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WORLD MIZRACHI PROUDLY PRESENTS
                                                                 A NEW VIDEO FOR YOM HA'ATZMAUT



















                                                                       Thursday, May 13th, 1948.

                                                                      A day which would alter the
 Devorah Silberfarb and her dog, Dakota  Shira Pahmer                   course of Jewish destiny.
          Even so, after her seminary year, Pahmer returned to the US
          and enrolled at Stern College. That didn’t last long. “At the   During those turbulent times,
          end of my first semester, I just felt like I needed to go back to   as the leader of the Zionist movement,
          Israel,” she reported.                                   David Ben-Gurion had to grapple with several
          “It took many months of deliberating. I spoke to my parents a        critical dilemmas.
          lot about the idea and they were fully supportive of whatever
          decision I would make.” After four months, Pahmer took a   Should an independent Jewish state be
          leave of absence from Stern and came to study in Jerusalem   declared at this challenging time in Jewish
          “just to try it out – without actually declaring Aliyah. Almost   history or should they accept the American
          immediately, I knew that there was no way I could ever leave.”   proposition of a three-month ceasefire?
          She officially withdrew from Stern and made Aliyah in June   Would such a declaration immediately plunge
          2021.                                                     the nascent state into a fatal war? Could the

          Aliyah comes with challenges. For Pahmer, it meant “leaving   small army of so many Holocaust survivors
          behind all my closest family and friends. I came during the   triumph against the might of the Arab world?
          pandemic when the borders were closed, so I didn’t know when
          I would see them next. I also really loved my time in Stern   Learn about how Ben-Gurion, Rabbi Yehudah
          College; I was very sad to be leaving that behind. I was nervous   Leib Maimon, the leader of Mizrachi, and
          about starting a new school where I didn’t know anyone. The   others had the courage to declare the State
          language barrier is also something that I knew would be hard             of Israel.
          for me, and it still is because my Hebrew is not so great,” she
          admitted.
                                                                      “Declaring a State: The Quorum That
          Nevertheless, “I decided to make Aliyah because I know that   Changed Jewish History” will be available
          this is where the Jewish people belong. Hashem promised this   to watch on World Mizrachi’s YouTube
          land to us, and He wants us here. I also believe that the safest   channel, Facebook page and MizrachiTV,
          place for the Jews right now is Israel, and where else would I      from Sunday, May 1.
          want to be but in our ancestral homeland?”
          Now studying computer science at Machon Tal in Jerusalem,                        @worldmizrachi
          Pahmer has a sister who also made Aliyah. “For me, living in
          Israel is the greatest dream come true. I love being in a Jewish                 @worldmizrachi
          country surrounded by so many types of Jews. Every day I
          still feel so lucky to be here, because I know that this is where
          Hashem wants me to be, and I know that I am making my
          family proud,” she acknowledged.


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