If you look at the movies that are playing in the theatre, you will find one called “Hava Nagila.” I haven’t seen it yet, but I have heard that it lifts your spirits and that is not too surprising as Hava Nagila basically means “let us celebrate” or “let us rejoice.”
And, if we are wise enough to count our blessings, then we have much to celebrate. In fact, we just celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day, and, in case you didn’t know it, this year, we marked Israel’s 65th year as a modern nation.
There have been several movies made over the years that have an extremely moving scene where, after all the struggles of the Jewish People, after all the yearnings to return to our historic homeland, David Ben Gurion announced the formation of the modern state.
It was on Nov. 29 in the year 1947 that the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution for establishment of Israel as an independent Jewish state. The U.N. urged the inhabitants to take the needed steps on their part to put this plan into effect.
And that is exactly what the Jewish people did. Sadly, even in Israel’s Declaration of Independence, the new country had to include the words, “In the midst of wanton aggression, we yet call upon the Arab inhabitants of the state of Israel to return to the ways of peace, and play their part in the development of the state, with full and equal citizenship and due representation in its bodies and institutions–provisional or permanent.”
The Declaration went on to say, “We offer peace and unity to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all.”
This was to be the fulfillment of a dream that Jews had been dreaming for generations. After all, as the Declaration states, “the land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people.” It was here that our “spiritual, religious and national identity was formed.”
Even after being exiled from the land, our people “remained faithful to it in all the countries of dispersion, never ceasing to pray and hope for a return and a restoration of our national freedom.”
I know many of our Christian brothers and sisters have been very supportive of Israel and the Jewish people, so I thought you might like to see the last paragraph of the Declaration, which states, “With trust in Almighty G-d, we set our hand to this Declaration, at this Session of the Provisional State Council, in the city of Tel Aviv, on this Sabbath eve, the fifth of Iyar, 5708, the fourteenth day of May, 1948.”
That’s right, “With trust in the Almighty G-d!”
I thought about that a lot recently, especially as I focused on the word “Independence.” I broke that single word into two words and got “IN DEPENDENCE.”
The state of Israel lives … The United States lives … and each of us as individuals lives … IN DEPENDENCE. We live IN DEPENDENCE of G-d and we live IN DEPENDENCE on each other. If there is to be peace between all peoples and all countries of the world, we would do well to remember that. No one country, no one people and no one person is so great, so powerful, that they can do it on their own. We need each other and we need G-d Almighty.
“Mi Chamocha … Who is like unto You, O Lord among the Mighty?”
Shalom my friends,
Rabbi Craig H. Ezring
Rabbi Ezring is a member of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains and of the Association of Professional Chaplains, He works professionally in this capacity with a number of healthcare facilities in the area, and with hospice. He is the Spiritual Leader of Temple Beth Israel of Deerfield Beach.
