Page 11 - HaMizrachi Chanukah 2021 - USA

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1914 1917 1917 1918

The first Mizrachi USA Great Britain issues the Balfour Declaration, The Mizrachi Teachers Institute HaMizrachi begins publication
convention is held in Cincinnati, pledging its support for a national home is established in New York in Warsaw under the editorship
led by Rabbi Meir Bar-llan for the Jewish people in Palestine of Rabbi Yitzchak Nissenbaum

W e live in a world our Jews would play a vital role in return- hundreds of shlichim to Jewish com-

great-grandparents
could only dream of. ing our people to the Land of Israel and munities all over the world, inspiring
Jews everywhere with the Torah of
in every stage of our people's rebirth
In the prime minis- that was to follow. Eretz Yisrael.
ter's office of the State of Israel sits
Alongside the socialist pioneers of Reflecting on Mizrachi's role in the mir-
a Jew who dons a kippah and refuses HaShomer HaTza'ir, HaPoel HaMizra-
to take calls from Vladimir Putin on acle of modern Israel, Rabbi Joseph B.
chi pioneers settled the land, building Soloveitchik wrote: "If not for Mizrachi,
Shabbat. Religious Israeli musicians
religious yishuvim and communities. Torah-true Judaism would not have
sing songs of faith to sold-out stadiums
As the new Yishuv developed, Mizra- participated in the building of the Land
packed with Jews of every kind. And
chi built a religious education system, of Israel and the establishment of the
increasingly, Religious Zionists play a
providing a Torah education for tens
pivotal role in the most dynamic areas State. It has written a glorious chapter
of thousands of children on the eve in the annals of the Jewish people and
of Israel's economy, from elite cyber
of the declaration of the State. And at
units in the IDF to cutting-edge tech salvaged our honor."
the extraordinary moment of modern
startups. Religious Zionists at the Indeed, it is difficult to imagine the
Israel's birth, Religious Zionist leaders
center of Israeli life have become so
stood proudly alongside David Ben-Gu- Israel of today without the beat-
ubiquitous, so commonplace, that it is ing heart of Mizrachi and Religious
rion, infusing the nascent state with a
rarely deemed worthy of notice.
spirit of faith and the recognition of Zionism.
But it wasn't always so. G-d's hand in history.
Today, many of these accomplish-
Torah Jews had always longed for Zion, Following the establishment of Israel, ments are taken for granted. But as
but when Herzl's political Zionism Mizrachi fought to ensure Israel would we celebrate the 120th anniversary of
burst onto the scene in the late 1890s, be not only a State for the Jews but also Mizrachi's founding, it is an opportu-
many Orthodox leaders refused to join, a Jewish state, in which Shabbat obser- nity to reflect upon our movement's
offended by the secularism that dom- vance and kashrut would be recognized astonishing history and give thanks to
inated the movement. But by found- and honored, if not yet observed by all. the extraordinary people who did so
ing Mizrachi in 1902, Rabbi Yitzchak And today, as the locus of Jewish life much to make the dreams of our people
Yaakov Reines ensured that religious has shifted to Israel, Mizrachi sends come true.