Blessings in the God of Israel,

Israel’s Memorial and Independence Day

The celebration of Israeli independence occurs each year on the fifth day of the Hebrew month of Iyar. This year the date falls on May 1, 2025. When independence was first declared in 1948, the date was May 14 (hence the discrepancy being due to the lunar versus solar calendars).

Israel’s birthday—#77 this year—is called Yom Ha’atzmaut (YOHM hah-ats-mahOOT). We are the same age! When Israel turned 60 in 2008, I wrote a Jewish Jewels newsletter giving the historical background of the rebirth of the nation (found in the Jewish Jewels archives). The following is important to know: “Israel is a nation that was born in a day, as prophesied by the Jewish prophet Isaiah 2,500 years ago. Israel is a modern-day miracle. No other people have been scattered among the nations and cultures then miraculously resurrected in its OWN LAND [my emphasis] thousands of years later. Only Israel! Israel exists by the sovereign will and plan of God. (See Is. 66:8.) Yes. At 4:30 P.M. on Iyar 5, 5708 (Jewish calendar), David Ben-Gurion read the Foundation Scroll of the State of Israel in the Tel Aviv Museum Hall, followed by Rabbi Fishman who pronounced the traditional Shehecheyanu blessing: ‘Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who has kept us alive and preserved us and enabled us to reach this season.’ It was the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob that brought forth the newborn nation. Unfortunately, the celebration was short-lived. The next day, six neighboring Arab nations attacked Israel with the cry, ‘We will stop when we have pushed you into the sea!’ (THIS SAME CRY IS HEARD 77 YEARS LATER!!) 650,000 Jews were surrounded by 40,000,000 Arabs. One and a half million Arabs were armed. 80,000 Jews in Jerusalem were cut off from the rest of Israel. Had the God of Israel brought the nation to the point of birth and abandoned the baby? No. God came to Israel’s rescue and began to fulfill the promise of restoring the land, the people, and even the language of His holy nation.”

Yom Ha’atzmaut is normally a very joyful celebration, with nighttime festivities in almost every street. But it is always preceded by another “day”—Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers. Zikaron (zee-kah-ROHN) comes from the word for remember—zakhar  (zah-KHAR). The two days are linked because Israelis owe their independence, and their very existence, to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for their country. Consider Yom Ha’atzmuat 2025. Israel is surrounded by enemies who call this holiday Nakba which means “catastrophe” in Arabic. Palestinians view Israel’s independence as a disaster. They see May 14, 1948, as the day that Palestinians were displaced from their homeland by the creation of the state of Israel. The truth is that there was never a “Palestinian homeland.” It was always the homeland of the Jewish people, given to them through a covenant with the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. The struggle is above all SPIRITUAL. Does the Land rightfully belong to ALLAH or to the GOD OF ISRAEL? Bible readers know the answer.

The center of the controversy is Jerusalem. This city is the “prize.” Radical Muslim Jihadists are more than willing to die, or have others die, to gain the prize. There is an obvious clash of worldviews. Israelis view life as precious; radical Muslims do not. This explains why Israel is willing to trade thousands of convicted criminals for a handful of hostages (which has been the most powerful tactic used by Hamas).

Memorial Day this year is traumatic, with Israeli soldiers of the IDF dying daily in a seven-front war. At 8:00 P.M., the night before Memorial Day, a siren sounds throughout the country, lasting for one minute. (Neil and I experienced it one year.) Israelis stop everything, including driving, and stand in silence in respect and honor of those fallen in defense of Israel and those murdered through acts of terrorism. That night, by law, all places of entertainment are closed. It is very touching to see how the Israelis remember.

Tears were fresh as families visited cemeteries on April 30, 2025. National memorial services were held and memorial candles lit in homes, army camps, schools, synagogues, and public places throughout Israel. Flags were flown at half-staff and televisions broadcasted a 24-hour display of the names and ranks of every soldier who died in defense of Israel.

Jerusalem Day

Another special observance, Jerusalem Day, begins on the evening of May 25, 2025. Yom Yerushalayim in Hebrew (YOHM yeh-ROO-shah-LYE-eem). This day commemorates Israel’s regaining control of the city in 1967. It is usually celebrated with concerts, parades, a Flag Dance March, and many community events and parties. How will it be this year in the midst of a war? Many religious Jews will recite the Hallel prayers (Psalms 113-118), expressing gratitude and praise for the restoration of access to the Kotel, the Western Wall. Many in the U.S. will recall the historic move of 2018, when President Donald Trump relocated the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thereby recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital—while the United Nations designated East Jerusalem as occupied “Palestinian territory.”

