• Online Forms
  • Event Space
  • Contact
  • Livestream
Rabbi David Wilfond’s Message – Friday, April 28, 2023Rabbi David Wilfond’s Message – Friday, April 28, 2023Rabbi David Wilfond’s Message – Friday, April 28, 2023Rabbi David Wilfond’s Message – Friday, April 28, 2023
  • ABOUT ▼
    • About Our Temple
    • Our Rabbis’ weekly messages
    • Staff
    • Contact
    • Directions
    • Online Forms
  • PRAY ▼
    • Pray with us
    • View Our Shabbat Services
    • High Holy Days 5783 ▼
      • High Holy Day Appeal 5783
      • High Holy Days 5783 – Schedule
      • Virtual High Holidays 5783
      • High Holy Days 5783 FAQ
  • LEARN ▼
    • Learn at The Temple
    • Early Childhood Center
    • Living Judaism: Religious School at Shaaray Tefila ▼
      • Class Descriptions and Goals for 2022-2023 (5783) K-7th Grade
      • Teen Center 2022-2023 (5783)
    • Youth Programs / Experiential Education
    • TST Learns Adult Education
    • B’nai Mitzvah Program & Recordings
    • Rabbi’s Column
  • CONNECT ▼
    • Celebrate with The Temple
    • Community Connection
    • Shaaray Tefila Committees
    • Caring Community
    • Sustainability/ Green Team
    • Social Awareness/Social Action at Shaaray Tefila
    • Social Action
    • Contact
    • Directions
    • Online Forms
    • Brotherhood and Sisterhood News
    • Temple Topics
  • CELEBRATE ▼
    • Passover 2022/5782 Resources
    • Event Space
    • Thanksgiving Dinner Program
  • PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS
✕
Refugee Shabbat
April 21, 2023
Rabbi David Wilfond’s Message – Friday, May 5, 2023
May 4, 2023
April 27, 2023


Dear Friends,

This week Israel celebrated its 75th Birthday! The State of Israel is a modern miracle. Just three years after Jews walked out of Auschwitz, who would have imagined a blue and white flag would be raised in Jerusalem celebrating the birth of a modern Jewish state. 


The existence of Israel comes at a price. Israel’s fallen are remembered on Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) which is the day before Yom Ha’Atzma’ut (Israel’s Independence Day.) The juxtaposition of these two dates is meant to emphasize their connection.

(continues here.)

Sadly, since last Memorial Day, 90 new names have been added to the list of those who died defending the country. Yet Israel continues to grow. On the eve of its 75th birthday, there are 9,727,000 people living in Israel. 7,145,000 are Jewish, or 73.5 percent, along with 2,048,000 Arabs (21%) and 534,000 members of other minorities (5.5%). This is nearly 12 times the population of the state on the day of its founding. Since last year, Israel’s population grew by 216,000 people, an increase of 2.3%. There were 183,000 babies born and 79,000 new immigrants arrived. 

In America a period of time elapsed between the Declaration of Independence and the ratification of the Constitution. Similarly, Israel is now reaching its constitutional moment. For 17 consecutive weeks hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets calling for, among other things, a Constitution. We have witnessed a new coming together of the center-left and the center-right in Israeli society. 
The galvanizing of the center in a true paradigm shift in Israeli society today. This offers new hope for breaking decades of a bifurcation. 

In 1789 Americans declared “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

I pray that 2023 will be the year Israelis declare, “We the People of the State of Israel, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the People of the State of Israel.”

Herzl wrote “If you will it, it is not a dream.” It is time to will it.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi David Wilfond
Share

Related posts

May 31, 2023

Rabbi David Wilfond’s Message – Friday, June 2, 2023


Read more
May 24, 2023

Rabbi David Wilfond’s Message – Friday, May 26, 2023


Read more
May 18, 2023

Rabbi David Wilfond’s Message – Friday, May 19, 2023


Read more
Temple Shaaray Tefila | 89 Baldwin Road | Bedford Corners, NY 10549 | Phone: (914) 666-3133 | Fax: (914) 412-9905
© Copyright 2023 Generously designed by Cecile Rothschild I Create & Associates. Inc.
Photography by Stuart Zaro, Homepage banner photos: Photo credit to Todd Shapera
Buy now
  • Online Forms
  • Event Space
  • Contact
  • Livestream