Israel Independence Day: Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook and Yom HaAtzma'ut

May 14, 1948. A few hours before the Sabbath, on the fifth of Iyyar, the National Council assembled in Tel Aviv to announce the establishment of the State of Israel. The decision to establish the state was not simple. It was obvious that following the announcement, the Arab armies would commence a joint attack on the fledgling state, whose army was still in the process of being organized, and armed with inadequate and outdated equipment. There was also a real concern that the nations of the world would not recognize the Jewish state, and the young country would remain isolated. Nevertheless, the country’s leaders took courage and declared the establishment of the State of Israel.1 For Rav Tzvi Yehudah, the founding of the State of Israel was a realization of the Biblical prophecies. Its establishment after two millennia of stateless wanderings and exile was a Divine miracle, a revelation of God’s hand in all its glory. This historical event, he taught, was not just reishit tzemihat ge'ulateinu, the “beginning of the flowering of our redemption.” This was a step in the process of redemption itself!2