THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 12. Friday, May 8, 1981 Greetings from Israel on Independence Day security. Mazal Tov and Hag Sameakh to all of you. * * * From the Honorable MENAHEM BEGIN Prime Minister of Israel From Jerusalem our et- ernal and indivisible capital I send to you all heartfelt greetings on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the proclamation of Israel's In- dependence in the land of our forefathers. After- the most terrible disaster which befell OUT people in Europe and the - heroic fight in Eretz Israel for national self-liberation we lived to see the day, one of the greatest in theannals of our ancient people, when we became a nation amongst nations, free and independent in our own country. Since then we have brought home millions of the Jewish people from the four corners of the world. We have had to sustain our independence through five wars, in which 14,000 of our best men gave their lives and more than 30,000 were wounded. But we did protect and preserve our indepen- dence. We set our country free; we reunited Jerusalem; we built up the land and are turning it into green pastures. - This year we celebrate the second anniversary of the signing of the peace _ treaty between Egypt and Israel. No doubt this is a turning point in the annals of the two countries and of the Middle East. After 31 years of a state of war and of five actual wars waged on the battlefield with great sacrifice, sorrow and be- reavement, we — Egypt and Israel — declared that we shall never again raise arms against each other and the state of war is termi- nated. The Middle East and its periphery are in a state of From the Honorable YITZHAK NAVON President of Israel : MENAHEM BEGIN turmoil. Iraq faces Iran in armed conflict. Syria, itself Seized by internal convulsions, is in con- frontation with Jordan. Lebanon continues its inner bloody strife, mainly because of the presence of the criminal PLO now armed by Soviet tanks and heavy weapons, aided by Syria and financed, as before, by Saudi Arabia. In this arena of instability and dispute the only peace- ful corner emanates from the treaty of peace he tween Israel and Egypt. We have since signed many agreements which . stem from -the treaty. We still have problems; in- deed we hope to solve - them. Better the difficulties of peace than the sufferings of war. We will be faithful to all the terms and all the parts of the Camp David agreement. There may still be difficulties ahead but we have started this great new chapter in' our life, peace. We live by the faith that in generations to come our people will live in this land together with their neighbors, in equality, in human dignity, in freedom, in independence and in real To Jewish communities everywhere we send from Jerusalem hearfelt greet- ings on Israel's Indepen- dence Day. , What was not given to our forefathers in 2,000 years of exile has been granted to our generation: the ancient dream has been realized; we have achieved indepen- dence. Independence means being able to shape our own destiny; ceasing to be an ob- ject manipulated by others. Independence means that we can develop our country and our culture in accord- ance with our spiritual le- gacy, our history, our desire to create a society of which we can be'proud — a society which will realize the bibli- cal vision that Torah will come forth from Zion. When Israel achieved its independence in 1948, there were 650,000 Jews in the country. Today there are three and a quarter million. In our first year of in- dependence, our exports consisted of citrus fruit, false teeth and heads for primus stoves. Today we export, among many other items, helicopters, electronic instruments, excellent and diversified agricultural produce. These are unparallelled achievements, but there are still difficult and most sig- nificant challenges that we have to meet: settlement of the desert area that repre- sents 60 percent of Israel's territory; molding one na- tion out of immigrants who have come from 102 coun- tries and speak 81 different languages; solving the so- YITZHAK NA VON cial problems with which we are now grappling; complet- ing the peace process begun with Egypt and, at the same time, guarding our own se- curity. And the chief task to be carried•out by the Jewish people is and remains — aliya! Till their actual aliya, Jews in their communities should study Hebrew, visit Israel, strengthen Jewish education. All of us must do all in our power to enable the Jews of Soviet Russia and Syria to leave their countries in freedom and, we trust, join us in rebuild- ing the homeland of our people. All of us hope with all our hearts that complete rede- mption will follow upon the beginning of redemption which divine help has given us, and that we will see the scattered Jewish people gathered in their own coun- try, developing their land and culture, creating a model society. Indeed all of us are responsible for each other, as one Jewish people. A happy Independence Day to all of you! * * * From the Honorable MQSHE GILBOA Consul General of Israel to the Midwest Israel's 33rd anniversary is marked while the world undergoes a process of pro- found unrest and continu- ous tension, economic crisis, severe and bloody religious conflicts and violent out- bursts affecting all conti- nents. All these traumatic occurrences have not deter- red the small, democratic Jewish state to continue to pursue its objectives and progress since its Renais- sance 33 years