Mere minutes that uprooted millennia

It took all of three minutes for the nascent United Nations to approve a resolution recommending the establishment of a Jewish state, 1,900 years since Jews last held sovereignty over their homeland.* The date was November 29, 1947 and is recognized as somewhat of a holiday in modern-day Israel. The Hebrew date was 16 Kislev, but ask if that date means anything to anyone. It does not. Israelis mark this giant leap in the re-creation of the state on Kaf-Tet B’November, November 29. The choice to set this Gregorian date for commemoration was as deliberate as the event itself was momentous.

What would soon be called The State of Israel was about to join the global family of nations. And just as “it is not good for Adam to be alone,” Zionist leaders were determined that neither would the Jewish state be alone. After millennia of scorn, disregard and distain the international polity recognized and encouraged the rebuilding of a Jewish nation in its birthplace. And although the Jewish leadership might have believed that this land was theirs, that they had every right to call that land home, that they needed no other validation to establish a state and chart their own future, the leaders of the gestating state understood that throughout all of history an ancient principle articulated in the Torah still held. What the world thinks matters.

Just days after their Exodus from Egypt the Jewish people sinned so egregiously by worshipping the Golden Calf that God was determined to annihilate them. Moses was able to convince God to hold back using an argument along the lines of “What will the Egyptians think?” (Exodus 32:12). Similarly, the Psalmist (115:2) cries, “Let the nations not say ‘Where, now, is their God’?” Aspirationally, even God awaits the day when “My house will be a house of prayer for all the nations.” (Isaiah 56:7)

The Jewish People require validation to be from no source other than God. The Jewish State, however, requires acceptance, at least nominally, from global society to take its place there. Marking the date of this recognition as 16 Kislev would be meaningless to the world. In order to proclaim its presence in the world and its relevance to it, Israel marks the date of November 29.

If we permit November 29 to obscure its Hebrew date, then turnabout is fair play as we glean an idea by revealing the Hebrew identity of the Friday on which it falls this year, Yom Shishi – Sixth Day.

Conceptually, our planet is at the center of our cosmos. At the center of our planet, God placed the Garden of Eden. At the center of the Garden, God placed two trees. On the Sixth Day – Yom Shishi – of creation, God placed two people in the center of the Garden within easy reach of those trees. The fruit from one of those trees grants us, the descendants of those first people, the Godlike ability to discern between Good and Evil.

Among the nations, there are few who exercise this ability. Israel is one of them, and at times Israel seems to stand alone in calling out that which is Evil. As important as it is to exist among the nations, the idea of a Jewish state would be meaningless if the moral compass which guides it mindlessly aligns with the nations around it.  Although not ideal, at times Israel sadly is “a people that dwells apart, not reckoned among the nations.” (Numbers 23:9) Now is one of those times. November 29 marks the date that Israel took its place among the many on the global stage. Friday – Yom Shishi – is the day Israel rises among the few as a standard bearer for Good.

As this week bends towards Shabbat, we extend the blessing of “Shabbat Shalom” upon one another. On this Friday – Yom Shishi, November 29 – as we anticipate the Shabbat that will soon descend upon us, these words are not only a blessing, they are a prayer.

Shabbat Shalom.

*Here is a terrific short film about this tectonic shift in modern Jewish history.