DECLARATION OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL IN THE SEASON OF IYAR Wednesday, 07 Iyar, 5774 = Wednesday, May 07, 2014 “Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them anymore, as beforetime” (2 Samuel 7:10). The character of Iyar, the second month of the Jewish calendar as a time of difference, contentions and oppositions was graphically demonstrated immediately after the declaration of the state of Israel. The General Assembly of the United Nations had envisioned the restoration of Israel as a nation on November 29, 1947 in UN Resolution 181. On the authority of Resolution 181, the Executive Committee of the Jewish community, Yishuv, decided to declare the State of Israel after the UN mandate ended and British forces pulled out of Palestine. The Arab states had threatened to go to war with the Jews if such a state was declared. This was the case notwithstanding UN’s Resolution 181, and the promise of the Jewish leaders to respect religious rights and holy sites, including those of the Muslims. A portion of the Declaration of Israel as an independent state on the 5th Iyar, 5,708 states: “The land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and gave the Bible to the world. Exiled from Palestine, the Jewish people remained faithful to it in all the countries of their dispersion, never ceasing to pray and hope for their return and the restoration of their national freedom. Impelled by this historic association, Jews strove throughout the centuries to go back to the land of their fathers and regain their statehood. In recent decades they returned in masses. They reclaimed the wilderness, revived their language, built cities and villages and established a vigorous and ever-growing community with its own economic and cultural life. They sought peace, but were always prepared to defend themselves. They brought the blessing of progress to all inhabitants of the country. On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a Resolution for the establishment of an independent Jewish State in Palestine, and called upon the inhabitants of the country to take such steps as may be necessary on their part to put the plan into effect… ACCORDINGLY, WE, the members of the National Council, representing the Jewish people in Palestine and the Zionist movement of the world, met together in solemn assembly today, the day of the termination of the British mandate for Palestine, by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish and of the Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations… WE HEREBY DECLARE that as from the termination of the Mandate at midnight, this night of the 14th and 15th May, 1948, and until the setting up of the duly elected bodies of the State in accordance with a Constitution, to be drawn up by a Constituent Assembly not later than the first day of October, 1948, the present National Council shall act as the provisional administration, shall constitute the Provisional Government of the State of Israel… With trust in the rock of Israel [sometimes incorrectly translated as Lord of Israel or Almighty God -tr], we set our hand to this Declaration, at this Session of the Provisional State Council, in the city of Tel Aviv, on this Sabbath eve, the fifth of Iyar, 5708, the fourteenth day of May, 1948” (mideastweb.org/israeldeclaration.htm). KEY PRAYER FOCUS 1. PRAY THAT INDIVIDUALS, FAMILIES AND NATIONS WILL BE ANNOUNCED TO GREATNESS IN THIS SEASON OF IYAR: “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19). 2. EXECUTE JUDGMENT AGAINST THE FORCES OF ANTI-SEMITISM AND GENOCIDE: “Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand… So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Then the lord said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven”” (Exodus 17: 8-9, 13-14).
Posted on: Wed, 07 May 2014 04:41:16 +0000