(Jerusalem, Israel) — The newly re-elected premier of Israel made an intriguing proposal on the occasion of the 71st anniversary of Israel’s prophetic rebirth as a sovereign nation in 1948.
As he attended the International Bible Quiz and made the case for the importance of studying and knowing the Bible, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called…for a printed Bible to be carried to the moon by the next Israeli spacecraft to make the journey, and credited Judaism’s foundational text for the ‘daring’ and ‘spirit’ Israelis demonstrate in the attempt,” reports the Times of Israel.
“Speaking at the International Bible Quiz for Youth, which is held every year on Independence Day, the prime minister vowed to send a second spacecraft after the first, dubbed ‘Beresheet’ (Genesis), crashed onto the lunar surface on April 11 due to complications resulting from a gyroscope failure,” noted the Times.
“Last month we felt tremendous excitement: the spacecraft Beresheet was a hand’s breadth from the moon,” Netanyahu said in his remarks at the Bible Quiz event in Jerusalem.
“Noting that the lander carried a digital copy of the Bible, he announced, ‘that’s not enough…. We’re going to send the spacecraft again, and it’s very likely it will be carrying a small [printed] Bible. I want the Bible to land on the moon, because it is written [in Psalms 8:4], ‘When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have established.’ The State of Israel will reach the moon.’”
How can Israel truly have a deep impact on the world? Netanyahu asked.
“How do we do it?” he asked rhetorically. “We do it through initiative, determination and daring — given to us by our spirit. And our spirit comes from the Bible. That’s not just words. That spirit comes from the Bible, because there’s no meaning to the enormous journey we have made to return to our land, to our birthplace, if we had not carried with us our faith, our tradition and our yearning for the homeland.”
The Jerusalem Post reports: “The competition is an annual event held on Independence Day which brings together dozens of Jewish youth between the ages of 14 and 18 from around the world to test their knowledge on the Bible. The youth spent two and a half weeks at a “Bible Camp” in which they travel Israel, learn about its history and meet with several government officials, including Netanyahu. The contestants were, as is traditional, asked about the smallest details of the many events which take place in the Hebrew Bible, and are quizzed on every book it contains.”
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