60 Reasons I Love Israel
Sermon, May 2, 2008
Rabbi Bruce Kadden

Sixty years ago this week, as the British withdrew from Palestine ending the Mandate, Israel declared its independence.  Some of you, I am sure, recall that joyous day, that brought to an end of almost 2000 years of being subjected to foreign rule.

As we prepare to celebrate Israel’s 60th birthday, I want to share with you 60 reasons that I love Israel.  The inspiration for this sermon comes from Barbara Sofer, who each year at this time in the Jerusalem Post, offers her reasons for loving Israel.  I have borrowed a couple from her lists, but most are my own.  I offer them in hopes that you can relate to many of them, and will perhaps be inspired to generate your own list.

1. Israel has a network of tzedakah agencies second to none; one can borrow anything from wedding dresses to pacifiers.
2. The law of return grants automatic citizenship to every Jew.
3. You can drive the length of the country in a single day.
4. Israel’s Declaration of Independence reads:  “We extend the hand of peace and good-neighborliness to all the States around us and to their peoples, and we call upon them to cooperate in mutual helpfulness with the independent Jewish nation in its Land.”
5. Despite all the pain and suffering, Israel still vigorously pursues peace.
6. Israel has been willing to trade many prisoners for one Israeli prisoner, or even the remains of Israeli soldiers.
7. Israel has assumed responsibility for the security and safety of Jews throughout the world as demonstrated in the dramatic Entebbe rescue.
8. Israel led the way in rescuing the Ethiopian Jewish community and one of the pilots was still volunteering to teach Ethiopian youth 14 years later.
9. Israel has opened its doors to Vietnamese boat people, to Moslems from Bosnia, and most recently to refugees from the Sudan.
10. Israel’s parliamentary democracy assures that even minorities who get two percent of the vote are represented in the Knesset.
11. Israel remembers those who have died defending the country on Yom HaZikaron, the day prior to Independence Day, assuring that everyone appreciates what it means celebrate independence.
12. Israel resurrected the language of the Bible and made it a living language.
13. When a two-minute siren is sounded on Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) the whole country comes to a halt.
14. Israel is always one of the first countries to respond to natural disasters anywhere in the world with offers of assistance.
15. Israel has shared what it has learned about preventing terrorism with the United States, including officials from Pierce County.
16. One can walk from the Western Wall to the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in a matter of minutes.
17. Schools are closed on Jewish holidays.
18. Israel holds itself to the highest moral standards.
19. Israel is the only country I have travelled to where I have felt as if I was coming home, even the first time I was there.
20. Israel, with the help of Jewish philanthropists, provides free trips to Jewish young adults through Birthright, recognizing that this experience will not only inspire a connection to the land and people of Israel, but will also lead to a deeper commitment to Judaism.
21. Israel’s national anthem is HaTikvah, reminding us that no matter what we should never lose hope.
22. You can get kosher McDonald’s and kosher for Passover S’barro pizza.
23. Everyone wishes you a Shabbat Shalom on Friday and Friday is a short day.
24. The streets are full of merchants selling shofars before Rosh Hashanah and Lulavs and etrogs before Sukkot.
25. Israelis eat sufganiot, rather than latkes, on Chanukah.
26. Israel examines its military and political strategies and actions and holds accountable those who are deemed responsible for mistakes.
27. You can often tell a person’s politics by the type of kippah he wears.
28. Kibbutzim continue to survive and thrive despite the demise of socialism.
29. Falafel is still the best fast food that has been invented.
30. My favorite drink, eshkoliot/grapefruit juice, is as readily available as coke.
31. You can walk down the street and hear Russian, German, French, Arabic, Farsi, Yiddish and a dozen other languages and every one of those speakers is also fluent in Hebrew.
32. If you ask for directions, people will give them to you, whether they know where you are going or not.
33. Israel now has its own baseball and American football leagues, but basketball and real football (what we call soccer) are still the most popular sports.
34. Israelis invented the USB drive in order to take their computer memory wherever they travel.
35. Yad VaShem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, continues to research and recognize Righteous Gentiles who helped save Jews during the Holocaust by planting trees in their honor.
36. Thanks to the JNF and Jews throughout the world, Israel is the only country that had more trees at the end of the 20th century than at the beginning.
37. Israel publishes more scientific papers per capita than another other country.
38. You get used to soldiers and civilians walking around with guns and rarely are they used inappropriately.
39. Israel doesn’t wait for terrorist incidents to develop and implement safety practices such as inspecting all bags before one may enter a public building.
40. Israeli hospitals continue to treat Arabs from Gaza despite the incessant rocket fire.
41. Israeli men would rather put a napkin on their heads than remain bare-headed when one is expected to cover one’s head.
42. If you are short of cash when it is time to pay for something, either someone else will give it to you or the merchant will trust you to return and pay later.
43. Israelis stream to the centers of their major cities to celebrate significant victories of their sports teams in international competition.
44. Bible is taught in the public schools because it is part of the people’s history.
45. Wearing shoes to school is optional, at least on kibbutzim.
46. Israel has often had to play referee for rival Christian groups vying for control of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
47. Early settlers in Israel changed their European last names to Hebrew last names.
48. In Hebrew, a sheroot is a shared taxi and sherootim are restrooms; don’t ask me why.
49. A web site on Israeli museums lists over 200 of them including:  Museum of Psalms, Tax Museum, Islamic Art Museum, Underground Prisoners Museum, the Museum of Prehsitory, and the First Aliya Museum.
50. Israel has more start-up companies than any country except for the Untied States.
51. Israeli health care covers in-vitro fertilization up to two children and Israel has more in-vitro fertilization per capita than any other country.
52. Every week Jews from around the world arrive on aliyah to make Israel their home.
53. When you visit Israel you are more than likely to run into someone you know from back home who is also visiting there.
54. Things that would drive me crazy elsewhere, such as pushing and shoving, I am willing to put up with in Israel.
55. Israelis question everything and argue about everything.
56. There are more types of Judaism practiced in Israel than anywhere else in the world.
57. There are streets in Jerusalem named for King David, King George and Abraham Lincoln (or Lincolin as they pronounce it).
58. Jerusalem stone is everywhere.
59. Israelis celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut by bopping each other on the head with plastic hammers.
60. As Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion said, “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.”

May Israel’s 60th anniversary inspire us to continue to believe in miracles.

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