The Balfour Declaration: A Miracle in the Making

The following was submitted by Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. 

One hundred years ago, Lord Arthur Balfour stuns the world by issuing the Balfour Declaration stating that the British government supports the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people. This became the legal instrument making possible the State of Israel.

At the same time in 1917, a few hundred miles away, two young men were reacquainted after serving in the same unit in the United States Armed Forces during World War I. When the war ends, they became business partners. Their names are Harry S. Truman and Eddie Jacobson.

On July 20, 1944, Adolf Hitler is almost assassinated. He goes on radio to assure the German people that, “Fate has selected me for my mission.” It was to be the last time that Hitler ever spoke in public.

On that same day, the Democrats gathered to nominate Franklin Roosevelt for a fourth term. His cardiologist notifies his senior aids that he will only live for another year. 

Harry Truman does not want to be Vice President and in fact he is selected to nominate Jimmy Byrnes. But at Roosevelt’s insistence, he allows his name to be entered and after decisively loosing the first ballot to the sitting VP, Henry Wallace, he miraculously wins the second ballot by a landslide.

Nine months later, Roosevelt dies. Truman, has little experience in foreign affairs, and is totally dependent on his Secretary of State, General George Marshall, who vehemently opposes a Jewish State.

At this crucial moment, Truman’s partner, Eddie Jacobson, arrives uninvited in the Oval Office, passionately making the case for a Jewish State. In the end, Truman agrees and tells Chaim Weitzman that when a State is declared he will recognize it.

On Rosh Hashanah we are reminded that there is a G-d in the world and though he lives in the heavens he occasionally sends us emails and tweets and only asks of us that we be sure to open them!

Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year.