Let’s Be Proud of Our Homeland

Racheli Morris, Director of Education

TBEeducator@bethelsp.org

May 14, 1948 was the final day of the British Mandate over Palestine, and as that day approached, various nations positioned themselves to determine the future of the proposed Jewish state. In an effort to finally bring their dream of a Jewish homeland to fruition, David Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel said, “We, by virtue of our natural and historic right and on the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the state of Israel.”

This month Israel will celebrate 71 years of its independence. Although the state of Israel has faced seemingly insurmountable odds throughout these years and has had to overcome countless obstacles, it has emerged as a light unto the nations with the following remarkable achievements:

• Ranks number 3 among the world’s most educated countries, with 50 percent of the population having university degrees
• Has the largest number of startup companies in the world besides the US, is ranked number 2 in the world for venture capital funding right behind the US, and with the second largest number of NASDAQ listed companies
• Its $100 billion economy is larger than all its immediate neighboring countries combined and is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East
• Its scientist and engineers are pioneers in the development of a revolutionary drip irrigation system to minimize the amount of water used for agriculture
• Has the world’s second highest per capita number of new books published yearly
• Israel’s airline and airport security is the world’s gold standard for others to follow, with security protocols second to none and awarded “World’s Best Airline Security” for 11 consecutive years
• Israel is ranked number 2 after Luxembourg with 7 percent immigrant per total population with immigrants coming to Israel in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity

I would like to close this article with these words of Ben Gurion, “Every Jew should ultimately feel a strong connection to his/ her people and the State of Israel; that there is something within every Jewish soul that pulls them to the Promised Land.”