What Keeps Israel?

The world is on fire again. From East to West, strongmen flex their muscles while democracies wobble and regimes tighten their grip. Putin wages war in Europe. Kim Jong-un rattles his nuclear saber. Iran and North Korea breathe threats of annihilation. Erdogan plays both sides, while the Arab world is led by kings, sheikhs, and presidents-for-life whose promises of peace rarely reach the street.

In the West, even democracy feels unstable. Trump’s rise and return, Zelensky’s wartime leadership, Europe’s political fragmentation; these paint a picture of global chaos. And among this storm, one tiny nation, constantly judged and ceaselessly scrutinized, stands strong.

Israel.

How can such a small country survive, let alone thrive, amid such hostility?

The answer isn’t found in statistics or speeches. It’s written in the long, bloody, miraculous history of the Jewish people. Nations have risen and fallen: Babylon, Rome, Persia, the Soviet Union. But Israel, the people and the land, remains.

From slavery in Egypt to exile in Babylon, from the Inquisition to the Holocaust, the Jewish people have stared into the abyss and emerged, not just alive, but resilient, creative, and hopeful. October 7, 2023, now etched into our collective memory, may be another chapter of suffering, but it will not be the end. Just as Yom HaShoah reminds us of our vow: Never Again, so too will we remember October 7 as a moment of unity, resistance, and reaffirmation of life.

So what keeps Israel?

Faith. Ingenuity. Unity. The strength of its people. The hope of generations in exile, who prayed “Next year in Jerusalem” and meant it. The iron will to live not just for survival, but with purpose.

Yes, Israel is criticized. Yes, politics are messy. Yes, Benjamin Netanyahu’s scandals fill newspapers. But let’s be honest—if cigars are the worst thing Israel’s critics can find, perhaps they should look closer at the miracles happening in this land. High-tech breakthroughs. Life-saving humanitarian missions. World-class security. A people who sing and dance and love life, even as sirens wail.

And yet, some in Israel choose this moment, this moment, to fracture from within. Protests. Political infighting. Demands for change when the wolves are at the door. Division now is not democracy; it is weakness, and in Israel, weakness invites danger.

Israel’s greatest strength has always been its unity in crisis. When enemies surround her, Israelis stand together, as soldiers, as mothers, as rabbis, as students. Left, right, religious, secular, when rockets fall, all that melts away. That unity, together with unshakable faith in God, is Israel’s shield.

To the diaspora: Israel is more than a headline. It’s the home you prayed for, the homeland reborn. And in a world descending into uncertainty, Israel remains a beacon, defiant, joyful, eternal.

In days like these, we must remember: happiness is found not in perfection, but in purpose. And Israel’s purpose is clear: to live. To flourish. To be a sanctuary, a promise kept.

Stand with Israel. Stand for life. Am Yisrael Chai