White House’s Featured Photo

By COLlive reporter

Each January, Pete Souza, Chief Official White House Photographer and Director of the White House Photography Office, chooses his favorite images from the past 12 months with the President and First Lady.

Taken by him or colleagues, they include exclusive perspectives of everything from Presidential trips in the United States and abroad, to events and private moments between President Barack Obama and his family and staff.

2013 was particularly busy with the President winning a second term, the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, visiting areas stricken by tragedies and natural disasters.

One of his picks, as shown on the WhiteHouse.gov website, is from March 22, 2013, of the President visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“When the President asked a question about the cityscape in the background, the sunlight lit up his hands adding another dimension to this photograph,” noted Souza about the striking image he photographed.

Also seen in the photo is Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, a Holocaust survivor who serves as Chairman of Yad Hashem along with his other known roles as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv and former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel.

A short while before this photo was taken, Rabbi Lau delivered an impassioned speech in English to President Obama imploring him to remember the suffering the Jewish nation has endured during the Holocaust and support the struggle for survival in the Holy land.

The video was watched on COLlive.com by tens of thousands (over 3,000 “likes” on Facebook), making it one of the most viewed articles of the year 5773.

VIDEO: Watch Rabbi Lau’s remarks