I am haunted by photos and film of Jewish families being forced into ghettos during the 1930s and 1940s. Sewn onto their coats were stars of David. They were then loaded onto rail cars. Upon reaching death camps, Jewish families were sorted. In many cases, entire family units disappeared forever – erased from history by a dictator. Even at a very young age, I can remember a neighbor and family friend who had numbers tattooed on her arm – she was a surivivor. My first trip to Israel during 1993 placed me at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum. It had a huge impact on me. By my second trip in 1996, I began to fully understand the miracle which is modern day Israel. How did that understanding happen? Well, I educated myself about modern day Israel.
When the British Mandate ended in 1948, there was a chaotic rush to form a new nation of Jewish people from what was then called Palestine. It would be the home for those survivors of Germany’s final solution. It would be home to those native sabras born in Israel who had already been forging a life in the Holy Land on kibbutzim. It would be home to people who are both Arabic and Christian(no easy task!). In fact, Israel is home to many, many Muslim families who are Arabic.
Founding that new nation would not come without a price. Hebrew kibbutzim and new arrivals to Palestine would form militias to defend themselves before Israel would even become a nation. The patchwork of Israeli militaries consisted of Palmach/Haganah, Irgun, and the Stern Gang. They were poorly armed, but determined. They would die forming their new country or be pushed into the sea. The three groups would eventually merge into the consolidated force that we know today as the IDF(Israeli Defense Forces).
A modern day George Washington, Ben Gurion would lead the mission to form the first Jewish state since the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD. As a point of reference, the Hebrew people have been forcibly removed from their land on at least three occasions – the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Romans. Those forcible dispersions are called the Diasporas. Indeed, the ANU(Museum of the Jewish People) has entire exhibits dedicated to diaspora communities. Against all odds, the Jewish people of 1948 would restore their national footprint in a war for survival against the armies of Egypt, Trans Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. When the dust had settled in 1948, the Jewish people would have a nation about the size of New Jersey. In fact, the country was so narrow in places, that the army of Jordan could fire artillery shells across the entire width of the country.
Here are two quotes from David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, which I cherish:
Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared.
In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.
Modern day Israel would indeed need a miracle before the aforementioned 1948 War for Independence would even begin! It would arrive in the form of an old friendship. Chaim Weizmann, a Russian born immigrant of the Holy Land, would consult with President Harry S Truman about recognizing Israel as a country, but that meeting didn’t occur without some work. Weizmann was an acclaimed chemist who had discovered how to make synthetic acetone. He had rubbed elbows with Einstein on occasion, even working to raise money for Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Truman had been struggling mightily with the decision of whether to recognize Israel. Many did not want Israel recognized. Amazingly God had forged an relationship during WW1 between Harry Truman and Eddie Jacobson. They even formed a business together which went bankrupt after the war. But they remained lifetime friends. Jacobson would be called upon by the leaders of the future state of Israel to ask a favor. That favor? Ask President Truman to sit with Chaim Weizmann and hear his plea on behalf of the Jewish people to found their own, independent country in the face of almost insurmountable odds. Jacobson’s story is accounted by the Truman Library…
“Harry,” he said. “You have a hero, Andrew Jackson. I, too, have a hero, Chaim Weizmann. He’s the greatest Jew who ever lived. He’s an old and sick man and he’s traveled all this way to speak to you and you won’t see him. That’s not like you.”
Truman relented, and met with Weizmann. In a truly shocking move, Weizman would secure a historical commitment from the courageous President Truman. When the British Mandate ended, Truman would do the unexpected. On May 14th, 1948….President Harry S. Truman (against the advice of many advisors in DC) would be the first to recognize the state of Israel on behalf of the United States of America. Aptly, the man who showed up on Truman’s doorstep….Chaim Weizmann would become Israel’s first President.
From the ashes of German crematoriums, a phoenix arose. From death, came life. It was time for the desert to bloom again. A people who had walked through the Red Sea millennia before…were once again home.
I had faith in Israel before it was established, I knew it was based on the love of freedom, which has been the guiding star of the Jewish people since the days of Moses. I believe it has a glorious future before it, not just as a sovereign nation but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.
During the spring of 1948…The United States of America, long the bastion of freedom, would open the door for the Jewish people to return home and found a new nation. This alliance has persevered to the present day. It was never more apparent than this past weekend when B2s from Knob Noster, Missouri, took out three nuclear sites in Iran which most assuredly would have threatened Israel and then the United States.
I am reminded of an ancient promise made to Abraham.
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.
I believe that promise to the bottom of my heart. I believe God still keeps that promise to this very day. I don’t know how all of that works, and I don’t have to. I just know that it does. God blesses those who bless Israel.
Final Note: Nobody wants war. It is a terrible solution. There is so much suffering. But sometimes evil sets upon us whether we want it to or not. It sets upon us whether we value peace or not. But if wars must be fought, may they be fought quickly, courageously, and with the intent to win. May God’s favor rest upon those soldiers fighting for freedom. May all sides find peace when swords are finally beaten into plowshares.
It is incumbent on all of us to teach to our children the history and significance of the Israeli-American alliance. With that in mind, I am going to be writing a series of articles about the modern day nation of Israel and its positive impact over the last 75 years.
We are living in historical times. Historical times require historical perspective.
Independence is never given to a people, it has to be earned; and, once earned, must be defended. ~Chaim Weizmann
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