(2012/5772)
A Special Berachah
The Mishnah (Berachot 9:1) teaches that one who sees a place where miracles occurred to the Jewish people should recite “Baruch Atah Hashem etc. who made a miracle for our ancestors in this place”. The Gemara (Berachot 54a) relates that the basis for this Halacha is Yitro’s proclamation upon reuniting with Moshe Rabbeinu in Midbar Sinai: “Baruch Hashem Asher Hitzil Etchem MiYad Mitzrayim UMiYad Paroh”, “Baruch Hashem, who saved you from Mitzrayim and Paroh” (Shemot 18:10).
The Gemara (ibid.) provides examples of where this Berachah should be recited: the place where we crossed the Yam Suf[1], the point where we crossed the Jordan river during Yehoshua’s time, and the sunken walls of Yericho. Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 218:1) codifies this as normative Halacha.
What Is So Special about Lake Success, New York?
As far as I am aware, 1111 Marcus Avenue in Lake Success, New York is the only location in the world outside of Eretz Yisrael and its neighboring countries where we can even consider reciting this Berachah. What is now an ordinary office building located near Long Island Jewish Hospital on the northeast Queens-Long Island border is the place where, on November 29, 1947, a miracle occurred that profoundly changed the direction of our people.
1111 Marcus Avenue in Lake Success was the temporary location of the United Nations from 1946 to 1951. UNSCOP, the United Nations Committee on Palestine, held hearings on September 1, 1947, to decide what course of action to recommend to the UN regarding Palestine. Remarkably it was 50 years to the day (September 1, 1897) that Theodore Herzl wrote in his diary, “in 50 years, a Jewish State would be created.”
UNSCOP recommended to partition Palestine into two states – one Jewish and one Arab. This Partition Plan was rejected by all the Arab states. Nonetheless, the resolution was passed in the United Nations on November 29, 1947. The United Nations General Assembly voted 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions, in favor of the Partition Plan, which created the Jewish State with a vote of 33-13. Amazingly, both the United States and the Soviet Union supported the resolution, even at the height of the Cold War.
Passage of the resolution required a two-thirds majority of valid votes (i.e. not counting abstaining and absent members). Prior to the final vote, when countries indicated their voting intentions, it was evident that the required majority was not available. The vote would have been: for 30, against 16, abstaining 10 - one short of a two-thirds majority. Three countries—Haiti, Liberia, the Philippines—were persuaded to change their positions, which enabled the required majority to be reached. Of the permanent members of the Security Council, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union voted for the resolution while the Republic of China and the United Kingdom abstained.
A video of eyewitnesses describing the Jewish efforts and success in obtaining the required votes is available at www.toldotyisrael.com.
The Miracle of November 29, 1947 in Lake Success
The renowned British historian Paul Johnson wrote of the Jewish State: “In the last half-century, over 100 completely new independent states have come into existence. Israel is the only one whose creation can fairly be called a miracle.” Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik writes in his classic essay “Kol Dodi Dofeik”: “No one can deny that from the standpoint of international relations, the establishment of the State of Israel, in a political sense, was an almost supernatural occurrence.” The Rav continues:
This was perhaps the only proposal where east and west were united. I am inclined to believe that the entire United Nations organization was created specifically for this purpose – in order to carry out the mission which the divine providence had set for it. It seems to me that one cannot point to any other concrete achievement on the part of the U.N. Our sages, of blessed memory, already expressed the view that at times, “rain” descends for a single person, or for a single blade of grass. I do not know whom the journalists, with their eyes of flesh and blood, saw sitting in the chairman’s seat during that fateful session when the General Assembly decided in favor of the establishment of the state. However, someone at the time who observed matters with his spiritual eye could have sensed the presence of the true chairman Who presided over the session, i.e. the Beloved (Hashem)! It was He who knocked with His gavel on the podium. Do we not interpret the verse “That night sleep from the king fled” (Esther 6:1) as referring to the sleep of the King of the Universe (Megillah 15b). Were it Ahaseuras alone who cold not sleep, it would have been of no consequence, and the salvation of Israel would not have blossomed forth on that night. However, if it is the King of the Universe Who, as it were, does not slumber then the redemption will be born. If it had been John Doe who called the session of the United Nations to order, then the State of Israel would not have come into being – but if the Beloved knocked on the chairman’s podium, then the miracle occurred.
