Page 33 - HaMizrachi Yom HaAtzmaut 5783 USA

economy, its welfare systems, its educa- main purpose of all the commands is for they live Jewish time within a calendar
tion, family life, employer-employee rela- those who live in the land of the L-rd.’ structured according to the rhythms of
tions, the protection of the environment These are mystical sentiments but we can the Jewish year. Only in Israel can Jews
and so on. translate them into secular terms. Juda- once again walk where the prophets
ism is the constitution of a self-governing walked, climb the mountains Abraham
The broad principles driving this elabo- nation, the architectonics of a society ded- climbed and to which David lifted his
rate structure, traditionally enumerated
as 613 commands, are clear. No one should icated to the service of G-d in freedom and eyes. Israel is the only place where Jews
dignity. Without a land and state, Judaism
have been able to live Judaism in anything
be left in dire poverty. No one should lack
access to justice and the courts. No family is a shadow of itself. G-d may still live in other than an edited edition, continuing
the heart, but not in the public square, in
the story their ancestors began.
should be without its share of the land. the justice of the courts, the morality of
One day in seven, everyone should be The reborn State of Israel in a mere 70
free. One year in seven all debts should the economy, and the humanitarianism years has surely exceeded even the high-
of everyday life.
be canceled. One year in fifty all land est hopes of the early pioneers of the
that had been sold was to revert to its Jews have lived in almost every coun- return to Zion, and this despite the fact
original owners. It was the nearest thing try under the sun. In 4,000 years, only that it has had to face almost ceaseless
the ancient world had ever seen to an in Israel have they been able to live as a threats of war, terror, delegitimation and
egalitarian society. free, self-governing people. Only in Israel defamation. Despite all this, it stands as
have they been able to construct an agri- a living testimony to Moses’ great com-
None of this was possible without a land. culture, a medical system, an economic mand: “Choose life, that you and your
The Sages said, ‘Whoever lives outside
Israel is as if he had no G-d.’ infrastructure, in the spirit of the Torah children may live.”
and its concern for freedom, justice and
Nachmanides in the the sanctity of life. May the light of the State of Israel, which
thirteenth cen- shines a little brighter each year, continue
tury said Only in Israel can Jews today speak the to be a blessing, not just to the Jewish
that ‘the Hebrew of the Bible as the language of people, but also to the world.
everyday speech. Only there can

(PHOTO: THE RABBI SACKS LEGACY) | 33