llustration by Denis Shifrin

An interesting number, sixty. Sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour and sixty minutes in a degree. Also, according to the Talmud, the proportion (60:1) of kosher to non-kosher ingredients which, in the laws of kashrut, can render an admixture kosher post-facto…well, you learn something new every day. The Babylonian number system had a base of sixty. The equivalent Roman numeral (LX) has been adopted as the brand name for a luxury car, is the abbreviation for Lisbon and the IATA code for Swiss International Air Lines. Being married for sixty years entitles you to diamonds, and I should certainly think so too.

Sixty years. That’s a sizeable chunk of a man’s life. No longer young, and middle age is also behind him. Like it or not he is now categorized as ‘old’ by anyone under 30 and he will shortly be eligible for the benefits offered to ‘senior citizens’ by a state concerned that in his decrepitude he will be unable to survive without assistance. His ‘three score’ have already passed and he has started on the ‘and ten’ that he still has left, according to the biblical span. He hopes that good health and average luck will take him beyond the expectations of the ancients. He is halfway to the 120 that his friends wish for him on birthdays, despite the fact that his quality of life will deteriorate dramatically some time before he reaches that milestone.

As I think of Israel approaching the 60^th anniversary of its reestablishment as an independent Jewish state, my association of the number sixty with the designation ‘old’ is no longer valid. Sixty years for a nation state is really young, barely post-puberty. Just as a child struggles towards maturity, craving the acceptance of its elders, so this country has forced itself into the community of nation states and now demands to be treated like any other adult, with all of an adult’s rights and responsibilities. Israel has to its credit an impressive list of achievements, but is rather like an extraordinarily gifted child who gains admission to a university in his mid-teens, and who finds it hard to come by the maturity to compete on an equal basis. Having proved itself militarily and economically, Israel still lacks the political maturity to produce responsible, stable governments. Israel continues in its failure to convince many of its elders in the community of nations that Israel’s cause is just and its methods reasonable. And like children squabbling in the schoolyard, we Israelis are divided amongst ourselves, often dogmatic and litigious, self-righteous and intolerant.

Sixty years of independence for a country is not a long time, but it should be long enough for its citizens to grow up and behave like responsible young adults. We need to respect and remember the past, but to put it behind us and look forward. We need to stand on our own two feet. We need to rise above the level of those who seek our downfall because they cannot abide our successes. We can and should be able to overcome all our difficulties, to make good friends abroad and to present a cohesive and united front against our enemies. Maturity also requires us to be smart as well as right and to recognize that today’s enemies are tomorrow’s neighbors.

When we wish Israel ‘a happy birthday - until 120’, it is not like when we say it to each other. This is a realistic wish and we really mean it. As to the ‘how’, well my personal 60^th birthday present to Israel is the hope that we can find among ourselves a true leader and statesman, incorruptible, charismatic, strong, sensible, unidentified with any political ideology and capable of unifying left and right, religious and secular, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, rich and poor. A sort of thinking man’s messiah, I guess. We have been promised such a person for ages and now would surely be a good time for him to show himself.