The Land of Israel Reveives Rabbi Balkany’s Praise

In this invocation Rabbi Balkany praises in beautiful, elegant language the Land of Israel and the work Mort Klein has done on her behalf.

Our father in Heaven!
We stand before you wrapped in the mantle of realized dreams. We are cloaked in the magnificence of Israel from the Kinneret’s inky blue waters to the brilliant white peaks of Mount Hermon. The Negev blooms verdantly in the midst of a sea of sand. Though the fabric of the Land’s beauty is a plush and luxurious adornment around the shoulders of our Nation, we plead that you look at us, in our prosperity, in our comfort, and perceive our passionate pleas. We beseech you to reveal yourself as the Master Weaver. Reassure us, for our inheritance, our gift, the dream that was on our ancestors’ lips as they slept, that remained clenched in the fists of all who fought for her, our Land. Israel is being tugged form us thread by thread, promise by broken promise. We pray that you bless Mort Klein and all who devote their lives to weaving Israel’s future with triple strands of strength, purpose and faithfulness. We pray that we will merit to see the fulfillment of Ecclesiastes’ words as he wrote: a three-ply cord is not quickly broken, with a People, a Land, and Jerusalem standing strong as one. Amen.