November 29, 1947 marked the day in which the United Nations recognised the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. It was a day that generations of Jews would be taught to remember with reverence.

November 29, 2012, marked the day in which the United Nations resoundingly upgraded the Palestinians' status - a move that (without G-d's intervention) will  almost inevitably lead to the formation of a Palestinian State, with or without the consent of the State of Israel.

It can hardly be doubted that for the Arabs there is great signficiance in this confluence of events 65 years to the day. The righting of a historical wrong, they say.

But what about the Jews? What are they to make of this "coincidence"?

Theodore Herzl's desire for the establishment of a Jewish State was predicated on the notion of normalisation. 

Once the Jews had a state of their own they would become “normal”, worthy members of the world community. No longer would the Jew be a pariah among the nations, a parasite that snuck into foreign countries to suck out their life-blood. As such there would no longer be any reason to hate the Jews. The establishment of a Jewish state would put an end, once and for all, to anti-Semitism. 

This striving for normalisation was the driving force behind much of secular Zionist philosophy. I know. As a child, I went to Habonim. One of my clearest memories was of a play celebrating the UN vote of November 29, 1947. Each camper represented a different country.The votes were tallied. Hoorah! The nations had finally granted us legitimacy. We were "normal"!

Indeed, normalisation was the spirit behind the Oslo agreements:

In his first speech to the Knesset on becoming (for the second time) prime minister, in 1992, Yitzchak Rabin, of blessed memory, said: “No longer are we necessarily ‘a people that dwells alone,’ and no longer is it true that ‘the whole world is against us.’ We must overcome the sense of isolation that has held us in its thrall for almost half a century. We must join the international movement toward peace, reconciliation and cooperation that is spreading over the entire globe these days — lest we be the last to remain, all alone, in the station.”

Rabin returned to that theme frequently, perhaps most notably post-Oslo, in 1994: “We are witnessing a new wind blowing throughout the world regarding its relationship to the State of Israel: The claim that ‘the whole world is against us’ has dissipated in the spirit of peace. The world is not against us; it is with us.”

I remember Prime Minister Rabin's speeches very well because they disturbed me so much at the time. I couldn't get over the fact that an Israeli Prime Minister was saying that a verse of the Torah - "A Nation that Dwells Alone" - no longer applied. I was even more disturbed by the negative spin he put on it - as if it was due to some failing on our part that we were so isolated.

What i didn't know at the time was that in Rabin's first audience with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, as Israeli Ambassador to the US, the Rebbe discussed with Rabin the uniqueness of the Jewish People. I first became aware of this audience in a documentary which featured interviews with both Prime Minister Rabin and Ambassador Yehuda Avner, who was also present at the meeting.

Rabin was mesmerised by the Rebbe, as he himself recalls and as confirmed by Avner. But what was more important is both his and Avner's recollection of how Rabin was totally overawed by the Rebbe's explanation of the unique place of the Jewish People among the nations.

Quoting from the Torah the verse "A nation that dwells alone", the Rebbe explained that the Jews were at once a part of the world, and at the same time, apart from the world.  The Rebbe concluded that this was the destiny of the Jewish People and that the establishment of the State of Israel could not change this.

Years later, the Rebbe send a shliach to Rabin to remind him of that conversation. The shliach, my Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Mentlick, said only one sentence: The Rebbe asks that you remember what he said to you about Israel being "A nation that dwells alone."

When Rabin recalled this audience with the Rebbe he said it was a spiritual experience - the like of which he had never experienced before. Unfortunately, overawed or not, mesmerised or not, the Prime Minister didn't give practical application to what he heard. It seems that, as occurs with so many of us who have experienced the greatness of the Rebbe first hand, there is a dissonance between what we deeply know to be true and what we say and how we act.

By now, however, I think that we can all see that the promise of Oslo as stated by Rabin - the notion that "the whole world is against us has dissipated in the spirit of peace… no longer are we necessarily ‘a people that dwells alone" - has proved to be a bad joke.

What should we learn from all this?

There is no doubt that November 29, 1947 had significance in the lead up to the establishment of an independent Jewish State which could protect its citizens and welcome Jews from around the world without hinder. But it's significance was not that legitimacy was finally granted to the Jewish People. We have no need for the legitimisation of the nations of the world. Our legitimacy, and our rightful claim to the Land of Israel, comes from G-d, the Creator of the world. If we, G-d forbid, are only as legitimate as a UN vote, what do we say now that they have given legitimacy to those that claim the right to rocket us out of existence without our having the right to retaliate?

November 29, 2012, shows up the fallacy of relying on the nations of the world for our legitimacy!

The UN vote on 1947 was more the removal of an obstacle than a positive accomplishment. It removed the British Mandate - so that G-d's Will, our return to Israel, could be accomplished. It is to G-d that we must offer thanks, and it is in G-d that we should trust.

It's time that we moved beyond craving acceptance from a hostile world, who can grant us recognition at one moment and deny it from us the next. It's time to proclaim, proudly, loudly and clearly, "This Land is ours, G-d gave this land to us!"

Rabbi Benzion Milecki OAM