DESIGNS IN DECORATOR WOOD & LAMINATES, LTD.

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A Moment In History

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t was the evening of the 29th of November 1947. I was
then an 8-year-old child who was aware that something
very important was about to happen. Only in the com-
ing years did I realize the full significance of the event.
Almost all the neighbors in the house on 97 Herzl St.,
located in the southernmost end of Tel Aviv, the house
my father built in 1935, gathered in our small apartment,
pencils and pieces of paper in hand. All ears were glued to
Rachel Kapen
the radio as they tried to guess and assess the results of the
vote to take place in the U.N. Assembly in far-off New York
regarding the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab
states.
The hour was late, after midnight, and despite all my
efforts to stay awake, I finally succumbed to sleep only to
be summarily awakened by shouts of “mazal tov,” “L’chaim”
and “Shehechiyanu.” My father, a man not known for his
sentimentality, approached me with tears in his eyes and
said, “Roha’le (little Rachel), we have a state,” and gave me
a little kiss on my forehead. I will never forget those words
as long as I live.
Then came the unforgettable Friday afternoon of 1948
when our Old Man, as
David Ben-Gurion was
known, read the Scroll
of the Independence
of the State of Israel in
the old art museum in
Tel Aviv. The next day,
the British Mandate on
Palestine was over, and
the newly formed State
of Israel was formally
established after 2,000
years.
There was great
rejoicing among the
Yishuv, as our Jewish
community was called.
We all filled the streets
with spontaneous sing-
ing and dancing, which
is possible once in the
life of a person and in
the life of a nation.
Alas, Israel was
already engulfed in
a war with its Arab
neighbors who refused
A 9-year-old Rachel on April 21,1948, at what later became
to accept a state in
known as Gan Ha’atzmaut — Independence Park
Palestine.
After the end of the war, we were proud spectators
as my father received a commendation from the mayor
of Tel Aviv for his brave service in the Mishmar Ezrahi,
Civil Guard, during the War of Independence or War of
Liberation as it was also called.
Now, as we mark the 70th birthday of the State, I wonder
what my parents and their founder friends would think in
facing an Israel that is not exactly what they dreamt about.
I still believe they would rejoice with their children, grand-
children and great-grandchildren in a State of Israel that
would not have come to reality without them. •

Rachel Kapen lives in West Bloomfield and contributes Yiddish limericks to
the Jewish News.

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May 17 • 2018

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