My 77 years This week, I celebrated my 77th birthday, two years more than three-quarters of a century. First of all, I would like to sincerely thank the many friends who have sent me birthday wishes. Those messages touched me profoundly. In fact, you should all know that I’m not celebrating my 77 years so much as I’m marking 55 years since arriving to Israel. That alone makes me feel more than 20 years younger. Looking back on these 77 years, I’m forced to admit that, personally or from afar, I have lived through some of the most important events in the history of the Jewish People. After the Shoah, during which my father’s entire family in Poland was exterminated along with my wife’s father and brother, 1948 marked the establishment of the State of Israel in the land of our ancestors. I will never forget that moment when my father, hunched over his transistor radio (or TSF, as he called it), listened to a crackling, distant voice counting off the votes in favor of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel. Momentous events would follow. The declaration of independence by Ben-Gurion (undeniably, a prophet in modern times), the miraculous victory of the newborn Jewish state against the invading Arab armies, the 1967 Six-Day War and the liberation of Jerusalem, 1973 and the painful but spectacular victory against the Egyptian and Syrian aggression launched on Yom Kippur, and the courageous visit to Israel by the President of Egypt followed by peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. The struggle for peace continues and one can only hope that it will lead us one day to a durable peace with the Palestinians. The road ahead is still long… No less important than the victories on the battlefield are those by Israeli technology and innovation in the war against disease and hunger that have transformed Israel into a modern “start-up nation”. To live in a country that provides all of humanity with the tools needed for progress is no small source of pride for us all. All of this has inevitably transformed me into an obsessive and chronic optimist who celebrates this birthday – in fact, every birthday – imbued with this wonderful state of mind. With all of you who have taken the time to share with me your kind messages full of sensitivity and affection, I wanted to share these humble thoughts.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 05:39:29 +0000
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