Human Interest

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today [translated from Hebrew]:

“Minister of Education, Yoav Kisch,

Participants in the Quiz,

Members of the judging panel, and of course, the winners,

Congratulations to you, and well done!

“As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire”, it is said in the Book of Psalms [83:14],

As I open my remarks, I wish to give strength to our fire and rescue services, and all other elements who are investing a great deal of effort to contain the fires in the Jerusalem Hills. It is not a simple matter; there are natural disasters, and there are man-made disasters as well. There is hard work to be done.

Our neighbors, who proclaim their love for this land, are prepared, in their propaganda, in their incitement on Palestinian networks, they’re saying – burn the land. We do love this land and we protect this land!

I am certain we will successfully rise to this challenge as well. We are making every effort to contain the fire and to restore that which has been damaged.

The poet Uri Zvi Greenberg, of blessed memory, a great friend of my family, passed away on Independence Day 44 years ago. Greenberg wrote in one of his poems: “Zion which stands in the fire and is not burned”.

As the bush that was burning in the fire but not consumed, such is our nation. We persevere, we exist, we are victorious, and we continue building our homeland, come hell or high water.

One more thing about victory:

“We have many goals in the war; we wish to return all our hostages. Until today, we have returned 147 living hostages, 196 in total. There are more – up to 24 living, 59 in total. We want to bring back the living and the deceased as well; it’s a very important goal. In the war, there is the ultimate goal – and that ultimate goal is the victory over our enemies, and that we will achieve.

Now, a few words with regards to the Bible itself: I wish to tell you, in candor, that for me, the competition is hard. The deliberation is difficult. I am not talking now about the race between the contestants; after all, the contest has been decided.

I am talking about the question: which verse from the Bible is the most fitting to the War of Redemption? That’s our war.

Perhaps the one in the Book of Numbers [23:24]: “Behold a people that riseth up as a lioness, and as a lion doth he lift himself up”.

After the October 7 attack, we rose on our feet as lions, and retaliated with war on our enemies.

Or, perhaps, a different verse, from the Book of Proverbs [3:31]: “Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways” [“oppressor” in Hebrew is homophonous with “man of Hamas”]. I believe this one requires no explanation; they are not to be envied.

There are also other important verses, for example: “Thy children shall come again to their own border”, from the Book of Jeremiah [31:17]. We are investing the utmost effort in returning home our sons and daughters, bringing our dear hostages home.

And another one, from the Book of Psalms this time: “I have chosen the way of faith” [119:30]. We have heard it from the lookout soldier Agam Berger, who said: “I have chosen the way of faith, and by way of faith I have returned”.

And of course there are the letters that spell the word “oz” [strength]. “Oz” is the number 77, for Israel.

G-d willing, the strength of spirit of our soldiers and commanders will bring us the victory!

So as I said to you: so many beautiful verses – and the competition among them is hard. Which is why I believe it’s not a singular choice but a multiple choice. All the verses I mentioned, without exception, are inspiring. They bring more strength and extra drive to our heroes on the battle fronts.

This is the greatness of the Bible: The Bible speaks to every generation. The Bible is the foundation of our existence – a marvelous treasure of spirit, identity and values.

Some weeks ago, I was thrilled to witness the tree planting ceremony, in which trees taken from Kibbutz Be’eri were planted in a new neighborhood that is being constructed in the community of Otniel, in the Hebron Hills. The new neighborhood is named Be’er Elhanan after the hero of Israel, Elhanan Kalmanson, of blessed memory, who saved the lives of many Be’eri residents on the day of the massacre.

Trees brought from the western Negev – planted in the soil of Judea and Samaria. Around them, standing together, embracing each other, kibbutzniks and settlers. There is no greater illustration for the prophecy of Ezekiel [37:17]: “And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand”.

This wonderful connection between the Bible and the planting of trees in the Land of Israel – and following the wildfires, we will be planting many more trees throughout the Land – this connection is also a part of our family’s heritage, of my wife Sara and I.

My late father-in-law – Sara’s father, Shmuel Ben-Artzi, of blessed memory – was in his youth a farmer that made many orchards bloom. At the same time, he was also a fighter in the underground, but the Bible was central to his worldview. He wasn’t just an ardent student of the Bible, he was also a great educator. He was a Bible teacher and he established a Bible learning group; he was in Ben-Gurion’s first Bible learning group, and he established some of the longest-running Bible learning groups in the history of Israel. He lived the Bible and he was determined to instill the Bible in his students.

One of the students influenced by him was his grandson, our son Avner, who 15 years ago won, at first, the Bible Quiz award for the State of Israel, and then won 3rd place in the International Bible Quiz. We were sitting here, my wife Sara and I, on the edge of our seats, and we were thrilled, as I’m sure many fathers and mothers here were thrilled. It was a moment of exaltation, because here is this book, this foundation, alive in our nation, alive within us, alive within our children and being passed to our grandchildren, something really great.

I would like to share with you that Shmuel Ben-Artzi was born under the name Samuel Hahn. He changed his name to Ben-Artzi [“son of my land”] because of his strong love for our land, for the heritage of our forefathers.

And here I would like to address the young people abroad: may you also become – as Shmuel Ben-Artzi did – the sons and daughters of our land. Come to the Land – because Israel is the home for all of us.

I wish to thank all the participants of the Bible Quiz. I wish to thank you, the judges.
Heartfelt congratulations to the winners.

A joyous Independence Day!”