1111 Marcus Avenue Today
For those people who do not use their “spiritual eye,” 1111 Marcus Avenue in Lake Success is just another office building with many flags flying in front of it showing that it once housed the United Nations and a small monument noting that the State of Israel was created at that location. However, for those who choose correctly and do use their spiritual eye, 1111 Marcus Avenue is a place where we must thank Hashem for the miracle He made at that site in 1947. Rav Soloveitchik, in “Kol Dodi Dofeik,” writes “Woe is to the recipient of a miracle and does not acknowledge it”. It behooves any Jew who passes this location to take a moment and express gratitude to Hashem.
SheAsah Nissim LaAvoteinu BaMakom HaZeh in Lake Success?
The question is whether this event merits reciting the specific Berachah thanking Hashem for a miracle that occurred in this place. The examples presented in the Gemara and Shulchan Aruch create the impression that the miracle must involve a violation of the laws of nature. The November 29, 1947 United Nations vote was Hashem hiding behind a “secular veil” with no violations of the laws of nature.
Moreover, when I posed this question to Rav Hershel Schachter, he noted an opinion of Magein Avraham (218:1, cited by the Mishnah Berurah 218:7) who poses a major limitation upon the scope of situations when one recites this Berachah. Magein Avraham (based on the opinion of Rabbeinu Yehudah cited in Tosafot Brachot 54b s.v. Avnei Elgavish) is inclined to say that we recite this Berachah only if the miracle involved the location. The aforementioned examples of the Gemara, the places at the Yam Suf and the Yardein where they split, are situations where upon seeing these locations one encounters the items upon which the miracle occurred.
By contrast, the miracle of the overnight smiting of Sancheirev’s Assyrian army that beseiged Yerushalayim during the time of Chizkiyahu (recorded in Melachim II 19:35) is not mentioned by the Gemara because the miracle did not occur to the location itself. The miracle occurred to the Assyrian soldiers, but the ground did not open up to swallow them, as opposed to Keri’at Yam Suf, where the sea itself split.
Rav Schachter acknowledged that a miracle had occurred in Lake Success in 1947 but the miracle did not involve the building itself. The miracle occurred in terms of the actions of the United Nations delegations and their governments. Thus, seeing the building on 1111 Marcus Avenue in Lake Success is more akin to the visiting the place where the smiting of the Assyrian soldiers occurred than seeing the place where Keri’at Yam Suf occurred. Thus, according to Mishnah Berurah, one cannot recite SheAsah Nissim LaAvoteinu BaMakom HaZeh in Lake Success[2].
Conclusion
Even though Rav Schachter ruled that we do not recite the Berachah at the former location of the United Nations in Lake Success, he felt it most appropriate for those passing by the location to stop for a moment and thank Hashem for what He did for His people in 1947 at that location. We often cry out to Hashem when we are in trouble. We too often neglect our responsibility to thank Hashem for the help He grants us. We are so accustomed to the miracle of Medinat Yisrael that we often do not acknowledge the great miracle involved in its creation and maintenance. Let us use this Yom HaAtzmaut to renew our commitment to thanking Hashem for all the good that He has done for us in general and in establishing the State of Israel specifically. The aforementioned video documents the incredible excitement experienced by the Jewish People on November 29, 1947. Let us not let that great moment fade into obscurity.
[1] Recent possible discovery of remains of the Egyptian chariots at the bottom of the Red Sea might point us to the location as to where we recite this Berachah.
[2] Even though Tosafot present opinions that disagree with Rabbeinu Yehudah and although Magein Avraham and Mishnah Berurah present this ruling with some hesitation (they preface their comments with the word “LiCh’orah”, “it would seem”) Rav Schachter ruled that one should not even recite this Berachah at 1111 Marcus Avenue without Sheim UMalchut (omitting Hashem’s name and title). Rav Schachter appears to believe that despite the expression LiCh’orah, Magein Avraham and Mishnah Berurah’s ruling is not expressed as a matter of doubt. Had these authorities used the word “Efshar” (it is possible) it would have reasonable to recite the Berachah without Sheim UMalchut.