Fixing what is broken

In 1808 former President John Adams said, “I will insist the Hebrews have contributed more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth.”

President Adams most likely would not be surprised by the extent of Israel’s contributions to the world today. In fact, listing Israel’s innovative, scientific, technological, and agricultural breakthroughs is easier than finding sand on the beach.

Used throughout the world, their monumental inventions include the drip irrigation system, solar-powered water heaters, the USB flash drive, the Waze GP navigation app, a driver assistance system that can prevent vehicular accidents, a wearable robotic exoskeleton that helps people with spinal cord injuries walk, a pill that can examine the digestive system, and a wearable device that uses AI to assist vision-impaired people.

In recent months, Israel has added more stunning accomplishments to their impressive list.

In a ground-breaking achievement, Israeli researchers discovered a new way to make glass that is easier to manufacture than standard glass and can, in effect, fix itself. By combining peptide powder with water, scientists found that glass will form. Described as “self-healing”, the glass is able to repair its own cracks because it is adhesive and can be glued together. Scientists hope to apply this new discovery in a wide array of scientific and technological ways.

Another new achievement is Israel’s AI-driven defense system aimed at protecting property from the types of wildfires that plague Los Angeles. Using eco-friendly fire retardants along with Artificial Intelligence, the mechanism is able to form protective barriers and extinguish spot fires caused by wind-blown embers.

With a goal of solving the worldwide blood shortage, an Israeli startup recently innovated a way to mass-produce lab-grown red blood cells using stem cell technology instead of donor blood cells.

In another scientific advancement of late, Israeli researchers said that for the first time in history they were able to connect the parts of speech to the activity of individual cells from the regions of the brain. Because a patient was able to communicate with thoughts rather than voice, scientists are hopeful that this new discovery will help people with conditions such as ALS and brain injuries.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) said, “In span of only a few decades, Israel has emerged as one of the most dynamic democracies after one of the gravest catastrophes. Never in human history has a nation of so few done so much so quickly in the face of so many threats to its survival and security. The achievements of the Jewish state are nothing short of astonishing. I marvel at the modern miracle it represents, and I wish everyone else saw what I so clearly see.”

Israel’s contributions to the world emanate from a desire to solve problems and to enhance the global quality of life. In fact, repairing the world is a Jewish mission. Yet, one of the biggest and most unfortunate ironies is that, with all that Israel has created, after seeing pictures of Gaza and Southern Lebanon, many now primarily associate Jews with tearing down rather than building. In actuality, it is Israel’s enemies who darken the world by using their resources to destroy rather than to create, and to break rather than to fix.

Israel’s remarkable achievements lead us to wonder how much more they could accomplish if so many of their resources were not spent in their perpetual fight for survival, fending off threats surrounding them. Indeed, the Jewish people have been hunted like no other people. There are Jews who survived the Holocaust but were later killed by Hamas or other terrorists. Also, we recently learned that a man named Shlomo Mantzur, who survived the 1941 Farhud massacre against the Jews in Iraq, was killed in the October 7 massacre. Even in death, he has no peace because Hamas still holds his body hostage.

In fact, the Jewish people have known rampant persecution for over two millennia. In 1938 Germans unleashed widespread pogroms, destroying synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses and homes. Named after the shattered glass that littered the streets, the event came to be known as Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. Our history includes countless pogroms in which our glass, along with our dreams of living in peace, was shattered.

Noting the universal precariousness of life, there is a Jewish saying: “The whole world is a very narrow bridge.” For Jews, however, the bridge has always been narrower than it has for others. Yet, we have not only survived but have thrived. With an uncanny ability to self-repair, we have done the seemingly impossible, managing again and again to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps even when we had no boots.

How fitting it is that the Jewish people are the ones who have now discovered a way for broken glass to repair itself. And we have done so because of our boundless determination to fix what is broken and to see, even during our darkest hours, that glimmer of light within the shattered glass.