Arlene Kushner On Yom Haatzmaut and Current Events

From Arlene Kushner:

April 26, 2012

"Celebrating Our Nation"

Feeling good about Israel is great.  But I would like to suggest that it's just a first step.  Once you understand what we're about, and what there is in Israel to be celebrated, you can then help others to understand --- especially is this the case if you are outside of Israel.  In light of all the attempts today to delegitimize Israel, this is not a small thing.

Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar is an Israel who left for the States years ago, and ended up teaching at Harvard. 

When he returned to Israel recently -- he's now teaching at the Inter-Disciplinary Center in Herzliya -- he was astounded at the changes in his native land.  This ultimately prompted him to created a film, "Inside Israel: How a Small Nation Makes a Big Difference."

"[It] shows Israel to be a dynamic, inventive and humanitarian society.  Tal helps us discover that the deep-seated Jewish values such as freedom, education, family and responsibility (tikun olam), mixed in with a good dash of chutzpah, contribute to Israel’s accomplishments in both the economic and humanitarian spheres.   We learn that these core values define Israel and have fueled this tiny, resource-challenged country’s drive to become an invaluable asset to the world."

(It is breathtakingly ironic, of course, that enemies of Israel, for perverse political reasons, would destroy a state that does so much good for the world, including for those enemies.  But I digress from the focus of this film...)

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