by David Friedman

Yom Ha’Atzamut, Israeli Independence Day, is celebrated this year for the 62^nd time, on April 19-20. My thoughts take me today to the men and women who fought in the War of Independence, who exhibited great courage and sacrifice. It was a time of suffering and hardship indeed, but also a time of God’s restoration of our nation, replete with miracles.  May I share with you three stories, in brief, of remarkable events that were part of the War of Independence? Nothing captures the essence of an historical event as well as the stories of those who were involved in them.

Parashat Tazria-M'tsora, Leviticus 12:1-15:33

As we continue through our prayer campaign leading to Shavuot (Pentecost) in less than five weeks, it's good to remember that counting the days of the Omer (Lev. 23:15) is also counting the days of the Resurrection of Messiah. Yeshua rose on the first day of the week during Passover. Resurrection day, the first day of the week, is also day eight, seven days plus one.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks reminds us of the significance of the number seven. "Seven in Judaism is not a simple prime number. It is the one-after-six. Six represents the material, physical, secular. Ancient Mesopotamia  . . used a numerical system based on the number six. Western civilization still bears traces of this in the twenty-four hour day (2 X 6 hours of light, plus 2 X 6 of darkness); the sixty (10 X 6) minutes in an hour, and seconds in a minute; and the 360 degrees in a circle. . . . Judaism acknowledges the six-part structure of time and space, but adds that God exists beyond time and space. Hence seven--the one beyond six--became the symbol of the holy."¹