RABBI WEIN ON ISRAEL AT SIXTY-FOUR

(PLEASE LEARN THIS FOR A REFUA SHELAMA FOR THE GEDOLIM Rav Elyashiv -Yosef Sholom ben Chaya Musha, Rav Shteinman - Aaron Yehuda Leib ben Gitel Feiga, Rav Weiss - Yitzchak Tuvia ben Rikal, Rav Belsky - NAME ADDDED Chaim Yisroel ben Chana Tzirtel, Rav Yosef - Yaakov Chai ben Margalit Harav Shlomo Leib Ben Miriam - HaRav Shlomo Brevda Harav Yeshaya Yaakov Ben Raizel - HaRav Yeshaya Yaakov Portugal Harav Meshulem Fish Ben Tziril - The Toshe Rebbe Harav Yitzchok Issac Ben Treina - HaRav Isaav Ausband Rav Yerachmiel Shlomo Hakohen ben Raizel. -Rav Yerachmiel Shlomo Rothenberg, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva of Mountaindale for a refuah shleima b’soch kol cholei am Yisrael.)

This week will mark the sixty fourth anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. That fact by itself represents a monumental achievement. There were great people in the Jewish world who were skeptical of the entire enterprise. There were those who were convinced that the state somehow would not survive for more than fifteen years let alone fifty. Ringed by violent enemies, threatened with extinction by one of the then super powers in the world, forced to accept millions of destitute refugees, plagued by deep and stubborn internal religious and ideological confrontations, hobbled by a socialist economy that discouraged economic development, the situation looked to be a bleak one. Yet all of the doomsday prophets have been confounded.