For almost two millenniums they had been in Diaspora, but all the hordes of hell could not stop Ezekiel s vision from coming to pass. The promise made by God to Abraham was as sure as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashores. It has been anything but a peaceful birth and growth. For today s Israeli citizen, there are many sacrifices. New homes and apartments have bomb shelters.
Gas masks are standard fixtures, along with sealing tape and radios tuned to bomb alert frequencies.
Everywhere you see soldiers with Uzi s draped over their shoulders, ammunition clips rubber banded together to enable loading within seconds. This week Israel celebrates 50 years of statehood. It is their year of Jubilee. And although they have achieved what no other nation on earth has been able to do, there are problems that persist. Problems that would scare most of us so bad we would not consider settling in a downtown apartment overlooking the beautiful Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv.