14 Days

JOn May 14, 1948, Israel declared its independence for the first time! Click here to see a YouTube clop of the declaration on Yom Ha'Atzmaut.

Israel today has 14 cities with populations over 100,000, including Jerusalem at over a 500,000, and Tel Aviv, which is considered to be approaching global city status. There is Haifa, home of the Technion Institute in the North, and Be'er Sheva, a city in the Negev Desert with many recently-arrived Russian immigrants, more chess grandmasters per capita than any city in the world (8, that's one in 22,000 people) and the famous Ben-Gurion University (featuring such academic giants as Israeli novelist and peace activist Amos Oz and the controversial historian Benny Morris). The rate of Israel's growth has been breathtaking, and it all started with the idea that was given its fulfillment on May 14, 1948.

After a war for its survival, Israel established itself as a permanent homeland for the Jewish people. It began with a small population, mostly refugees, many of them Holocaust survivors who had seen the very low point of Jewish (and human) history. Then the country began absorbing immigrants from far and wide, whether Jews moving for idealistic reasons, or to flee persecution, or both. For example, hundreds of thousands of Jews from Arab countries made aliya and were welcomed to their new home, even as they lost all their property in their old homes. Read about their story here.

Because of the zeal and motivation of that small population, which always grew as more Jews came to join in the amazing project of state-building, the population of Israel has grown and grown, to about 7.1 million today (about 5.5 million of them Jewish). And with this population growth has come incredible urban development!
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Just as we celebrate the founding of the State of Israel on Yom Ha'Atzmaut, we also celebrate Israel and it's accomplishments at the Salute to Israel Parade! We hope to see everyone gathering on Fifth Avenue in showcase of pride, celebration and support for our Israeli brothers and sisters....

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