A Soulful Journey

A great rabbi wanted to reintroduce the Sanhedrin just after the birth of the state of Israel.  Ben-Gurion asked, “Where are you going to find seventy righteous and honest men?” He replied, “Well, if you pay enough you can get them! ” - Rabbi Louis Jacobs

"More than 300 years ago a ship by the name of the Mayflower left Plymouth for the New World. It was a great event in American and English history. I wonder how many Englishmen or how many Americans know exactly the date when that ship left Plymouth, how many people were on the ship, and what was the kind of bread that people ate when they left Plymouth. Well, more than 3,300 years ago the Jews left Egypt. It was more than 3,000 years ago and every Jew in the world knows exactly the date when we left. It was on the 15th of Nisan. The bread they ate was matzoth. Up to date all the Jews throughout the world on the 15th of Nisan eat the same matzoth, in America, in Russia, and tell the story of the exile from Egypt and tell what happened, all the sufferings that happened to the Jews since they went into exile. They finish by these two sentences: "This year we are slaves; next year we will be free. This year we are here; next year we will be in Zion, the land of Israel." Je...

There was a famous exchange between Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and Jacob Blauistein, President of the American Jewish Committee in August 1950.  Blaustein suggested that while the new Jewish state was important for Jewish refugees in other countries, it placed a great potential burden on American Jews.  He contended that U.S. Jewry felt that America was their "home of destiny" and that for Israelis to think otherwise would lead to "harmful disagreements" that would adversely affect the "morale and security of American Jews." Ben Gurion defensively replied that Israel spoke only for its own citizens and not for world Jewry. he indicated that although Israel would like to see aliya form America this must be an individual decision by American Jews. It is aid that nothing changes or as Kohelet states, "there is nothing new under the sun."  Everyone believes that they stand at the center of the universe.  Yet what matters in the long run is t...

  "In Israel if you don't believe in miracles, you're not a realist." 
-David ben Gurion

Shimon Peres had a reputation for being a consummate politician.  A story is told of him traveling down  road and coming to a fork.  At the crossroads, Peres asked which route Ben Gurion would have taken.  The driver responded, "He would have left his options open." Peres then asks what Menachem Begin would have done.  The driver answered, "Begin would have chosen a route and then obtained a legal document attesting to the fact that there were no other options available." Peres thought and then said to the driver, "Signal left, and then turn right."

"In Israel , in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles." - David Ben Gurion