels uh and gave Abraham the blessing and then the first thing he did after the blessing this is like the audacity or the hutzpah of the of the Torah of the Jewish people is the first thing he did after the blessing he gets a blessing and then these angels say they're going to these Messengers from God himself saying they're going he's going to destroy they're going to destroy a a city and as a mayor both of us Mayors uh as a former mayor uh hearing somebody wanting to destroy a city is a very disturbing saying and Moses excuse me Abraham didn't just bow down and accept it no he began to fight with these Messengers from God demanding Justice so these twin pillars the last thing Abraham does before he gets the blessing and the first thing he does after it's goodness and kindness and this Justice the seeking of Justice even it means arguing with God himself is something we have to remind ourselves look I am running for an office but if you get caught up in politics and not remember this is an election yes but there's a larger campaign going on it's a campaign to spread those ideals of goodness kindness and mercy and always and forever Justice whether it's a Justice that has to be stood up for that people living in peace should not have to dodge Rockets coming down in their communities or their neighborhoods whether it's the justice of poor children should have food clean water should have a good school to go to whether it's the justice that we focus all of us and understanding that it is a just thing to grow businesses to grow the economy because as maimonides has said in this hierarchy of Charity that the highest of all Charities to equip it Empower someone to do for themselves and this is really what we must pursue as a society as Americans a just whirl this marked especially by an indefatigable commitment to goodness and kindness and mercy and I believe if we commit ourselves to that let the politics fall to a side because if we commit ourselves to that Pursuit a God himself that we will be able to remake our world in a better image of God and so let me just say thank you to this community because I have not visited Lakewood yet where there hasn't been people that have inspired me with that spirit see the love there with the children in the backyard that I was there the love and the commitment to Children created in the image of God that inspires me and I've had the privilege of being inspired there to come a buzzing facing the ultimate tragedy they have to bury a child to see the goodness and the kindness and the mercy of this community all around there supporting that family during their grief that that's incredible to me and to be a kid the guy not even from this community years ago to have a man like this guy to open your house years ago for me thank you so I have to say to this community these last two things I look forward to being your senator now and God willing as long as God wills it into the future and being a part of this community and supporting this community and the last thing I have to say to these great people here who who add spirit and life and live the goodness and mercy who live the ideals of of fighting for and standing up for justice I simply conclude by by saying to you all right now gathered here Yasha our pictures and allow the senator to take advantage of the homeless bar can I ask everybody who has a school just to come forward and and I just want the senator to see the representation we have from the schools