Many Jews have prayed for the return to our biblical homeland. “And let our eyes behold thy return in mercy to Zion. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who restorest thy divine presence unto Zion.”
Today, we are witnessing one of the greatest miracles of human history–the return of the Jewish people to her ancestral homeland. We are living in an age of miracles; a fulfillment of the biblical ingathering of the exiles spoken in Isaiah. Israel is, as Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, “God’s echo throughout eternity.”
From the ashes of the Holocaust, we have been privileged to see the rebirth of Israel in our day. The survival of the lamb among a billion wolves demonstrates that God continues to work His miracles in the world today—just like he did in the days of Isaiah and Cyrus of Persia.
Know that each of us plays a vital role in keeping Israel strong. As Bibi Natanyahu said, “W are not strangers to this land; this land knows and recognizes its children.” Our right to the Holy Land does not emanate from the United Nations, nor does it come from the Balfour Declaration itself but from God Himself, which He promised to give to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In every generation since the Roman destruction of Judea, Jews have lived in Israel and will continue to do so until the end of time. Everyone of us, here this evening, is a part of a great majestic chain stretching back to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.
Grafted from the branch of Abraham, we pray that all of you here this evening shall be blessed for your support of the Jewish state of Israel, thus fulfilling the Abrahamic blessing and prophecy, “Those who bless you, shall be blessed!”
We are a part of the great chain that connects us to the beginning and end of human history—but the chain that connects us to the Holy Land requires that we strengthen our link to this precious gift that we have been privileged to enjoy in our time.
But can one link in the chain make a difference? Most certainly!
It has been said that a chain is only as strong as it weakest link. A chain is made up of individual links. If even ONE of those links is weaker, or less strong, that will be the link that breaks, causing the whole chain to break apart. It does not matter if every OTHER link was made of the most unbreakable metal ever, because all you need is ONE to break . . . The weakest one.
Yes. indeed, each of us is like the links of the chain—all interconnected with one another. Let us pray that we do our link in this divine chain intact by keeping Israel strong and healthy.
Let us pray to Almighty God that we strengthen our bonds together as we attempt to preserve the Abrahamic chain of blessing not only for the present, but for the future generations as well. Not only for the people of Israel, but for all good people of the world who have grafted themselves to the mission of Israel. And let us say, “Amen.”