Among the speakers were The Netherlands’ former Prime Minister and Earth Charter Commissioner Ruud Lubbers, Her Royal Highness Princess Mabel van Oranje-Nassau and Dr. Katherine Marshall of the Berkley Center for Religion and World Affairs in Washington DC who is a colleague of Rabbi Soetendorp in the World Economic Forum’s Council of 100 Leaders for Islam-West Dialogue.

In his very last official sermon, Rabbi Soetendorp reminisced over his inauguration as Rabbi led by his father Jacob with whom he united after the war, remembered special moments of the forty years of service as Rabbi in his congregation in The Hague, and concluded on a line of hope by citing the final lines of the Earth Charter:

“Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle towards justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.”