THE JEWISH NEWS

Special Report

ISRAEL AT 40
F

orty is a symbolic number
in the Bible, always signal-
ling a turning point.
From the 40 days and
nights of rain of the Great
Flood that almost destroyed the world
and the 40 days and nights that Moses
spent on Mount Sinai writing the Ibrah
to the 40 years the Israelites wandered
in the desert before a new generation
was prepared to enter the Promised
Land, the number has.denoted a major
event and a new maturity.
The same is true today as the State
of Israel turns 40, having creating out
of the ashes of the Holocaust a Jewish
homeland for the first time since our
people lost their independence 1,900
years before.
The two events — the Holocaust and
the creation of the state — are each
overwhelming, deeply contradictory to
each other and yet deeply related.
Perhaps their meaning is foreshadow-
ed in the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the
Dry Bones, read in synagogues at this
season: "Thus said the Lord: 'Behold,

I will open your graves and cause you
to come up out of your graves, 0 my peo-
ple. And I will bring you into the land
of Israel: "

Thousands of years later, Theodor
Herzl, the founder of modern-Zionism,
wrote of another vision: "If you will it,
it is no dream."
Israel's creation was the ultimate act
of faith, forging a national homeland of
Jewish souls — past, present and future.
Tbd ay, that state, the miracle of our
lifetime, is a living reality, still strug-
gling to survive among hostile
neighbors. And like the biblical 40, this
anniversary marks a turning point in
her life as she faces the challenge of
balancing her dual commitments to
democracy and Jewish ideals.
Taking pride in her accomplishments
and sharing her visions for peace, we of-
fer the following special report, from a
photo chronology of the first four
tumultuous decades to an American
Jew's feelings on this momentous
anniversary.