‘You were our heart,’ Rivlin says

Rivlin details Peres’s record-breaking political career.

“My dear Shimon, you were the only one in the history of the State of Israel to serve in the three most senior positions in government: foreign minister, defense minister and finance minister. You are the only one to have served as prime minister and as president. It is no exaggeration to say that, more than you were blessed to be president of this great nation, this nation was blessed to have you as its president.

“In all these roles you were our head, but even more so, my dear friend, you were our heart; a heart that loved the people, the land, and the State. A heart which loved each and every person, a heart which cared for them.”

“Your stubborn faith in mankind and the good of people — in the victory of progress over ignorance, in the victory of hope over fear — was your eternal fountain of youth, thanks to which you were the eternal fountain of youth for all of us.

“The man of whom we thought time could never stop. With all your love for history and tremendous knowledge of history, you despised wallowing in the past, or being entrenched in a sense of self justice at the cost of the possibilities and opportunities that tomorrow brings. ‘The future is more important than the past’ you said. ‘What happened yesterday does not interest me, only tomorrow does,’ you would say,” adds Rivlin.

“The love you received, which transcended political divides in the later years of your life — from your supporters and opponents — was an expression of the yearning of all us to be infected by your unequivocal optimism. Even when we did not agree with you we wanted to believe that perhaps you were right. Believe me, it was not easy to refuse your optimism, and at times your innocence. Who more than you knew the heavy price of innocence, and yet, who more than you believed that heavier still was the price of mediocrity and being of little faith?”