His Excellency, Pierre Vimont, French Ambassador to the United States. Ambassador Shariv Israel Consul General in NY, Rabbi Schneier,Rabbi Butman, distinguished guest, dear friends .
Well my friends, I am overwhelmed. This is just a little too much for me.The honor that has been bestowed upon me is just incredible and toreceive it here in New York at the Embassy with all of you is just extraordinary.
Allow me my dear friends, to pay a public tribute to my dear mother, Clila, who is buried in Israel in a little cemetery, in a little town, Rehovot, a town that was founded by her grand parents. I hope that in this happy moment she looks at me from above and is proud of her older son. Also allow me to pay tribute to my dear father, the worldfamous artist Yaacov Agam who could not be here tonight with us but is here with his spirit.
Growing up the son of such an extraordinary person was not always easy. In the shadow, I learned to listen and understand, that only hard work in life is not enough. You need passion; you need to believe in something that is greater than yourself. Some sort of universal message. It took me time , a long time to understand what was my gift in life.Tonight, we are here celebrating this gift, I think “I am a good bridge builder”. By the way just so that you know my maternal grand father built a lot of the major bridges and tunnels in Israel before and after the independence, he was a very successful engineer. But this is another story.
Thank you, your Excellency Ambassador Pierre Vimont, thank you all the amazing people at the French Cultural Embassy in New York. I want to name in particular, Kareen Rispal, who could not be here tonight for personal reason, Paula Cianchi, Jerome Neutres and a very special thanks to my special friends Jean-Christian Agid and Cecilia Rodhe, David Avital and Kenneth Bialkin from the bottom of my heart. I am sorry to not be able to name each of you tonight personally but believeme the image of each of you will be embedded in my memory for ever.
Thank you to all of you, my friends who have taken time from a busy schedule to be here tonight in celebration of this amazing Franco-American–Israeli friendship. This is a celebration that means a lot to me, to you and to this city.
I was just barely fifty last year when it was announced that I was awarded this great distinction. I was totally surprised by it but very happy that my effort was so amazingly appreciated. My understanding of this was, that the French Republic regarded the New York Jewish Community with great respect and importance, and that Francois Delattre did in effect
create a warmer climate between France and the local Jewish community with a little help from me and many others leaders, this effort was the foundation of so many ensuing events that I will not name here tonight.
The first thing that came to my mind was a summation from one of my teachers in high school, who told me, “Mr. Ron Agam , you would not be doing any great thing in your life , you are dreaming too much” well , thank god , he was wrong.
The genesis of this distinction was my meeting 5 years ago with an exceptional man that you all love and admire, Ambassador Francois Delattre and his wife Sophie. The three of us together started what was at the time a difficult mission, to rebuild the confidence between the
Jewish community in NYC and France. Slowly ,slowly with a lot of caring , and love , we all nurtured this baby because we knew that it was important to all of us. I can recall President
Peres, two and half years ago delivering a memorable speech on the French Israeli Relations that spanned on his entire life. It was full of praise and love for France. For what France did for Israel, and the importance of this relationship for the security of Israel.
I am very proud today to stand in front of you and praise France and President Sarkozy for the leadership role that they have taken in regard to Peace in the Middle East, and in particular for the very active morale and no-nonsense diplomacy taken with regard to the Iranian situation.
Pierre, I want to command you for your personal involvement in this crisis and the significant role that you are playing in Washington with the administration.
In May 1950 Robert Schuman said the following ”World Peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it.”
My dear friends this quote is more than ever the essence on which the world will succeed or not to live in peace both for the immediate nuclear proliferation crisis or on the way humanity will use its resource for the next foreseeable centuries.
I am sure that none of you are surprised that I had to mention the Iranian crisis in my speech, but my version of Tikkun Olam is focused a lot on the fear that Teheran is spreading on the entire region and the world.
Yes in bestowing me with this incredible honor the French republic has also given me, the opportunity to actively always defend what I consider to be a just cause, the friendship between the United–States, French and Israel. This friendship is the essence of my existence and one that will guaranty, the survival of our beloved people in peace and prosperity.
Ron Agam.
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