Many of you may have seen the aged photo taken 100 years ago that shows blurry and shadowy figures cheering the announcement of the Balfour Declaration at the former Congregation Beth Israel.
The reason for the celebration may not have been something we understand today. Most of us have lived during a time when Medinot Yisroel has been a fact of our existence. But for those of us older than the Baby Boomer generation, a Jewish State was never a given or even guaranteed. Suffice it to say that the establishment of the modern State of Israel could never have been achieved or that the notion of a Jewish homeland could ever have taken hold without the Balfour Declaration.
Only some 20 years after the first Zionist Congress and 13 years following the death of Theodor Herzl, here was assurance that the small segment of Jews who were already living in the area and those that chose to emigrate there would be afforded an enclave of their own protected under the British mandate.
This was happy news and for Jews struggling to make ends meet in America, it was welcome news that one day they, their children and other progeny would once again be able to live in the Holy Land and walk within the walled city of Jerusalem.
Once the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the Great War, the Arab drive for independence from the Turks, the French and the British meant pushback against the Jews.
It would take another four decades of turbulence and the passage of the Shoah before Jews could declare for themselves an independent Jewish state.
In 1948 the British essentially abandoned the policy delineated in the Balfour Proclamation by their withdrawal from the area. Those Jewish settlers who fought and won independence can thank the British for the advancement of the idea, but it was with their own blood and courage that victory was assured and the principles inculcated in the document given ultimate reinforcement.
