7 Writers Answer The Question: What Is Israel's Greatest Accomplishment?

From World Jewish Digest:

Israel at 60

When we decided to devote this month's cover story to the momentous occasion of Israel's 60th anniversary, on May 8, we wanted to focus on the positive. It is easy, perhaps too easy, to find evidence of Israel's "failings" in every corner of our media and political culture: does she or does she not respond "disproportionately" to her enemies' missiles? Is she "truly" interested in peace? Are her "crimes" more heinous than those of any other nation on earth, as some at the United Nations would have us believe?

Whether we like it or not, for any regular reader of magazines or newspapers, for anyone who browses the Web or even occasionally watches the TV news, inhalation of these accusations is inescapable.

So we decided to focus on the positive. After all, it must be that Israel has some merits. And despite the immediate perils of Iran from the east, Hamas from the south, and Hezbollah and Syria from the north, Jews who love Medinat Yisrael must take pride in her outsized accomplishments. In fact, they should celebrate them.

To our great surprise, of the seven writers who agreed to take up the challenge (we also invited five women to respond, all of whom unfortunately declined), each produced a different answer to our question: what is Israel's greatest accomplishment in her first 60 years? Alan M. Dershowitz, one of America's greatest legal minds, writes about Israel's commitment to the rule of law. Sir Martin Gilbert, the renowned historian, chose Israel's fulfillment of her historic mission. Samuel G. Freedman, perhaps today's leading journalistic interpreter of American Jewish life, took up Israel's resilient spirit. Yossi Sarid, stalwart of the Israeli left, chose Israel's strong democracy. Gidi Grinstein, who heads one of Israel's leading think tanks, focused on Israel's burgeoning economy. Daniel Gordis, the eloquent essayist whose "dispatches" from Israel hit straight at the heart, wrote about the restoration of hope. And Aluf Benn, the diplomatic editor for Ha'aretz and a regular columnist for WJD, took up Israelis' ingenuity.

Israel at 60 was never a given. Six major wars and countless skirmishes later, the Jewish state stands tall and strong and prosperous. We should all take a moment to remember that and recognize, whatever trouble might come, the miraculous wonder she was and continues to be.

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