President Rivlin:

“Only if we are wise enough to keep telling this story of ours, a story that has a place for each of the tribes of Israel, Jews and Arabs, secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox, left and right, Israeli citizens and the global Jewish community, can we meet the challenges that we face.”

“Every step I took, when I lay down and when I got up, the good of the country and of the Israeli people were always at the forefront of my mind. I pray I did enough. I came from this beloved and dear people, this stiff-necked and wonderful people. I came from the Israeli people and today I return to it. It is true that I came, we came, as two, and I leave here on my own today, but not alone.”

Tenth President of Israel, Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin this evening, Tuesday 6 July / 26 Tammuz, delivered remarks at a presidential handover ceremony at Beit HaNasi in Jerusalem, welcoming President Isaac Herzog to Beit HaNasi and handing him presidential standard at the beginning of his term of office.

President Rivlin’s remarks in full:

“Eleventh President of the State of Israel! Honorable President Herzog the Second. Herzog al-Thani. Head of the Jewish and democratic state. The first citizen. Welcome, or perhaps I should say welcome back, to Beit HaNasi, the home of the Israeli people.

As a child, I dreamed of the Israeli flag flying high on the flagpole. And today, when the dream has become a reality, I still cannot stop being moved by the miracle that happened to us, to appreciate and value every opportunity we have to be ceremonial, state-like, according to the rules we have created for ourselves. It is precisely now, when it seems like everything has become political and when stateliness has ‘gone out of fashion’, that there is nothing more urgent than to hold onto those symbols, consensuses and moments that are at the heart of Israeliness. Those that allow us to tell our story, not only to others, but to ourselves, our children and our children’s children. The story of how we flourished from the ruins, the story of how we saw opportunities in challenges, the story of pioneering, dreaming and making it come true, of one complex, diverse and great society of communities and groups who learned to live together, shoulder to shoulder, for a common cause – to build our home. Only if we are wise enough to keep telling this story of ours, a story that has a place for each of the tribes of Israel, Jews and Arabs, secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox, left and right, Israeli citizens and the global Jewish community, can we meet the challenges that we face.

I have no doubt that you, Mr. President, are the right person for the task and I wish you success with all my heart.

Honored guests, my beloved children and grandchildren, dear staff of this house, the house that became my home in recent years. Seven years ago, I came to this house with fear and trembling, feeling the full weight of the responsibility entailed in the presidency. Over those seven years, I did what I could to faithfully perform the task as I saw it. Here in Israel and overseas. At Beit HaNasi in Jerusalem and everywhere across the country. I met the Israeli people in all its wonderful diversity. I had the privilege of saluting those among us who excel and to embrace those who get left behind. There were times when I hurt others and times when I was hurt by the arrows of criticism. Every step I took, when I lay down and when I got up, the good of the country and of the Israeli people were always at the forefront of my mind. I pray I did enough. I came from this beloved and dear people, this stiff-necked and wonderful people. I came from the Israeli people and today I return to it. It is true that I came, we came, as two, and I leave here on my own today, but not alone.

Mr. President, some years ago at my barmitzvah, I had the privilege of being blessed by your grandfather, Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Dr. Yitzhak Halevi Herzog. Now, as an ordinary citizen, allow me to give you, with all my heart and in the words coined by your grandfather and by S Y Agnon, these words of blessing that have become a prayer: “Heavenly Father, protector and redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel, the first flowering of our redemption. Shield it beneath the wings of Your love. Spread over it the canopy of Your peace; send Your light and truth to its leaders, officers and counselors, and direct them with Your good counsel.” Let it be so. Thank you very much.”