Yom HaAtzmaut -- Israel is 61!

On the 5th of Iyar, 5708 (1948), G-d's Name was sanctified. For the first time in two thousand year, the Jewish people had a state in their homeland. Two millenium after the Roman emperor Hadrian burnt our Temple, razed Jerusalem, sold the Jews into slavery and arrogantly declared 'Judea capta! (Judea is captured), the Third Jewish Commonwealth was established. After centuries of oppression and persecution, Crusades and pogroms, Inquisitions and Holocausts, the Jewish people had finally returned home to the land of their forefathers.

When the Romans crushed the Jewish rebellion in 70 CE and destroyed the Temple, they carried out the majority of the Jews into exile. They built a huge victory arch in Rome showing the Temple utensils being taken as spoil. The Romans minted coins depicting a conquered a mourning Jewess, along with the words 'Judea capta'. In their minds, the Jewish people had been crushed. The Roman Catholic Church, which became the official religion of Rome, taught as doctrine that the Jews had been replaced and rejected by G-d, never to return to Israel. The Church, along with the scholars of Islam, mocked the Jews and taunted them over their abasement, claiming that their continued exile was proof of their replacement in G-d's eyes. Incredibly, while the Roman empire today is nothing but dust, Jews are once again living in the Jerusalem, the city of King David, in Judea and Samaria, where the Patriarchs lived and in the Galilee, where Bar Kochba and his brave Zionist rebels fought for liberty.


"A song of ascents. When the Lord returned the captivity of Zion, we were like dreamers. Then our mouths were with laughter and our tongues with songs of praise; then they will say among the nations, "The Lord has done great things with these."" (Tehillim 126) Truly, we were like dreamers. Is there any clearer proof of G-d's sovereignty and majesty, of His guiding hand in history, than in the survival of the Jewish people in graveyards of the exile and in our return to the Land of Israel? Has there ever been such a thing in the entire annals of mankind, for a nation to have survived the sword and the stake, the racks of the Inquisition and the Crusading lance, the Cross and the Crescent, the killing fields and the gas chambers, to be returned home? Only by the might and mercy of G-d, through the brave pioneers and committed Zionist leaders, were we able to revive our ancient language, Hebrew, to re-settle the desolate cities, drain the swamps and make the deserts bloom. "For the Lord shall console Zion, He shall console all its ruins, and He shall make its desert like a paradise and its wasteland like the garden of the Lord; joy and happiness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and a voice of song." (Yishayahu 51:3) The land, empty and desolate, bereft of her children, which called out longingly for them for over two thousand years, now blossoms and is settled. For too long did Zion cry out for her sons and daughters in captivity, trampled on by a foreign oppressor.

From the four corners of the Earth, the Jews have begun to return home. "Fear not for I am with you; from the east I will bring your seed, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, "Give," and to the south, "Do not refrain"; bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth."" (Yishayahu 43:5-6) Out of the mellahs of Morocco and Tunisia and the shtetls of Russia and Poland, Jews came home. The same Jews who declared year after year their fervent hope and desire of 'Next Year in Jerusalem!' were privileged to see their dream become a reality. From the farthest and most remote reaches, the Land of Israel beckoned Jews home. Jews from Yemen and Ethiopia walked thousands of miles, trekked through dangerous deserts and hazardous terrain, braved intense dangers because they senses the impeding Redemption. When the Iron Curtain fell, the cry of 'Let my people go!' saw fruition as millions of Russian Jews fled the prison that was the Soviet Union and came to Israel to live lives of dignity and freedom. The Ingathering of the Exiles has begun as Jews from Iran and Turkey, Greece and Lithuania, Ukraine and Hungary, India and Afghanistan now live, mix and mingle, in peace together in the State of Israel.


