From bondage to freedom. Happy Birthday Israel!

On April 19, 1943 approximately 60,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto awaited their fate--deportation to a Nazi killing camp. Three hundred thousand Jews from the Warsaw ghetto had already been murdered or deported to killing camps. It was Passover eve. The Jews were reminded of God's great deliverance He brought to Moses and the Israelites from Egyptian bondage to freedom 3400 years earlier. Standing on the shoulders of their ancestors, the Jews prepared themselves for the fight of a lifetime; this was the Jews last chance for freedom. If they failed, they would be murdered or sent to a killing camp where their ultimate fate was death.

From April 19 to May 16, 1943, the Jews valiantly attempted to fight off the German forces. Approximately 100 German SS men were killed; seven thousands Jews perished. Those who remained alive in the ghetto were rounded up and hauled off to various killing and labor camps. Almost all were murdered upon their arrival. Few Jews survived the Holocaust who were part of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

To the outside world, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising may have seemed like a total loss, but to the Jews, this event empowered them. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the largest and most important Jewish uprising to occur in an urban setting within German-occupied Europe. The resistance in Warsaw inspired other uprisings in ghettos (such as Bialystok and Minsk) and killing centers (including Treblinka and Sobibor).

Although the Holocaust annihilated one in every three Jews living on the planet, without the Holocaust one could argue there would be no state of Israel today. After the fall of Nazi Germany and the liberation of the killing camps, most Jews were exiles. They had lost all their possessions including their homes, belongings and families. With no place to call their own, many Jews found themselves traveling to their ancient homeland, Israel. In 1948, a miraculous thing happened--Israel became a state; the Jews now had a place to call their own once more.

Thirty-five hundred years ago, Moses led the Israelites from the harsh bondage of Egypt through the Red Sea. For forty years they wandered in the wilderness before God led them to the Promised Land. Seventy-seven years ago, the Jews were bravely fighting for their freedom from the cruel slavery of the Germans. Although their redemption may have seemed hidden, God delivered His people once again to the beautiful glorious land--the land flowing with milk and honey.

Tomorrow, Israel will celebrate its 72nd birthday. May we all rejoice and celebrate such a joyous occasion. Yom Ha'atzmaut Sameach!

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: 'May they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces.'" (Psalm 122:6-7)