Declaration of Israeli Independence (Megillat HaAtzmaut) |
In Honor of Lucy Levin’s Bat Mitzvah
Declaration of Israeli Issued at Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948 (5th of
lyar, 5708) (1)
The (2)
Exiled from (3)
Impelled by this historic association, Jews strove throughout the centuries to
go back to the land of their fathers and regain their statehood. In recent
decades they returned in masses. They reclaimed the wilderness, revived their
language, built cities and villages and established a vigorous and ever-growing
community, with its own economic and cultural life. They sought peace yet were
ever prepared to defend themselves. They brought the blessing of progress to
all inhabitants of the country. (4)
In the year 1897 the First Zionist Congress, inspired by Theodor Herzl’s
vision of the Jewish State, proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to
national revival in their own country. (5)
This right was acknowledged by the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, and
re-affirmed by the Mandate of the League of Nations, which gave explicit
international recognition to the historic connection of the Jewish people with (6)
The Nazi holocaust, which engulfed millions of Jews in (7)
The survivors of the European catastrophe, as well as Jews from other lands,
proclaiming their right to a life of dignity, freedom and labor, and undeterred
by hazards, hardships and obstacles, have tried unceasingly to enter (8)
In the Second World War the Jewish people in (9)
On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a
Resolution for the establishment of an independent Jewish State in (10) This
recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to
establish their independent State may not be revoked. It is, moreover, the
self-evident right of the Jewish people to be a nation, as all other nations,
in its own sovereign State. (11) ACCORDINGLY,
WE the members of the National Council, representing the Jewish people in
Palestine and the Zionist movement of the world, met together in solemn
assembly today, the day of termination of the British mandate for Palestine, by
virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish people and of the
Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations, (12) HEREBY
PROCLAIM the establishment of the Jewish State in (13) WE
HEREBY DECLARE that as from the termination of the Mandate at midnight, this
night of the 14th to 15th May, 1948, and until the
setting up of the duly elected bodies of a Constituent Assembly not later than
the first day of October, 1948, the present National Council shall act as the
provisional administration, shall constitute the Provisional Government of the
State of Israel. (14) THE
STATE OF ISRAEL will be open to the immigration of Jews from all countries of
their dispersion; will promote the development of the country for the benefit
of all its inhabitants; will be based on the precepts of liberty, justice and
peace taught by the Hebrew Prophets; will uphold the full social and political
equality of all its citizens, without distinction of race, creed or sex; will
guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education and culture; will
safeguard the sanctity and inviolability of the shrines and Holy Places of all
religions; and will dedicate itself to the principles of the Charter of the
United Nations. (15) THE
STATE OF ISRAEL will be ready to cooperate with the organs and representatives
of the United Nations in the implementation of the Resolution of the Assembly
of November 29, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the Economic Union
over the whole of (16) We
appeal to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building of its
State and to admit (17)
In the midst of wanton aggression, we yet call upon the Arab inhabitants of the
State of Israel to return to the ways of peace and play their part in the
development of the State, with full and equal citizenship and due
representation in all its bodies and institutions provisional or permanent. (18) We
offer peace and unity to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and
invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good
of all. (19)
Our call goes out to the Jewish people all over the world to rally to our side
in the task of immigration and development and to stand by us in the great
struggle for the fulfillment of the dream of generations the redemption of (20) With
trust in Almighty G-d we set our hand to this Declaration, at this Session of
the Provisional State Council, in the city of
After reading the Megillat
HaAtzmaut we realize that the State of Israel is still working on resolving
some of the issues that were brought up. There are many critics of
Although there is freedom of
worship, there are Jewish holy places where Jews are not allowed to pray such
as Har HaBayit (The Temple Mount), our holiest site.
As we celebrate all of
Shabbat Shalom and Chag
HaAtzmaut Sameach from Yerushalayim! Sharona Margolin Halickman
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