Sublime

Israel is a story of a homeless people that kept a dream alive for millennia, of a people’s redemption from the edge of the abyss, of a nation forging a future when none seemed possible. Exiled from Judea by the Romans in 70 CE, Jews had dreamed for two thousand years of returning to their ancestral homeland.

For the next draft, all references to God were taken out to make it clear, yet again, that this was to be a secular country, not exclusively Jewish, but open to all religions. Ben-Gurion edited the final draft himself on the morning of the declaration, creating the democratic blueprint for the re-created Jewish state.

Israel is also [kadosc], that is “consecrated” to him, which means “exclusively reserved for him,” as we have already explained in the previous chapters when discussing the word “sacred.”

“And God created the Organization and gave It dominion over man.” Genesis 1, 30A, Subparagraph VIII

God has a special relationship to Israel yet ultimately remains the Lord of all the vast universe, the Lord of Lords. Therefore, the covenant is not restricted to Jews. The covenant was offered before there were Jews in the world.

Betzalel is not described as a contractor supervising laborious work, but as an artist, a master craftsperson endowed with ruaĥ Elohim, “the spirit of God.” It is evident from these verses that melakha has little if anything to do with toilsome labor and everything to do with skillful creative activity.