What Israel means to me
As Israel gets ready to celebrate, we asked what makes it so special
CHIEF RABBI EPHRAIM MIRVIS
Israel has been rejected by so many. Yet, as we celebrate 70 glorious years since the establishment of the State, we are mindful of the verse in the Hallel, Psalm 118, which declares, “Even ma’asu
Habonim, haita le rosh pina” — “The stone that has been rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.”
Though some of the builders of our global society have rejected her, Israel has become a veritable cornerstone of life on this planet. She is a remarkable resource of spirituality, has made immense contributions to the fields of science, medicine, agriculture, information technology, and many others.
As we reflect on all the blessings that the Almighty has brought to the State of Israel throughout the past 70 years, we pray that well into the future, Israel will be blessed with peace, security, happiness and success in all of her endeavours.
Ephraim Mirvis is Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth
MICHAEL GOVE
To me, Israel is an inspiration. It shows that the human spirit can achieve amazing things against incredible odds. The Jewish people after millennia of persecution built a home while surrounded by enemies and made that home a beacon of liberty.
Israel’s vibrant democracy, respect for individual freedom and restlessly innovative culture make it an example to others.
Every time I visit I’m amazed at what Israel has achieved and ashamed that so many respond to its achievements by indulging in the oldest hatred. The best response to that prejudice is to celebrate an amazing country which has endured so much and which at 70 shows the rest of us the power of hope
Michael Gove is Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
RABBI LAURA JANNER KLAUSNER
I’ve been in love with her for as long as I can remember. I love her contours, her sounds and her smells. Her language is the heartlanguage that superseded my mother tongue. Her language is the language of my prayers, of my strongest songs and my true soul. I lived with her for many joyful years and now I am away from her in another land and I yearn for her. She exasperates and totally infuriates me and I am often enraged by the way she can conduct herself when she really should know better from our history. She’s a refuge and an inspiration. She can hurt others and through this, herself and me. I hold her responsible for her actions. I travel to be with her as often as I can and each time I leave her, I feel the distance between us as a physical loss. I simply adore her — warts and all.
Rabbi Laura Janner Klausner is the Senior Rabbi to the Movement for Reform Judaism
JONATHAN FREEDLAND
There’s the idea of Israel and then there’s the reality. The reality can be maddening (and worse), thanks largely to an occupation that is as old as I am. It’s helped shape a society that is too often marked by militarism and casual aggression, surging nationalism and unvarnished racism. All of those things can make me despair of the land where my mother was born.
And yet the idea of Israel — one I received from her, from my father, from my upbringing in the kibbutz-centred youth movement Habonim-Dror and from my reading of Jewish history — that remains an idea I cannot shake. The idea of a country we Jews can call our own; where we might not merely survive, but thrive; a safe haven in which we might not just live but flourish — that idea still moves me. That idea of Israel I defend even now, despite everything.
Jonathan Freedland is a columnist for the JC and The Guardian.
JONATHAN ARKUSH
The rebirth of Israel is the greatest story of national liberation ever told. The restoration to the Jewish people of their self-determination in their ancient land is miraculous in every sense and is without parallel in history. Every day I spend in Israel I am reminded of the majestic vision of the Torah and our prophets, that the Jewish people will return there from every corner of the globe.
It inspires me that from millennia of marginalisation and hate, culminating in the ashes of the Shoah, the Jewish nation is renewed and reinvigorated. The Israel that speaks to me is at the same time ancient and modern, traditional and cutting-edge, remembering its past while envisioning its future, restrained when military force is necessary while strong in defence against its surrounding enemies.
Tensions are always there, but they are inherent in life and they are our people’s tensions to resolve, as independent of the involvement of others as possible because we are no longer completely at the mercy of the outside world. I watch my Israeli, Hebrewspeaking grandchildren growing up and I am filled with hope for their well-being and security. Jews have always prayed for peace, both nationally and personally and I am confident that with a strong and secure Israel, our hopes and prayers are closer to being fulfilled.
Jonathan Arkush, President of the Board of Deputies.
COLIN SHINDLER
For me, Israel is at the forefront of Jewish history. The state is the inheritor of the French revolutionary tradition and nineteenth century European liberal nationalism.
As someone who was embedded in the political causes of the 1960s, the Six Day war in 1967 was a watershed. The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 propelled me to work for the emigration of Soviet Jewry. I understood that it was what the Jews did themselves that counted. Auto-emancipation, not emancipation by others.
Even if Israel today is a flawed democracy, its leaders lacking a moral compass amidst multiple charges of corruption, it remains the central answer to the millennial Jewish problem. All other ideologies, both Jewish and non-Jewish, have failed. After all, there was no mass workers’ uprising on behalf of the Jews, when Hitler invaded.
The task of diaspora Zionists is rightly to stand up for Israel, but also to help transform Israel into Zion.
Colin Shindler was the first professor of Israel Studies in the UK.
JULIE BURCHILL
I’ve been a philoSemite since I was a teenager (you can read about in it my memoir, Unchosen) but I didn’t go to Israel until I was in my 40s. To say it lived up to my expectations is an understatement — the people, culture and climate have basically ruined me for every other country. Especially the people — no country ever boasted such a rainbow of beauty. Not for nothing did my gay mate Chas refer to his first trip there — just