Following the War of Independence, Israel needed to secure its borders against the hostile Arab nations which surrounded it. Ein Gedi, on the western shore of the Dead Sea, was secured on Sunday, March 20, 1949.
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War of Independence
Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld played a leading role in the Jewish community of British-Mandatory Jerusalem for almost six decades. He authored the book of responsa Salmas Chaim.
As the world came into being, so did compassion. It may be the most vital element in our world—because it allows everything to keep chugging along while so loosely strung together, enduring so perfectly in its imperfection.
Without compassion, the sages say, our world could not stand. Because with compassion comes forgiveness, and only a world that is allowed to stumble can stand on its own feet.
A world of perfection—a world that follows precisely every dictate from Above—is like a fetus that has never left its womb. In what way is it a world? In what way is it real?
A real world is one whose creatures can pass or can fail, or blunder about until they eventually beat their path to the truth.
“And such a world,” says its Creator, “is worth My compassion and My forgiveness.”