A modern ‘Dayenu’ celebrating Israel’s 78th anniversary

After thanking God for the many miracles of the Exodus, the flight from Egypt, let’s contemplate the amazing self-generated miracles of the Zionist movement.

This was a flight from a latter-day Egypt of Exile, of powerlessness and humiliation, into a movement that helped create a modern-day state that, for all its challenges, still makes all of us prouder, stronger and freer.

After thanking God for the many miracles of the Exodus, the flight from Egypt, let’s contemplate the amazing self-generated miracles of the Zionist movement. This was a flight from a latter-day Egypt of Exile, of powerlessness and humiliation, into a movement that helped create a modern-day state that, for all its challenges, still makes all of us prouder, stronger and freer.

This year, let’s use the seders not just to start counting the Omer toward Shavuot, but also to count toward the Yom Ha’atzmaut—Israel Independence Day celebrations—even with the fears and challenges of this moment.

How many benefits did we generate for ourselves and the world with the Zionist leap of Hope—Theodor Herzl’s vision that tomorrow will be better than today, and that it is our responsibility to roll up our sleeves and make it happen?

If Zionists had only re-established Jewish sovereignty in the Jewish homeland—Dayenu! That would have been miraculous enough.

If Zionists had only offered a welcoming Jewish home to Holocaust survivors, refugees from Arab lands, and other oppressed Jews while preserving civil liberties and free immigration for all—Dayenu! That would have been miraculous enough. If Zionists had only returned the Jews to history, transforming Jews’ image from the world’s victims to actors on history’s stage, with rights and responsibilities—Dayenu! That would have been miraculous enough.

If Zionists had only built a Western-style capitalist democracy with a strong Jewish flavour—Dayenu! That would have been miraculous enough.

If Zionists had only created a dynamic, old-new Jewish culture, making Israel a central force in revitalising Jewish secular and religious life in the Jewish homeland and abroad while serving as a bastion of Western culture, too—Dayenu! That would have been miraculous enough.

If Zionists had only revived Hebrew, developing lashon hakodesh, the “Holy Language,” into a living language for everyday life, reflecting and fueling our national revival—Dayenu! That would have been miraculous enough.

If Zionists had only strengthened a proud Diaspora, giving all Jews throughout the world more spring in our steps and more inspiring songs in our hearts—Dayenu! That would have been miraculous enough.

How much more so are the many benefits that Zionism doubled and quadrupled for us, in Israel and throughout the world? Thanks to this movement of Jewish nationalism, rooted in our sense that we are a people, Am Yisrael, with ties to a particular homeland, Eretz Yisrael, and rights to establish a state in that homeland, Medinat Yisrael.

Therefore, in merely 78 years since 1948, we, the Jewish people: • Re-established Jewish sovereignty in the Jewish homeland;

• Welcomed home more than 3 million Jewish refugees;
• Transformed the Jew’s image from the world’s victim to actors on history’s stage;
• Built a Western-style capitalist democracy with a strong Jewish flavour;
• Created a dynamic old-new Jewish culture;
• Revived the Hebrew language;
• Strengthened a proud Diaspora.

We did all of this while being well aware that we must keep dreaming, building, and improving. Because for all we have achieved, we have not yet fulfilled all our high ideals.

Still, at this moment, we celebrate all the good, keep striving for better, continue to escape from our old traumas, our old weaknesses, our perennial powerlessness, our ever-so-draining victimhood, and therefore sing, “Dayenu!”

Professor Gil Troy is an American presidential historian, a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute and the author, most recently, of “The Essential Guide to Zionism, Anti-Zionism, AntiSemitism and Jew-Hatred.”