The Wonder of the Abraham Accords

Three days before Rosh Hashanah, I heard the most unexpectedly stirring sermon of the High Holy Day season. The pulpit from which it was delivered might have been unusual, but it was a sermon just the same, complete with a devar Torah, an inspiring biblical insight. The location was the South Lawn of the White House, where a largely Jewish audience gathered to celebrate the signing of the “Abraham Accords.”

Standing on the Truman Balcony with the president and the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, the prime minister of Israel spoke of how war had marked his life: how a comrade had died in his arms, how his brother Yoni had perished at Entebbe, how his parents never ceased to mourn for their eldest son. Benjamin Netanyahu then added that it was only because Israel had ensured its security and strength that peace was possible, because “ultimately, strength brings peace.” Then he suddenly cited sacred scripture:

King David expressed this basic truth thousands of years ago in our eternal capital of Jerusalem. His prayer immortalized in the Book of Psalms in the Bible echoes from our glorious past and guides us towards a brilliant future. Adonai oz le’amo yiten; Adonai yevarekh et-amo va’shalom. May God give strength to His people. May God bless His people with peace.