opinion
BY DAVID SUISSA
The Five Miracles of Israel
ne of the problems with the
need to always defend yourself
is that you can lose sight of the big
picture. In recent years, with the rise
of antisemitism and anti-Zionism,
the pro-Israel community has spent
much of its time on the defensive.

The haters attack, the community
fights back. Our energy is in the fight.

But on days like Yom Ha’atzmaut,
Israel’s Independence Day, when we
celebrate the very existence of the
Jewish state, we can take a timeout
from activism and marvel at the big
picture. I did that this month when I spoke
at a Yom Ha’atzmaut event at the
Saban Theater. I marveled at “the
five miracles of Israel,” miracles that
can get lost in the chaos of the daily
news cycle.

The first miracle is the idea of a
people who waited 1,900 years to
return home. After the Jews were
exiled from Jerusalem and saw their
Second Temple destroyed in the
year 70 CE, how did they stay so
patient for so long? How is it possi-
ble that over 19 centuries they never
gave up on their dream?
It helped, of course, that we were
reminded of our dream in daily
prayers and rituals like weddings, cir-
cumcisions and the Passover seder.

These rituals held the dream, day
after day, century after century. And
then, 74 years ago, our patience and
prayers finally paid off.

A few years after the darkest
moment in Jewish history, after centu-
ries in which we yearned and prayed
and hoped and dreamed, the Jews at
last returned home to Zion. That is the
most dramatic miracle of all.

But before we had a chance to cel-
ebrate, we needed a second miracle:
To fight off five Arab armies whose
sole mission was to drive us into the
sea. I had two uncles in that war. I’ve
read the incredible stories of bravery
and resourcefulness. How a ragtag
14 MAY 19, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Inna Reznik / iStock / Getty Images Plus
O army fought off five much larger
enemies and saved the country at
its birth is one of the great, but often
overlooked Jewish miracles.

The third miracle was the survival
of the Jewish state for the past 74
years in the face of enemies sworn
to its destruction. Israel has prevailed
time and time again on the battlefield,
against suicide bombings and rockets
and tunnels and knives and drones
and almost any other lethal physical
threat. The fact that we continue to
prevail against relentless forces who
can’t accept Israel’s very existence is
the daily miracle of Israel.

A higher force sent us the fourth
miracle — the most powerful coun-
try in the history of humanity con-
tinues to have Israel’s back. The
United States of America, through
thick and thin, through policy dis-
agreements and even disputes, has
never abandoned the Jewish state.

We can never take this miracle
for granted.

The fifth miracle may be the most
poignant of the five. In such a hos-
tile neighborhood, Israel had every
justification to develop a defensive
crouch, a bunker mentality, a soci-
ety obsessed with protection and
survival at all costs. Instead, while it
defended itself, it found the chutz-
pah and imagination and drive to
create a vibrant and open society
that honors democracy and cele-
brates life.

It boggles the mind how a tiny
country in the middle of such a vio-
lent region has become the envy of
the world in so many areas. From
innovations in medical and digital
technology to agriculture to cyber-
security to design, music, culture
and entertainment, this little country
has never stopped punching above
its weight.

It’s easy to forget this fifth miracle in
the midst of BDS and United Nations’
condemnations and the growth of
antisemitism on social media that
hides behind anti-Zionism. But even
for Israel’s critics, the extraordinary
accomplishments of the Jewish state
are impossible to deny.

That is the fifth miracle of Israel:
It did not settle for mere survival. It
aimed a lot higher — to thrive.

As I concluded my remarks on
Yom Ha’atzmaut: The best way to
honor our ancestors who yearned
for centuries to come home, the 6
million we lost in the Holocaust and
the fallen soldiers who died to pro-
tect their homeland, is not to survive
but to thrive.

Am Israel chai, the Am Israel
thrives. JE
David Suissa is editor-in-chief and
publisher of Tribe Media Corp and
the Jewish Journal. This article was
originally published by the Jewish
Journal.




nation
Lipstadt: Antisemitism Not Taken Seriously Until Deadly
Antisemitism is often not taken seriously until it becomes deadly, Deborah
Lipstadt, the Holocaust scholar who is the State Department’s antisemitism mon-
itor, said on May 12, JTA reported.

Lipstadt chose the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum for her first talk since her
Senate confirmation in March after contentious hearings.

She made good on her pledges to skeptical Republicans in the body that she
would identify and target antisemitism on all sides.

“Antisemitism does not come from one end of the political spectrum,” Lipstadt
said. “It is ubiquitous and is espoused by people who agree on nothing else or,
better put, disagree on everything else.”
She spoke of the threat from the far-right, mentioning the 2017 neo-Nazi march
in Charlottesville that convinced President Joe Biden, who named her to the post,
to run for the presidency. But she also alluded to her frustrations with the left.

German Police Find Antisemitic Material in Home of
Teen Allegedly Planning Terror Attack
German police found explosives and antisemitic, far-right literature at the
home of a teenager they suspect of planning a terrorist attack at a school, JTA
reported. Officers took the 16-year-old suspect, who was not named, into custody on May
12, the Tagesschau news site reported. Police said he is suspected of planning to
bomb a high school in Essen, a city about 250 miles west of Berlin.

Separately, German police are investigating a suspected arson at a Jewish
cemetery near Cologne. Both incidents closely followed the release of a report
indicating a 28% rise in antisemitic hate crimes in 2021.

In the incident in Cologne on May 11, an unidentified person poured a flamma-
ble substance on the wall around the Jewish cemetery of Bocklemünd, Rundschau
Online reported. Police are investigating whether the incident was an antisemitic
hate crime, the report said.

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Lufthansa Apologizes for Expelling ‘Large Group’ of
Chasidic Jews From Flight
Lufthansa apologized for kicking identifiably Jewish people off a flight from New
York City to Budapest after some Chasidic individuals had reportedly not worn
masks on the flight’s first leg, New York Jewish Week reported.

Lufthansa said in a statement on May 10 that it “regrets the circumstances sur-
rounding the decision to exclude the affected passengers from the flight.”
The statement said that the airline was still reviewing the incident and regretted
that “the large group was denied boarding rather than limiting it to the non-com-
pliant guests.”
The group referenced was 100-plus Chasidic Jews, many of whom did not know
one another, flying to Hungary on a pilgrimage.

The statement said that the German carrier has a “zero tolerance” policy for
racism, antisemitism and discrimination of any kind. “What transpired is not
consistent with Lufthansa’s policies or values,” it said.

Israelis Denied Entry into Jordan Because of Tefillin
Israeli tourists were prevented from entering Jordan on May 10 after guards at
the border crossing found tefillin in their baggage, The Times of Israel reported,
citing Channel 12 news.

Seven men, who were with about 40 insurance agents planning on a two-day
trip in the Hashemite kingdom, returned to Israel.

One of the men delayed told Channel 12 about “the unpleasant feeling and what
he said was the disrespect shown by the Jordanians to the tefillin.”
“We reached the border crossing and everything went relatively smoothly, and
then they stopped us during the security check,” he said. “They asked us to open
the suitcases, took out the tefillin and set it aside, took our passports and took us
to a separate room.”
The man said that the guards told him that they couldn’t take the tefillin into Jordan
because it was a religious sign, and that they “could be targeted for wearing it.” JE
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
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