Another “Once Upon a TIme in Jerusalem”
A new immigrant lighting Chanukah candles at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1949.
The State of Israel, the home of the Jewish people, is built on several pillars – on the ruins of two exiles that lasted 2,000 years, on embers from the fire that survived the Holocaust, on the pioneers who came to the land from the corners of the earth to fulfill the Zionist vision, and on the blood of the Palmach, the Etzel and Lehi fighters, whose unity into one army, the Israel Defense Forces, of all Israel, led us to independence and the independence of our Promised Land.
The picture from 1946 shows a child from a family of new immigrants who recently arrived in the Holy Land lighting Chanukah candles in the young state that celebrated its first year of existence.
The State of Israel was established from the gathering of exiles of Jews from all corners of the earth who prayed and longed for dozens of generations to return to the Holy City and Land, another link in the endless chain of the Jewish people.
They were a fascinating human mosaic from East and West, placed in the melting pot of Israeli society, which fused them together to become Israelis.
The Palmach, Etzel and Lechi and later the IDF fighters were united by the idea of the return of the Jewish people to Zion, and our soldiers, who are now fighting on seven fronts, are united by the knowledge that they are the messengers and self-sacrificing protectors of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
The soldiers fighting shoulder to shoulder today to protect our home, who are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the boy who lit the candles in the menorah 75 years ago, are not interested in the forced division imposed on us by cynical and immoral politicians who sow division in the people out of a desire to implement a divide-and-conquer strategy and to collect a few more votes in the polls.
Only with true unity of all the people of Israel – through deeds, not empty slogans that come out of mouths – can we continue in the Land of Israel the glorious chain of generations of the Jewish people.
We are one people with only one country, built as a safe home for all Jews of the world.
It is in our hands and the responsibility of each and every one of us – and now it is our turn to guard the light and all that connects us.
Only together will we increase the light and be an example to the world, creating a society in the land that will be worthy of the heavy price paid by previous generations and the price we are paying with the best of our sons even in these days.
Because each of us is a small light, and together – a strong light.
May we be worthy of their sacrifice.
We are in special times; the Assad regime and the Syrian army, which threatened the State of Israel for 76 years and two bloody wars, disappeared from the world within 48 hours, as if they never existed, and many transformations are taking place in the world in a way that we will only be able to understand in the future by connecting the dots backward.
May we continue to witness open miracles in this time, may the hostages return home safely along with the rest of the IDF soldiers from the four corners of the country, and may we rise above the divisions and be one special, united, and cohesive people.
Only then will true peace come to Israel.
Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem to all those near and far.
Am Yisrael Chai.
Photographer: Beno Rotenberg – The Zionist Archive
