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70 Years Of Miracles

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of the plight of the Jews, but part of their
ike some of the past celebrations
identity. Many religious and secular Jews
of Israel’s Independence Day, the
— each of them thinking this way as a
fuss being made about Israel’s 70th
result of different reasons and ideologies
birthday this year hasn’t penetrated too
— embraced the absence of the Jewish
far into the American Jewish conscious-
people from the world stage as a virtue.
ness. While those Jewish activists who
Many religious Jews thought
are already interested in Israel-
that a return to the Land of Israel
oriented events are doing their
must await the arrival of the mes-
best to acknowledge the passage
siah. Secular liberals believed
of seven decades since 1948,
values rooted in universalism were
for millions of Americans who
a better defense than sovereignty
identify themselves as Jews, Yom
over their own land. Zionism —
Ha’atzmaut, April 19, was just
the notion that Jews must take
another day on the calendar.
charge of their own fate — was,
The problem in our think-
Jonathan S.
even after Theodor Herzl helped
ing about 70 years of Israeli
Tobin
found the modern movement, sup-
independence is rooted in its
ported by only a minority of the
normalcy. Those who grew up
Jewish people and had little back-
in the second half of the 20th
ing from non-Jews.
century, let alone the 21st, think
Yet however the Jews conceived of their
of Israel’s existence as a given. We relate
to it in terms of what we think of its prime role in the world, the non-Jewish world
thought of them as a largely despised and
minister or our opinions about what it
homeless minority. The consequences of
should do to solve the conflict with the
this for Jewish security everywhere were
Palestinians, with battles over religious
incalculable. Anti-Semites have always
pluralism and its treatment of migrants
from Africa — or whatever the issue of the had a variety of contradictory reasons for
hating the Jews. Regardless of the motives
day might be.
of the haters, the lack of a national home
But its 70th birthday is an apt moment
inevitably rendered efforts at defense
to try to take the long view of Israel’s
futile in a world in which Jews were
importance.
thought of as deicides by Christians and
What has been forgotten in its rise to
as a dhimmi people who deserved second-
the status of a first-world economy and
class status by Muslims.
a regional military superpower is just
Herzl’s insight was based on his expe-
how unlikely its existence was considered
rience covering the trial of Jewish artil-
before 1948 and what that has meant to
lery officer Alfred Dreyfus in France in
the lives of every Jew on this planet.
the 1890s. He understood that if crowds
A century ago, even after the Balfour
could still cry “death to the Jews” in what
Declaration gave the Zionist move-
was then thought of as the freest and
ment its first real triumph, the notion of
most liberal nation in the world, any
a Jewish state in what was then called
hope of Jewish security in Europe was a
Palestine was still considered a fantasy.
mirage. He was right. Jews had no future
For nearly 2,000 years, the Jews had been
in Europe or a Muslim world where they
deprived of sovereignty over any part of
could never hope to be treated as equals.
their ancient homeland. Homelessness
While the democracies of Britain and
was not merely an unavoidable element

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the United States proved to be havens of
safety, only the restoration of Jewish sover-
eignty in the Jewish homeland could pro-
vide an answer to the precarious nature of
diaspora life.
Herzl was wrong about a Jewish state
solving the problem of anti-Semitism.
That most potent virus has shown its abil-
ity to adapt itself to the ideologies of the
20th century and now focuses its animus
on Israel. Yet he was right when he sup-
posed the creation of a nation for the Jews
would change the lives of every Jew for the
better. What happened in 1948, and in the
years that followed, caused every Jew in
the world — whether religious or non-reli-
gious, Zionist or non-Zionist — to stand a
little taller. It also changed the way much
of the world looked at Jewish existence for
the better.
What is needed on Yom Ha’atzmaut is
not so much a day of cheering for mod-
ern Israel, though it certainly deserves
plaudits for its economic achievements,
military valor and vibrant culture. Rather,
what is called for is an appreciation of
how extraordinary the mere fact of its

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existence is in the context of Jewish his-
tory. Its rebirth and ability to defend itself
and thrive in the face of continued hate
and terrorism is something previous gen-
erations of Jews would have considered
a miracle. Though many of us may scoff
at such terms and prefer to focus on geo-
strategic realities (as well as what is often
the necessary process of self-criticism),
we should not be so quick to dismiss this
perspective.
Like any human creation, Israel is
imperfect and faces problems. But what
the country and its people have done in
the last 70 years is something few rational
individuals would have imagined possible
before they did it. In our own time and
with our own eyes, we have seen 70 years
of miracles as the Jewish state survived,
thrived and enriched the lives of all Jews,
even if they lived elsewhere. That is the
point of Israel at 70 and why we should
pause this week and appreciate what it
means to all of us. •

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS — the
Jewish News Syndicate.

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April 26 • 2018

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