God will fetch us back!

The prayer for the State of Israel was introduced in 1948 by both the Sephardic and Ashkenazic Chief Rabbis of the newly-established State—Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel and Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog. This Shabbat is the 77th anniversary of the day it was first published in the HaTzofeh newspaper, 20 September 1948. 

Our Torah reading this week, Parashat Nitzavim, is the source of a substantial part of its text. At Devarim 30:4-5 we read:

אִם-יִהְיֶה נִדַּחֲךָ, בִּקְצֵה הַשָּׁמָיִם--מִשָּׁם, יְקַבֶּצְךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, וּמִשָּׁם, יִקָּחֶךָ

וֶהֱבִיאֲךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֶל-הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר-יָרְשׁוּ אֲבֹתֶיךָ--וִירִשְׁתָּהּ; וְהֵיטִבְךָ וְהִרְבְּךָ, מֵאֲבֹתֶיךָ

If any of you who are dispersed should be in the utmost parts of heaven, from there will the Lord your God gather you, and from there will He fetch you.

And the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will do you good and multiply you beyond your fathers.

The full text of the Prayer for the State of Israel, including these words of comfort and reassurance, has been set to music by our member Max Stern.

You can listen to Max’s version of this prayer (sweetly sung by the Kecskemet Singing Circle conducted by Peter Erdei) here.