For Your Consideration - Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro 

          This June marks the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War.
      As our country slogs its way through the war in Iraq, it is difficult to imagine “celebrating” another war. Yet that is what I feel we need to do this month. We need to recognize that something momentous (and mostly positive) took place in Jewish history between June 5 and 10, 1967.
      During the weeks leading up to the war, Israel’s situation was perilous. Arab armies massed on Israel’s borders. The streets of Cairo rang with promises of throwing the Jews into the sea. The UN withdrew its peace keeping force. Israel sought American security assurances but received only vague responses from Washington. Israel stood very, very much alone.
      And then came the surprise.
      In six days Israel defeated the Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian forces, and in those same six days Israel managed to reclaim Jerusalem as its capitol city!
      The full story is more complicated, but the essential experience in 1967 created nothing less than astonishment, wonder, and pride throughout the Jewish world. Jewish identity in the United States was transformed. The 3 million Jews of the Soviet Union were galvanized into action for freedom.
      In many ways, the Six Day War of 1967 set the stage for the Jewish world we know today.
      Throughout this month at our Friday evening services we will make time to talk about the war and its significance. We will listen to Israeli music from the war. We will explore how the 1967 war came to be a defining moment for Jews in our time.