In fire and blood Judea fell and in fire and blood Judea arose. In 1948, and again in six spectacular days in 1967, the myth of the passive Jew whose life was cheap and blood was the gentile's for the taking, was forever crushed. The nation that for so long had been associated with sheep to the slaughter, with massacres and weakness, had arisen like a lion and fought for its life. In 1948, one million crack Arab soldiers, dedicated to driving the Jews into the sea and destroying the fledgling state, were attacked the 600 000 inhabitants of the Jewish yishuv. Just as in the days of David and Goliath, the defenders drove the enemy out. The defenders were outnumbered, farmers and citymen, Holocaust survivors given a rifle as they got off the boat. Some come with horses and some come with chariots but we invoke the name of HaShem our G-d! As the ovens and furnaces of Europe were still giving off their horrible stench, as the smoke was still emerging from the chimneys of Auschwitz, the Jewish state had arise with strength and power. The dry bones that had been murdered and annihilated in Europe had been reborn in the Land of Israel. ""Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Behold they say, 'Our bones have become dried up, our hope is lost, we are clean cut off to ourselves.' Therefore, prophesy and say to them, So says the Lord God: Lo! I open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves as My people, and bring you home to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and lead you up out of your graves as My people. And I will put My spirit into you, and you shall live, and I will set you on your land, and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and have performed it," says the Lord." (Yechezkel 37:11-14)


61 years after the awesome day in Tel-Aviv, we can sit back and feel pride over our many accomplishments. The Jewish language, Hebrew was revived, a feat never before accomplished. Cities and settlements were created. A vibrant and modern democratic state was built. Israel has one of the best and most powerful armies in the world. Close to half of the world's Jewish population now lives in the Jewish state. Israel is a world leader in science and technology and contributed a disproportionate amount to high-tech, medicine and science worldwide. Despite all of Israel's many problems, it has accomplished more in its mere 61 years of existence than most other countries around the world. The State of Israel is far from the fulfillment of the Prophets and there is a long journey to the Ultimate Redemption. Yet, in the words of Herzl: "If you will it, it is no dream." Just as it seemed impossible for there to be a sovereign Jewish state, as it seemed impossible for Jerusalem to be reunited as the capital of the Jewish people, so too will we reach all of our goals. A nation that waited two thousand years to return home is not afraid of a long and difficult struggle.

"Behold days are coming, says the Lord, that the plowman shall meet the reaper and the treader of the grapes the one who carries the seed, and the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will return the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall rebuild desolate cities and inhabit [them], and they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their produce. And I will plant them on their land, and they shall no longer be uprooted from upon their land, that I have given them, said the Lord your God." (Amos 9:13-15) May we see the complete fulfillment of the Jewish Dream, of the Prophets of Israel, of a world where "out of Zion will go forth Torah, and the word of HaShem from Jerusalem", very soon. May we merit the day when "nations will not lift up swords against each other, neither shall they learn war anymore". May the Complete and Final Redemption come speedily in our days, in mercy and love, amen!

Am Yisrael remembers its heroes

On this day, we pause to remember the 22, 570 Jewish soldiers who have fallen in the defense of the State of Israel and the Jewish people since 1860, the year the first Jews built neighbourhoods outside of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. Only in the merit of the sacrifice of these brave soldiers can we have a state. Their courage and self-sacrifice is testimony to the strength of the Jewish people. We bought this land with blood and fire.

When HaShem promised our Father Avraham the Land of Israel, he asked G-d: Ba'meh eda ki erashena - How will I know that I will inherit it?. HaShem answered: bazeh, with this- sacrifices. Thousands of soldiers gave their lives to liberate this land and protect their people. 61 years after the re-establishment of the State of Israel, we continue to fight and struggle. The Eternal Nation is not afraid of a long journey.
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The Silver Salver
"A State is not handed to a people on a silver salver"
Chaim Weizmann, first President of Israel The Earth grows still.

The lurid sky slowly pales
Over smoking borders.
Heartsick, but still lving, a people stand by
To greet the uniqueness
of the miracle.

Readied, they wait beneath the moon,
Wrapped in awesome joy, before the light.
-- Then, soon,
A girl and boy step forward,
And slowly walk before the waiting nation;

In work garb and heavy-shod
They climb
In stillness.
Wearing yet the dress of battle, the grime
Of aching day and fire-filled night

Unwashed, weary unto death, not knowing rest,
But wearing youth like dewdrops in their hair,
-- Silently the two approach
And stand.
Are they of the quick or of the dead?

Through wondering tears, the people stare.
"Who are you, the silent two?"
And they reply: "We are the silver salver
Upon which the Jewish State was served to you."

And speaking, fall in shadow at the nation's feet.
Let the rest in Israel's chronicles be told.

