UNMIA

Article from Ami Isseroff

Jews dancing in the streets on November 29, 1947 to celebrate the Palestine Partition Decision

This letter by Zipporah Porath, from her book, “Letters from Jerusalem 1947-1948,” was written the morning after the United Nations voted to approve the Partition of Palestine into two states, paving the way for the establishment of the State of Israel.

The decision of the United Nations to partition Palestine embodied in UN General Assembly Resolution 181 was greeted by Jewish Palestinians with both joy and foreboding. The joy was expressed in the spontaneous celebrations that broke out on the evening of November 29, 1947 throughout Mandatory Palestine. The foreboding was expressed by Jewish leaders, who understood that the partition decision would almost inevitably lead to war. Chaim Weizmann remarked in December that the state would not be handed to the Jewish people on a silver platter. Soon after, the poet Natan Alterman wrote the poem, The Silver Platter, about the heroism of the young people who would be called upon to defend their new country. About 6,000 Israelis were killed in the 1948 Israel War of Independence. (First Arab-Israeli war). But these thoughts were far from the …

On the twelfth of February, 1809, nearly 200 years ago, a young, poor illiterate woman from Virginia, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, gave birth to a son, in a log cabin, built along the banks of the south fork of Nolin Creek, near what is now Hodgenville, Kentucky. That baby, whom she named Abraham, grew to become one of our greatest, and most tragic, national leaders.

Lincoln was a man of great spiritual conviction. Yet, and I find this fact fascinatingly instructive, Abraham Lincoln was the only American president not to have declared himself a member of any particular religious faith. That fact has given rise to a great deal of interesting speculation. In fact, there are those who believe that Honest Abe was Jewish.

After all, his name was Abraham. His great-grandfather was named Mordechai. Lincoln was the only President not to have a formal religious affiliation. He was neither raised in a church nor did he ever belong to a church.

And there’s more… the town of Lincoln, in eastern England, whence his ancestors came, has an interesting Jewish history. A Jewish community was established there in 1159.

During Crusader riots, the Sheriff of Lincoln saved the Jews by giving them …

The UNM Israel Alliance will be having some great events this semester!

We’ll be showing the movie “Ushpizin”, a great movie that takes place in Jerusalem, full of conflict, humor and drama that everybody comes away loving: it’s about faith, miracles, disasters, dealing with a past that comes back to haunt you, marriage, conflict and joy.

We’ll also be hosting a local businessman and conservationist who will be talking about conservation, environment, and water resources advances in Israel. Find out some of the latest Israeli advances in green technology. Find out how local businesses are partnering with Israeli companies to pool our knowledge and resources to help the environment and make deserts bloom with less water. This will be of interest not only to fans of Israel, but to anyone concerned with the environment, business, or both.

These are just a couple of the things we have planned. Watch for dates and times as they become available.

Watch for the UNM Israel Alliance information table at campus events, and sign up for our mailing list if you’re interested, or email Lynn to be added.