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The Year of Liberation |
| Date Added: February 06, 2009 09:49:43 AM |
| Author: lawrence hilliard |
| Category: Society: Religion and Spirituality |
| "The history of Israel is the great living proof of the working of Divine Providence in the affairs of the world." "If there is no divine purpose in the long-travail of Israel, it is vain to seek for any such purpose in man's life. In the reflected light of that purpose, each Jew should lead his life with an added dignity." (J. Jacobs) "Belonging to Israel is in itself a spiritual act. It is utterly inconvenient to be a Jew. The very survival of our people is a kiddush hashem. We live in spite of peril." (Abraham Heschel) "By virtue of our national and intrinsic right and on the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, we hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine which shall be known as the State of Israel." These words spoken by David ben Gurion on Friday, May 14th 1948 in the Tel Aviv Museum declared that after 2,000 years of subjugation and dispersion, Israel had once again become an independent state. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Israel's statehood, her Jubilee Year. The continued existence of Israel and the Jewish people through the tortuous centuries of exile, dispersion and persecutions are exhibit A that history is not the effect of impersonal forces operating randomly. Israel's history is a proscenium upon which a Divine plan for her and the Gentile nations is being unfolded, epoch by epoch. "Where in the annals of mankind are we to find a parallel to that amazing survival and miraculous emergence of the Jewish people into Statehood after 2,000 years of exile, dispersion, martyrdom and suffering? How can we account for all this except by the fact that God has chosen Israel as the people to serve His eternal purpose, and that, in some unique sense, He is ever-present in their wonderful history?" (Isidore Ipstein, The Faith of Judaism, p. 278) The Jew has journeyed through the crucible of history, enduring national and personal suffering, persecution, dispersion and Divine chastisement, to be led to the grave of death then to be resurrected on the soil of Israel for all the world to witness—the Hand of God. In the words of Elie Wiesel, "Israel is the only nation in the world whose existence is threatened. Should Israel lose but one war, it would mean her end and ours as well. But I have faith. Faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and even in His creation. Without it no action would be possible. And action is the only remedy to indifference, the most insidious danger of all." (The Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance speech, delivered on 12/10/86.) As Israel celebrates her fiftieth year, the Jubilee (Heb. "yobel", ram's horn), there is a profound historical significance and future consummation embodied in the event. In the Old Testament when an individual or family became impoverished due to famine or catastrophe, a family member could sell themselves as a bond-servant and offer any landholdings to their creditor. For there was to be no permanent transfer of ownership to one's creditor for God claimed the land as His own possession (Lev. 25:23), and all Israel as His special possession (Ex. 19:5), thus nullifying slavery within the nation. On the fiftieth year, the Jubilee, the blast of the ram's horn was heard throughout the land, signaling the beginning of a year in which slaves were emancipated and mortgaged property returned to its original owner. "You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family." (Lev. 25:10) The year of Jubilee spoke eloquently of freedom from financial and physical bondage, a restoration of the family secured by God's redemptive grace. The proclamation of the Year of Jubilee commenced on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (Lev. 25:9), revealing that only by the forgiveness of sins could the redemptive liberty of the Children of God begin. As the goal of the Jubilee Year was the emancipation of the individual from the shackles of poverty, the Day of Atonement freed man from the insidious slavery to sin and effectuated reconciliation with God. Thus the Jubilee year incorporated the truth that liberty of body and freedom of spirit is to be found only in the redemptive grace of God. "The Day of Atonement and the Jubilee had much in common. The message of both was a 'new birth.' The Day of Atonement freed man from slavery to sin and enabled him to start life anew, at one with God and with his fellow man. The Jubilee had for its aim the emancipation of the individual from the shackles of poverty, and the readjustment of the various strata in the commonwealth in accordance with social justice." (J. H. Hertz, The Pentateuch and Haptorahs, p. 532) We remember the beginning and believe in an end. We live between two historic poles: Sinai and the Kingdom of God." (Abraham Heschel, A Philosophy of Judaism, p. 426) |
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Alexa Rank