O G-d, full of mercy, Who dwells on high,
grant proper rest on the wings of the Divine Presence -
in the lofty levels of the holy and the pure ones,
who shine like the glow of the firmament -
for the souls of the martyrs of the Israel Defense Force,
who gave up their lives
for the Sanctification of the Name
and the Conquest of the Land,
because, the entire Nation of Israel mourns for them.
May their resting place be in the Garden of Eden -
therefore may the Master of Mercy
shelter them in the shelter of His wings for Eternity;
and may He bind their souls in the Bond of Life.
Hashem is their heritage,
and may they repose in peace on their resting place.

Now let us respond: Amen.


We cannot fathom the magnitude of the loss. I would like to remember one soldier in particular, Dvir Emanuelof, the first IDF casualty to fall in Gaza. Fighting there as a staff sergeant in his infantry unit, the elite Golani brigade, he was felled by Hamas mortar fire. Though Israel has a conscript army, Dvir did not have to be in Gaza, as he had received high marks as instructor of a squad leader course, was asked to go to officer school, and would still have been in training had he accepted; he deferred, however, saying he would not be fit to command until he had first fought alongside his comrades. In fact, Dvir did not have to be in any front-line position: His father Netanel had died of cancer at age 46, shortly before Dvir's service began; as an only son in a single-parent family, Dvir was exempt under IDF rules from combat duty. Before accepting him to Golani, his commanding officer visited Dalia and asked if she acquiesced in her son's opting for a dangerous path he was not obligated to choose. Her answer: "If this is how Dvir wants to serve his country, then this is what he will do." Two days before entering Gaza, Dvir had called home and said: "Mom, I have to fight. I have to be there." He fell defending the Jewish Nation in Gaza.

May his memory, and those of all of the fallen heroes of Israel, be a blessing.

Pride at 60

In anticipation of Israel's 60th birthday on Yom HaAtzmaut, the writers at Tzipiyah have envisioned an amazing project which they have asked me to contribute to. I have been asked to write about the 4 accomplishments of the State of Israel of which I am most proud. Since I will be leaving in a week, and it will be yom tov in a few days, I have decided to post them now and leave them until Yom HaAtzmaut.

1) JEWISH PRIDE

They came running through the streets like lions, dropping from the skies, guns blaring, fire burning. They ran, in the spirit of David and Joshua, Judah the Maccabee and Bar Kochba, full of courage and bravery. Their enemies fell before their in fear and shame, as they streamed towards the Kotel, the most holy and awesome place which had been denied to them for so long. Who were these men? What sort of people were they? Were they the Jews, the people of the gas chambers and ovens? Were they the same people that had long been associated with death and persecution, with helplessness and passivity, fighting their enemies? Is it possible that a nation that had been taunted for so long, that was rounded up from all of Europe for annhilation, asserted itself and stood up strong?

The establishment of the State of Israel and the amazing turn-about of Jewish fortune following the Holocaust is nothing short of miraculous. There is no parallel to this sort of reversal in all of the annals of human history. One third of the Jewish People had been consumed in the cruel fires of the Nazi war machine. The survivors were downtrodden and ashamed. "Even all the nations shall say 'Wherefore Why has HaShem done this to His land? What is the meaning of the heat of this great anger?'"(Deut 29:24) From this crushing defeat there would be no respite. The downtrodden Jew would finally disappear into the dust of history. And yet in the ashes of such an evil blaze, like a phoenix, the Jewish nations rose again. "'Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off... Thus saith the Lord G-D: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, O My people. And I will put My spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will place you in your own land; and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken, and performed it, saith the LORD." (Ezek. 37:10-12) The Jewish nation arose once again, and like a firebrand plucked from the fires of the Holocaust, defeated a mighty army of one million well-trained Arab soldiers committed to driving the fledgling state into the sea. The world saw with crystal clear vision, and again in 1967, that G-d had never divorced Israel. For two thousand years of exile, the Catholic Church had taught the hideous doctrine of the Witness, that the Jewish People were designated to be a sign to show how wretched life would be for those who rejected their god. G-d had replaced Israel and now they were dejected and low. The miracles and triumphs of 1967 was the best refutation of such a perversion ever. The State of Israel shows that G-d still loves His people and that He has great things in store for them.


