April 9, 2008 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ISRAEL - (4th of Iyyar, 5768, 5768)

One of the more interesting questions that I sometimes ask when I am sitting at the Beit Din, the Rabbinic Court, and am interviewing candidates for conversion to Judaism is: “What do you think about and how do you relate to Israel?”

Given the fact that these folks probably don’t grow up thinking about the Promised Land, I actually expect them to answer with a shrug. However, surprising though it often is, many respond that Israel plays a special role in their thinking. Given the fact that they have studied the history of the Jewish people, they understand that this was the land that God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants, and now that they are joining this people, the land ought to and does take on particular significance for them, as well.

For me, my love affair with Eretz Yisrael began when I first read Leon Uris’ book, _Exodus_. Since I said the same thing when speaking about the Holocaust last Friday, this factoid might be giving you a sense of déjà vu. And Uris, in fact, may not have been the only author to have sparked this relationship in me. After all, we did talk about Israel in Religious School, and our Tzedakah, which we then called Karen Ami (“the fund of my people”) got divided up among three different causes: what was to remain in the United States for Jewish institutions, what got sent overseas to organizations like HIAS and ORT and the Joint Distribution Committee, each of which dealt with refugee Jewish communities that were left after the Holocaust and also dealt with bringing Jewish immigrants to Israel from North Africa and other Arab lands. The third slice went to Israel itself. During those years, Israel was both fighting for her survival against her Arab-enemy neighbors as well as trying to acculturate hundred of thousands of refugees.

During those early years, many immigrants to the Land lived in tents and only later moved into more permanent structures. The economy of Israel was a touch-and-go entity, given the fact that the country’s first priority was self defense. It was based mostly on farming. Only thereafter was Israel able to look to upgrading her citizenry and what she was able to produce.

iven her socialistic roots, the country always provided health care and education to its people. Slowly, but only so slowly, given her high tax rates of up to 60 and 70%, she was able to begin to capitalize on her single most valuable resource: the minds of her inhabitants. For, in her most early years, Israel had very little to draw upon…copper and potash were the two entities that come to mind. Diamond cutting and tourism helped later to bring the state more capital, but without the support of Jews from the United States and other countries such as South Africa and England, Israel would have had an almost impossible task to survive those early years.

Basically, however, most Israelis felt as though they didn’t have a choice. Ain Berayrah – “there is no other alternative” was the honest reflection of this people many of whom had suffered grievously in their countries of origin. Just as the Holocaust had decimated the families and the dreams of many of Israel’s European immigrants, life in the Magreb was no picnic for the Sefardic Jewish communities except, perhaps, for those who emigrated from Iraq where a tradition of excellent education had been the norm for the Jews of that country. The Moroccan, Algerian, Lybian and Yemeni transplants came with little in the way of western educations and their initial years in the Land were fraught with poverty and challenge. In many cases, these still form the underprivileged classes of the country, joined as they have been by Russians, many of whom came to Israel with as little as their Sefardic brethren, but with far better skills.

We come to this evening with different feelings for Israel. Some of us are still in reveling mode in the after-glow of the Israel 60 celebrations we attended yesterday. Parenthetically, I must mention that Ziva and I especially enjoyed the Israeli percussive group, Sheketek.

But to have enjoyed Yom Ha-atzmaut and to have had our chests swell at all Israel has accomplished to date is not to say that we are unaware of the challenges that the Jewish homeland still faces. It is, rather, that we temporarily were able to suspend our worries over Israel’s embattled Prime Minister, corrupt politicians, severe, decade long water shortage, the threats coming from Hizballah, Hamas, Syria, and, most importantly, Iran; we set our anxieties aside for the moment to celebrate Israel’s many, many achievements (that you have heard about from our B’nai Mitzvah class). We thrilled to the fact that Israel’s existence is now secure, her people productive, and her future seems just as much so. This is not to say that Israel doesn’t face serious problems both internally and externally: her education system is in dire need of upgrading and reform, the Palestinians are a source of constant threat and concern, the ultra-Orthodox are a drain on the economy as well as an endless source of fractiousness and a threat to individual religious rights.

And yet, given all of her problems, this little sliver of land gives us a tremendous lift when we think of what she has been able to accomplish, against enormous odds, in her 6 decades of existence.

Truly, God has blessed us in our own day to see and be a part of this rebirth. In so many ways, I feel tied to this land and to its people, my people. Rich in its culture, determined to not only survive but to thrive and teach her neighbors to do so as well, Israel has fulfilled so many dreams and, with God’s and our love and support and concern will continue to do so well into her future.

This night, we can more securely as American Jews say a shehecheyanu for Israel and for ourselves. It is truly miraculous given all that we have experienced as a people that we are still here and still impacting world history. It is phenomenal when you stop and think about it. And it is fitting that we take this moment in time to say with no small satisfaction, thank God!

I want to say a special thanks to our B’nai Mitzvah class for their presentations, and I want to invite you and yours to see the Land of Eretz Yisrael for yourselves. If you have gone before, go again. If you have never been, come with Ziva and me this coming autumn. Witnessing the land will change your life forever in ways I can’t explain, but which I have seen in those we have taken over and over. There is no where else on earth like the Land of Israel, and its impact will thrill you, teach you and give you a grounding in your Judaism like no other experience can.

Happy birthday, Israel! May we live to see you have many, many more!