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When the state of Israel was founded in 1948, "the drums of war were sounding," said San Francisco's Israeli Consul General Daniel Shek. Nevertheless, the state's founders signed a Declaration of Independence that was also "an appeal for peace…a text that was very courageous at the time it was written."

Speaking in front of about 25 Bay Area rabbis and Jewish community leaders at San Francisco's Israeli Consulate last week, Shek then put his signature on a replica of Israel's Declaration of Independence. The event was part of the New Israel Fund's campaign "Signing Anew," which aims to put one million signatures on the declaration before May.

"I don't know about you, but I'm really excited to sign this," said Shek to the assembled group. "Some people might say that the Declaration of Independence contains things that go without saying. Well, my late father used to say that the things which go without saying should be repeated again and again."

Part of Israel's 50th anniversary celebrations, the North American "Signing Anew" campaign is being conducted in conjunction with "Israel Signing Anew," sponsored by the NIF and Yediot Achronot, Israel's largest-circulation newspaper.

Launched at the Israeli Knesset on Feb. 10, the Israeli campaign kicked off with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Labor Party leader Ehud Barak and President Ezer Weizman all signing the declaration.

During its first week in Israel, the campaign gathered 35,000 signatures.

While consuls and Israeli citizens worldwide sign copies of the declaration, diaspora Jews can support the effort by signing a Statement of Solidarity. The statement, part of which reads "I proudly express my solidarity with Israel's founding vision, as embodied in its Declaration of Independence," is being distributed to more than 3,500 synagogues in the United States and Canada, as well as to Hillels and other Jewish organizations.

Both documents were on hand at last week's ceremony.

Among the declaration's many principles, Shek chose to highlight three: "First, the call for peace [with Israel's neighbors]. Second, peace within the state of Israel. And third, probably the most important for me to express here today, is…an appeal for the Jewish people to lend a helping hand to the state of Israel.

He particularly wished to thank the NIF "for reminding us, in times of turmoil when sometimes, things that seem to be secondary are pushed aside…to keep in mind the fundamental concepts for the health of Israeli society."

Before signing the Statement of Solidarity, NIF international board member Sandy Gallanter praised "the standards of justice and equality, freedom and peace" enshrined in the declaration.

"It is on these principles that the greatest democracies of the modern world have been built," he said.

Following Shek and Gallanter, audience members went to the consul general's desk to sign the Statement of Solidarity. As they bent over the document and signed it, many people's faces flushed with emotion.

"As a grandchild to Holocaust survivors, it means the world to me that there's a shelter and home for Jewish people," said Beatrice Alloul, the consulate's cultural affairs officer.

Rabbi Jane Litman of San Francisco's Congregation Sha'ar Zahav remarked that "coming from a progressive, Reform congregation that supports pluralism and peace in Israel, I feel it's very important to reassert the core prophetic values on which Israel was founded."

Later, an ebullient Shek handed out buttons celebrating Israel's 50th anniversary.

"You don't have to put it on immediately — it's valid all year," he told the guests.

"But we should remind ourselves that even after 50 years, the state of Israel is not something you take for granted."