Rosh Hashanah 5769

Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel, has issued a Rosh Hashanah Greeting to the Jewish People on the occasion of the Jewish New Year 5769.  The video is here.

A country as small in size as
Israel has little alternative but to seek greatness in other facets.  It must explore strength of spirit, depth of faith, the bid for innovation and the hidden promise of science.

Since its inception, 60 years ago, Israel has proven that despite the shortage of land and water, it has developed one of the most advanced and resilient economies on earth.  

Facing challenges disproportionate to its territorial and demographic scale, including existential threats,
Israel nevertheless persevered.  It did so, through the mobilization of its human resources and military fortitude. . . .  
Israel went through seven wars in its sixty years. . . .

We have proven in the past, and we must do so again in the future, that the Jewish people can serve as leaders at the forefront of modernity and innovation, in order to tackle challenges such as the ubiquitous violence and terror which the world now faces.

The re-creation of the state of Israel, 2,000 years after its destruction, is one of the modern miracles; followed by the miracle of its continued existence for six decades, while under existential challenge from its very first day; followed by the miracle of its successful absorption, in a new democracy, of millions of immigrants expelled from Arab lands, or fleeing tyranny from Russia to Ethiopia to other areas of the world; followed by the miracle of its economic and technological prosperity, reflected in Nobel Prizes and NASDAQ companies; followed by the miracle of its resistance against a brutal terror war waged against its civilians in buses, cafes, discos, schools, hotels and on its streets.

We pray 5769 will be a year of peace, but we know it will be a year of continued existential threat and, like every year before it, a new test – perhaps equal to all the ones before.