Radical Muslims want the Temple Mount. For Muslims, the Temple Mount, as the present-day site of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, is sacred because they believe that the Prophet Muhammed, founder of Islam, ascended to heaven from this place. For Jews, the Temple Mount is the site of both the first and second Jewish temples. This is a huge problem!

Jews use the term “Mount Zion” for the Temple Mount as well as for the city of Jerusalem. This agrees with the Holy Scriptures. The word Zion occurs in 160 verses in the NKJV, and the Jewish people have a long history with events occurring on the “Mount.” The first time we see it in the Bible is in II Samuel 5:7 where David took the stronghold of Zion from the Jebusites and called it the City of David (II Sam. 5:9-10). God applauded this conquest.

God gave Zion—Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount—to the Jews. He proclaims His love for Zion and calls it His dwelling place over and over in the Holy Scriptures. Just a few examples: “Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion!…” (Ps. 9:11); “Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King” (Ps. 48:2); “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth” (Ps. 50:2); “For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it” (Ps. 69:35); “But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved” (Ps. 78:68); “The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob” (Ps. 87:2); “Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever” (Ps. 125:1).

Israel: Not Just Any Nation

If  Jerusalem is God’s favorite city, Israel is His chosen nation. You would never know this by watching the protests against Israel and the Jews on television or by reading about the current war in articles written by “Medianites,” as Amir Tsarfati calls the mainstream media. What is the truth?

The truth about Israel is found in the Bible. God Himself chose Israel, not because her people were perfect or sinless—far from it—but because of His sovereign will and choosing. “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand…” (Deut. 7:6-8). The scripture continues saying that the God of Israel is a faithful, covenant-keeping God.

Sandra Teplinsky, in her book Why Care About Israel, examines God’s love for the Jews as expressed in Deuteronomy 7:6-8. She explains that two different but related words for love are used in this passage. “The Lord….set His love (khashaq ) on you….because the Lord loved (ahav ) you…” Ahav, a primary root, is the most frequently used word for love in the Hebrew scriptures. Ahav means ‘to love, have affection, be attached to, delight in.’ Khashaq means ‘to love, long for, desire, and delight in.’ It also implies ‘clinging.’ Based on the above, the passage could be paraphrased: ‘The Lord set His longing, clinging desire, delight and love on you because of His affectionate attachment, panting delight and love for you.'” Wow. God’s love for Israel is passionate!

God’s love for Israel is also covenantal, born from a covenant with Abraham, His friend. Israel is the only nation on earth that the Lord sealed in covenant and keeps through covenant. “Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; there is none other besides Him” (Deut. 4:34-35).

Our Merciful God also said to Israel, “…He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them” (Deut. 4:31). This includes a LAND COVENANT— especially worthy of note because of today’s situation in the Middle East. Iran’s supreme leader said at the beginning of April 2025 that it is the moral duty of Muslims to remove the “wicked, criminal entity” (Israel) from the region. What does God say to this? He declares in 46 places in the Bible that He has given the Land of Israel to the children of Israel through Abraham, Issac, and Jacob—beginning with Genesis 13:14-15 where the LORD said to Abram, “…Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” Perhaps the clearest articulation of God’s eternal land covenant with Israel is found in Psalm 105:7-11, sometimes called “Israel’s title deed to the Promised Land,” “He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance.'”

Israel, at the core, is God’s Land. He chose to give it to Abraham’s seed through Issac and Jacob. Not Esau. In Arab schools, however, the entire land of Israel is considered to be occupied territory and thus, land to be reclaimed. What should our position be concerning Israel? A biblical one. God says, “I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (Is. 62:6-7). The Lord also encourages us in Psalm 122:6: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you'” (Ps. 122:6). Finally, individuals as well as nations are blessed or cursed depending upon their treatment of Israel. Consider Genesis 12:3 where God said to Abram, “‘I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'”

Israel is Not the Bad Guy!

Love in Yeshua,

P.S. May 1, 2025, is Yom Ha’atzmaut, and it’s also OUR National Day of Prayer. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.