2) THE INGATHERING OF THE EXILES

As we head towards the Kotel, we are joined by thousands of our brethren from hundreds of dispersions, from Poland and Russia, Morocco and Tunisis, Ethiopia and India, all going towards the same place, the Holy Wall. Three times a day for two thousands years, Jews in the cramped ghettos of Warsaw and Lublin, the squalor of the Pale of Settlment, the melahs of Casablanca and Fez, had turned like spiritual magnets towards Jerusalem to beseech the Holy One, Blessed be He that "our eyes may behold Your return to Zion in mercy." Never did they forget to pledge "Next year in Jerusalem!" at the close of every Passover seder and Yom Kippur feast. Despite promises of emancipation and acceptance, we never forget that we were but strangers in a strange land, ever waiting the day when we would come home.

Following the Establishment of the State of Israel, one millions Jews from Arab lands who had lived there since time immemorial were expelled, leaving behind many millions of dollars in property and goods. The State of Israel took them in and despite many problems and setbacks along the way, successfully integrated them into society. On the streets on Israel, one can see the most amazing diversity: black-hatted hareidim with Yiddish accents alongside gutteral Sepharadim, Jews from America and the UK with native born Sabras, Jews from the former Soviet Union, liberated from Communist oppression with the Jews who worked so hard to ensure their freedom, fine-featured and delicate Ethiopian Jews with lily-white Ashkenazim. Oh, the Jewish nation has come home!

3) TORAH AND JEWISH RENEWAL

In the Diaspora, Judaism is in a very dangerous lethargic state. With rampant assimilation and intermarriage, great ignorance, a proliferation of cults and missionaries and rising anti-semitism, prospects are not looking good. Despite all of the problems in Israel, it is the only Jewish community that is growing, and flourishing. The Torah community is very strong and the land is full of yeshivot and Torah learning. There is truly a fulfillment of the verse: "For out of Zion will go forth Torah and the word of G-d from Jerusalem." Israel is the only place in the world where a committed Jew can live a full Jewish life instead of compartmentalizing his identity to when it is most appropriate.


4) ISRAEL'S TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES

Israel is one the world's most technologically advanced societies. Just the other day, a scientist invented a method of being able to write halachically on Shabbat. Since the prohibition is on writing permanently, this shabbos pen allows you to write something down and it will disappear three days later, once one has had enough time to photocopy the info.

Here are some facts about Israel's scientific advances:

Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.

Medicine... Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized,no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.

An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment. Every year in U. S. hospitals 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes.

Israel's Givun imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, the camera helps doctors diagnose cancer and digestive disorders.

Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.

Technology... With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world (apart from the Silicon Valley).

In response to serious water shortages, Israeli engineers and agriculturalists developed a revolutionary drip irrigation system to minimize the amount of water used to grow crops.

Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.

Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U. S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this category as well.

The cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel.

Most of the Windows NT operating system was developed by Microsoft-Israel.

The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.

Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.

Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel.

The AOL Instant Messenger was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.

A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the ClearLight device,produces a high-intensity, ultraviolet-light-free, narrow-band blue light that causes acne bacteria to self-destruct - all without damaging surroundings skin or tissue.

An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant, in southern California's Mojave desert."

Am Yisrael Chai!

Cross-posted to Goat's Barnyard

Happy Birthday Israel!

Today is Yom Haaztamut- the 59th year of the Independence of the State of Israel. Amidst all of the celebrations, fireworks and barbeques, we should all find some time to thank Hashem for the great miracles that He wrought for us. After 2000 years of brutal exile, oppression, progroms, inquisitions, Crusades, Jihads and Holocausts, Hashem decided to return us to our Holy Land in order to fulfill His promise:
"Hashem, your God, will change your lot; and taking pity on you, He will again gather you from all the nations wherein he has scattered you.

Though you may have been driven to the farthest corner of the world, even from there will Hashem, your God, gather you; even from there will he bring you back.

Hashem, your God, will then bring you into the land which your fathers once occupied, that you too may occupy it, and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers."

Raise up your flags in pride as you remember the gift of being born a free Jew, in a independent State. We should remember that millions of Jews have dies wishing that they would have had such a merit and that we should not surrender our freedom lightly. Thank You Hashem for all of your infinite mercies and kindnesses and mey we all merit the Complete Redemption, Speedily in Our Days, Amen.