Parashat Aharei Mot-Kedoshim: In Awe of Israel
In 1838, the Cherokee tribe was forcibly relocated on the Trail of Tears. Michigan had recently just become a state, and we officially recognized the Republic of Texas, following the battle of the Alamo. Oberlin College first enrolled female students, and it was the first time we witnessed co-education in America. We were still 20 years away from Minnesota becoming a state. Ten years away from the California Gold Rush. Why do I bring up these seemingly unrelated facts? To share with you some of the turmoil that we faced a mere 62 years after we became the United States of America.
Just this week we celebrated Israel’s 62nd birthday with Yom HaAtzmaut—Israel’s Independence Day. Looking back over the past 62 years, Israel is an anomaly, and therefore, a miracle. By any rule of thumb, Israel should not exist—a country the size of New Jersey surrounded by its enemies. But it does exist. And it thrives.
Picture that America that I just described. Now picture Israel. Israel—our great ancestral homeland. Yes, Israel has had its fair, or better, unfair share of wars and terror. But it is also the country with the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world. The only liberal democracy in the Middle East. The country with the largest fleet of aircraft outside of America. The country with the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.
Israel brought us drip irrigation systems, Intel Pentium chips, firewall software, Google’s search algorithm, ICQ (the first form of instant messaging), tsunami detection, the Pill Cam, the Uzi machine gun, voicemail…the list goes on and on and on.
In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world.
I learned all of the above when, reliving our Exodus over Passover, I read Dan Senor’s book Start-up Nation. If you haven’t read it yet…go get it. In the mean time, let me share with you one of his and his co-author Saul Singer’s suggestions: Israel is who she is and where she is today because of Tzahal, because of the IDF—Israel’s military. Because of the culture of her military – that is combined initiative, calculated risk-taking and universal agility – the cross-discipline training coupled with a drive to empower its citizen army, Israel has and always will continue to succeed in this world, especially in the business arena. That’s not to say that Israel’s methods would work in America, but it has worked for Israel, and for that we can all be proud and eternally grateful.
But Yom HaAtzmaut is not the only reason we discuss Israel this morning. Israel is uniquely linked to Shabbat in this morning’s Torah reading. “You shall keep my shabbatot, and revere my Sanctuary, my holy place; I am Adonai”—et shabtotai tishmoru u’mikdashi tirau ani Adonai (Leviticus 19:30). The Shabbat piece is clear. But what does it mean to revere God’s mikdash? On the surface, the p’shat, we can understand that this is God’s holy instruction to venerate the Temple. But using our interpretive lens, drash, we can understand that Mikdashi—my Holy place, my Sanctuary, is none other than God’s Holy Land. Honor the Sabbath Day and Keep it Holy. Honor the Holy Land and Keep it Holy. And the beauty of this charge is the end of the verse: Ani Adonai. “Because I said so.” Shabbat is God’s Day of Rest, so it’s our day of rest too. Israel is God’s Holy Land and special place, so it is our holy land and special place as well.
And so we do revere Israel. We stand in awe of Israel, in awe of its majesty, of its mystery, and in truth of its myriad accomplishments and what it delivers to the entire world over. It is not only a mitzvah to help settle the land of Israel, but it is a mitzvah, on a par with keeping Shabbat, to be in awe of her.
To help make us awestruck, and to drive some of that point home, we’re privileged this morning to hear from Captain Nadav and Lieutenant Miryam, both from the Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit.
(Following the speakers)
Let me also add that 6:00pm tomorrow night, at the Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park, there will be a Night to Honor Israel. This will be an opportunity to come and show our support—to come together and celebrate our love and reverence for the Holy Land. Rabbi Davis and I both look forward to seeing you there. And we’ll get to hear Cantor Abrams sing as part of the celebration too! Please rise and join me now as we join together in the Prayer for the State of Israel.
