A Soulful Journey

When Lincoln became president, of the city clerk of Chicago, by the name of Abraham, Cohen, presented him with a gift of an American flag. On the flag he had hand-painted, in Hebrew, a verse from the Bible:  “Be strong and of good courage Do not fear and do not tremble, Because the Lord, they God, is with thee Withersoever thou shalt go.”

A story.   This from the challenging and dangerous days back in May of 1948. Having just declared the state, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion had an extraordinary load of responsibility, including the need to select ambassadors. Already under attack by nine Arab armies, boatloads of refugees from displaced persons camps sending their penniless and destitute cargo, yet Israel had joined the family of nations, so ambassadors had to be sent abroad. Fortunately, as a nation of immigrants, of survivors, Israel abounded in native speakers of the world’s languages. So Ben-Gurion summoned the painter Reuven Rubin who was from Romania.  The Prime Minister asked him to serve as ambassador to that country. It was an invitation so far from anything Reuben had ever considered that he was absolutely mind-boggled. “Ambassador to Romania?  Why, Mr. Prime Minister, what do I know about being an ambassador?” “My dear friend”, Ben-Gurion responded. “What do I know from being a...