SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE:

The rebirth of Israel has resurrected a state that the world had declared to be dead. In the year 70, the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and commemorated the event when Titus erected his arch next to the Coliseum in Rome.

According to the rabbis, it was not the Jews who were driven out of Exile, but God. The world was out of joint. The Destruction of Jerusalem symbolized it, much like 9/11 in New York.

Then, like today’s talk of worldwide terrorism, Jews in every land spoke of the day when they would return to Israel. It has always been the hope that Israel would be reborn. First came Zionism. In 1948, the State of Israel was made.

Israel can look back in pride in its survival. Minute in size, it has withstood a half-dozen full-scale wars and acts of Arab terrorism. It has turned itself from a very poor country to an industrial powerhouse. It has improved relations with its Arab citizens.

Some of its achievements are unprecedented. Democracy flourishes. After 60 years of life, Israel’s best defense must remain its determination to survive and its ability to defend its citizens against terrorists and bigots who cannot abide with the reality of a strong and independent Jewish democratic state.

I cannot understand why peace-loving people committed to equality and self-determination for all people (Arabs too), could favor the side of extremist militant Muslims. What then explains the widespread support for Palestinian extremists and opposition to Israel’s actions of how it responds to events within it own borders? I pray that the next U.S. president will be more supportive than former President Carter’s latest actions and recent statements (his book and his trip) concerning Israel, and that America continue the present policies of President George W. Bush’s support for Israel.

MARC RUBENSTEIN is the rabbi at Temple Isaiah of Newport Beach.