(From The Jerusalem Post, April 18, 2017)
Yaakov Katz is right on the mark in “The tikkun olam myth” (Editor’s
Notes, April 14). Jews worldwide can
reconnect by recognizing an even greater miracle than the Exodus from Egypt.
Liberating one nation of thousands from enslavement in one
country after hundreds of years of exile and its return to the Land of Israel
pales in comparison with the Zionist miracle in our time. The return of millions of Jews, the
indigenous people of the Land of Israel, from a hundred countries after
thousands of years of exile to live in freedom in the reborn State of Israel is
miraculous.
Three times a day, Jews have cried out the words of the
prophet Isaiah during their 2,000 years of bitter exile, “Sound the great
shofar for our freedom, create the miracle of gathering our exiles and bring us
together from the four corners of the earth into our land.” What an amazing
privilege for Jews to see their people’s prayers answered in their lifetime.
American youth can experience tikkun olam (repairing
the world) in action by getting on a plane and flying to Israel to see its Arab
citizens living, working and studying alongside the country’s Jewish citizens
in an island of peace surrounded by barbarian turmoil. Israel is the only country in the Middle East
where Arabs can live in freedom.
As American Jews living with our sabra children,
grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Israel, my wife and I feel the
greatest miracle in Jewish history in every aspect of our daily life.
MEL ALEXENBERG, Ra’anana
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