ago. In 1981, Israel will have a popula- tion of four million citizens (not including the Arab population in Judea, Samaria and Gaza — num- bering an additional 1.2 million). To compare it to the 800,000 citizens (among them 650,000 Jews) who lived there on the threshold of Isr-lel's independence 33 years ago, is to understand the demographic, social and economic positive revolu- tion which took place in our country, manifesting the vivid and continuous growth of Israel: The absorption of 1.7 mil- lion refugees and newcom- ers and the development .of the country from a coastal plain mini-state to a dynamic, proud and deter- mined community — turn- ing, literally, the desert into bloom and the wasteland into highly populated and productive cities, kibutzim and moshavim and busy ports and centers of creativ- ity and scientific and technological progress. Despite terrible wars launched by the Arab neighbors against it, Is- rael grew from strength to strength and despite enormous economic painful difficulties, in- vestments, production and manufacturing of all kinds increased beyond expectation. Israel has become the biggest exporting nation per capita in the world, sell- ing abroad highly sophisti- cated technological and sci- entific commodities as well as agrkultural production. Its cultural and artistic creativity based on our He- brew language and Jewish heritage gained interna- tional fame. The most significant phenomena in Israel's life has been the fact that it car- ried on unceasingly to create progresS and develop despite being in the foref- ront of the cruelest confron- tation line against powerful and ruthless world emp- which have threatened integrity and the well being of the Free World as a whole — and which Israel had to encounter sometimes on its MOSHE GILBOA own, as the soft and vulner- able link and often as the forgotten ally of the Judeo-Christian civiliza- tion. On its 33rd anniver- sary, the challenges facing Israel are as meaningful and as difficult as ever be- fore. It has to continue and strengthen the elements working for peace in the Middle East and the world and reject any surrender to those who want to jeopar- dize it and turn the wheel back from negotiation to • confrontation. A Personal Love Affair With the Golden City of David "How many ways do I love that I can pinpoint when I fell in love with this city. It thee? Let me count the JERUSALEM — It was happened so slowly and im- ways," wrote a poet. It is not love at first sight — or perceptibly that I wasn't easy to write poetry in even second. In fact it took a even aware of it. One day it Jerusalem and many are in- few years before Jerusalem was just another city -- spired to 'do so. Perhaps it's came to have a special rather on the small side, the light .. . dawn comes meaning for me. When I and then — one day — it stealthily, a rosy haze re- flecting off masses of grey came to live here in 1971, I was my city. stone. And when the sun Everyone has an image wondered frankly what all the fuss was about. Au- of their "Garden of sets, the darkenss is black stralia, my birthplace, had -Eden." Unbelievably I velvet spangled with golden bigger cities with wider am living in mine and I lights. Maybe it's the sound of streets, magnificent feel an enormous Jerusalem — the wind sighs privilege and, with it, a beaches and a sun-drenched rather frightening sense like mourning ghosts in the climate. London, where I'd once of responsibility. Every pine trees that abound here, lived, had more dignity, now and again, the whole silhouetted blackly against more graciousness. Venice concept that I live in the sky. Then again it could be the had more charm. Paris more Jerusalem seems to perfume of sage, thyme and engulf and overwhelm magic. What was so special me. It's a place that in rosemary that wafts down about Jerusalem? personal terms you have in the early morning from * * * the Judean hills. It could be There is no one moment to live up to. By DVORA WAYSMAN World Zionist Press Service the sense of history, as you walk where kings and prophets have walked, where the Bible is a living entity and where you go about your daily lffe in the city of King David. * * * , I think, for me, it is the spirituality — a feeling of God's presence. Not just at the Western Wall, al- though there you feel it the most. Hardened soldiers embraced it and kissed its stones when it became ours once more in 1967. fort you can't analyze, un- multi-lingual. It is the In- less it's the belief 'that gathering of the Exiles and Someone is really listening. it is eternity. * * * * * * When I was a little girl, Jerusalem is not a place, it is an emotion. It is history my mother often enjoined and tragedy, loss and vic- " me to count my blessings. tory, the past and the fu- The greatest blessing of all ture. It is the dream of our -is that I have come to live in forefathers and our own Jerusalem, and that my present reality. Above all it eyes have finally been is people — a rich ethnic opened to perceive its mosaic, multi-cultural and unique and abiding beauty. Even when you're there as a spectator, you cannot fail to be moved at the sight of men and women dwarfed by the towering Wall, chanting their prayers, some crying over sorrows they can relate only in this holy place, writing notes that they cram between the crevices in the giant stones. You approach it yourself diffidently, feeling un- worthy. Soon you too are unburdening yourself -in prayer and feeling the com- JERUSALEM