Lubavitcher mashpia Rabbi Avraham Meizlish AH shared a firsthand account of the events of 5 Iyar 5708 – witnessed as a young yeshiva student in besieged Yerushalayim without food, constant shelling, and burying the dead with his own hands.

In his talk, he described the open miracles, the greatest missed opportunity in modern Jewish history, and the Rebbe’s stance on Yom Ha’atzmaut.

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A mechanech once wrote to the Rebbe asking what the proper approach should be to Yom Ha’atzmaut, and how it should be explained to students.

The Rebbe pointed him to what is explained in Tanya about how a person comes to love Hashem. The Alter Rebbe describes a situation where a great and powerful king lowers himself, together with all his ministers, and goes down to a simple, lowly individual in a state of dirt and disgrace. The king lifts him up, brings him into the royal palace, embraces him, and gives him all that he needs. Think for a moment what kind of love that person should feel toward the king!

Now, the Rebbe says, imagine if that same person turns around and says, “This palace is not the king’s, it’s mine! I’ll do whatever I want here!” He then begins acting against the king at every step, going so far to try and push the king out of his own palace…

That is the mashal the Rebbe gives. The application to the establishment of a secular state in Eretz Yisroel after Hashem showed great miracles is clear.

To appreciate this, you have to know what it was like in those days. There were barely half a million Jews in the land. No real army, no proper weapons, no organized system. Five Arab armies declared war with the intention of wiping out the Jews completely.

And yet, we survived. Not only did we survive, we pushed them back. These were open miracles, like the few overcoming the many.

I remember it personally in Yerushalayim. There was constant shelling. Every day, you would hear the artillery, and you knew you had only seconds to get inside somewhere. People were living in fear all the time.

There was almost no food. People were given a quarter loaf of bread per day. If the truck did not come, you simply did not eat.

I remember once a bread truck was hit. The driver was lying there, killed. I was a young yeshiva bochur, and we had to carry his body ourselves. You saw things like that all the time. Death was something real, something close.

There were no trained soldiers, just young bochurim with rifles. I remember one bochur standing on a rooftop with just a few bullets. A Jordanian convoy was approaching Yerushalayim with armored vehicles. He fired one shot, hit perfectly, and the vehicle went up in flames. He kept shooting, and with almost nothing, he managed to stop them. You saw clearly, these were miracles.

So the question is, what should have been the response to such open kindness from Hashem?

When they came to establish the state, they wrote the Declaration. There was a whole debate about whether to mention Hashem’s name. In the end, they wrote “Trust in the Rock of Israel,” but even that was a compromise. Some meant Hashem, others had in mind just strength or nationalism.

So, can we say this is the beginning of geulah? Can we celebrate it as such? A state established without clearly acknowledging Hashem, and in many ways even acting against Torah?

There were very serious problems. Religious immigrants, especially from Yemen, were pressured, in some cases forced, away from Torah observance. Children were placed into secular systems. Parents were pushed to send their children to non-religious schools. There were organized efforts to weaken Yiddishkeit.

We ourselves were involved in going into those camps secretly, at night, trying to strengthen the families, encouraging them to hold on to Torah. It involved real sacrifice.

So what is the correct approach?

The state exists. It is a reality, like any country where Jews live. We recognize that Hashem performed miracles. But we do not call this geulah, and we do not treat it as the beginning of redemption. We do not turn it into a day of celebration.

Gratitude to Hashem should lead to a stronger commitment to Torah and mitzvos, not to redefining something in a way that ignores the truth.

Today you can see something interesting. Despite all that was done, there is a strong movement of people returning to Torah. From successful, established families, more and more people are coming back.

In the end, what will bring the true geulah is not a political state. It is Torah, mitzvos, and doing what the Rebbe asks of us.

Adapted from a speech by Rabbi Avraham Meizlish AH. To hear the original speech, click here.