Page 2—Supplement to The Jewish News—March 16, 1973
We Salute
the Builders
of Israel...
A Time for Rejoicing With Solemnity
This is a time for rejoicing—and for solemnity. Prophecy has been fulfilled, Israel is
redeemed and its citizens have risen above the menacing threats to their very existence.
It is a time for Jews everywhere, and for their friends who appreciate the meaning of pro-
phetic redemption, to relate to the glory inherent in one of mankind's greatest achievements in
libertarian aspirations.
Therefore Israel's 25th anniversary, to be celebrated on the fifth day of Iyar, on May 7,
is an occasion for genuine happiness over the attainment of sovereignty by our people after two
millennia of suffering, of virtual servitude during the centuries that were marked by miseries re-
sulting from the bigotries imposed upon us by our neighbors.
This day of rejocing is marked by solemnity. There is an admonition in the Talmud:
"Where there is rejoicing, there should also be trembling." There has been so much trembling in
the history of our people that we will surely not be denied the hours of rejoicing that go with
an acclamation of faith in the survival of the liberties we have earned for our kinsmen in the
Jewish state, and have thereby added strength to our own freedoms.
It has not been an easy road. The years preceding statehood were filled with agonies, under
many tryrannical regimes, during years of bestialities in many lands. And the 25 years of Israel's
independence were not devoid of struggles and anxieties. Some of them were bloody years. There
were three wars during which many lives were lost and many bodies maimed.
Even now, in a period of relative tranquility, under the cease fire, there remain the ten-
sions and the unending threats of a dangerous quiet which may yet erupt into renewal of warfare
and therefore another period of struggle for Israel to retain the sovereignty attained with blood
and tears.
That is why the rejoicing on the 25th anniversary is mingled with serious solemnity. It is
also filled with faith and with hope. There is the faith of the am Israel hai—the People Israel lip
And there is the hope that friends who have labored with Israel and with Jewry for Israel's secur-
ity will not shirk from their obligations to remain partners with us in a task for the assurance
of peace in the entire area in which Israel perpetuates its historic links.
It is the faith in American idealism and the hope for the retention of this nation's friendship,
for Israel that sustains our confidence that what will follow the 25th anniversary will be a con-
tinuity of amicable relationships between Jews and Americans, Israelis and the United States, that
out of it will develop the peace for which there is so much craving in our ranks.
On this glorious occasion there is no ignoring the duty that ' abounds in Jewish ranks, in
Jewish hearts, toward the future. To assure Israel's security the Jewish community is bound by
a partnership that calls for unstinted generosity to keep Israel's doors open to the stream of new-
comers seeking refuge in the Jewish state. We must provide for the welfare of the hordes of un-
derprivileged who come to Israel. We must keep Israel's schools and universities on a very high
level of scholarship.
We know the value of the day of rejoicing and we adhere to our responsibilities. This is the
message we send to our kinsmen in Israel as we prepare. to celebrate with them the 25th anniversary
of the Jewish state.
The eternity- of Israel shall never he denied:* — I Samuel 15:39
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