In a speech to a gathering of the American branch of the Orthodox Zionist organization Mizrachi, delivered a month after Israel declared its independence, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik explored the religious significance of the reestablishment of Jewish sovereignty. The speech, delivered in Yiddish, was translated by Arnold Lustiger, and published last year. It has now been made available online.

Soloveitchik begins with the rabbinic reading of the biblical phrase “I took you out of Egypt”—spoken by God to the Jewish people—as “I was taken with you out of Egypt,” a reinterpretation that can be accomplished in Hebrew by simply rearranging a few dots. It therefore follows that the Divine Presence (Sh’khinah) accompanied the people of Israel into exile, and will return from exile with them. But could the creation of a secular polity in Mandate Palestine really accomplish this metaphysical transformation? And, more importantly, what can be done to ensure that Jewish statehood does return Divine immanence to the Holy Land. These are the questions that Soloveitchik attempts to address:

The progression of Jewish history used to be chaotic, insane, and absurd. It now has a sense of purpose and significance. It has a direction and an objective.

We need to stop and examine this assertion of purpose, of direction, of an ideal. What is it? The answer is simple. The state of Israel will liberate a segment of the Jewish people from exile in the political-social sense. Naturally, not everyone will be redeemed through it. Even the Exodus from Egypt itself did not free all the Jews from Egypt; the sages suggest that not all enslaved Israelites were redeemed, perhaps only one fifth, and some say only one 50th or even one out of every 500 Jews in Egypt were actually liberated (M’khilta, B’shalaḥ 13:18).

Exile is a subjective concept. Through the new Jewish state, we Jews have at least been given the opportunity to liberate ourselves from exile. But will the Ribbono shel Olam [the Master of the Universe] Himself also be freed from exile by the state of Israel, or will He remain in captivity in a Jewish state? This is the main question we religious Jews have been asking ourselves for the past several months.

With regard to redemption of the Sh’khinah from defilement, I am definitely optimistic. Whoever ultimately stands at the helm, life in Israel will to a certain extent be completely Jewish. I read in the press that the kitchens of the Israeli army are strictly kosher. When, on that fateful Friday, the establishment of the state of Israel was proclaimed, the ceremony was held eight hours early so as not to desecrate the Sabbath, despite various logistical difficulties associated with doing this. The act alone sanctified the Sabbath more than 50 rallies dedicated towards Sabbath observance.

Naturally, religious Jewry must stand watch and fight for [Sabbath observance], but I can assure everyone that Shabbat in Eretz Yisrael will be holier than it was in the Jewish neighborhood in Berlin, in the Frankfurt Ghetto, or even on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn.

With the IDF engaged in ground maneuvers in both northern and southern Gaza, and a plan about to go into effect next week that would separate more than 100,000 civilians from Hamas’s control, an end to the war may at last be in sight. Yet there seems to be no agreement within Israel, or without, about what should become of the territory. Efraim Inbar assesses the various proposals, from Donald Trump’s plan to remove the population entirely, to the Israeli far-right’s desire to settle the Strip with Jews, to the internationally supported proposal to place Gaza under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA)—and exposes the fatal flaws of each. He therefore tries to reframe the problem:

[M]any Arab states have failed to establish a monopoly on the use of force within their borders. Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, and Sudan all suffer from civil wars or armed militias that do not obey the central government.

Perhaps Israel needs to get used to the idea that in the absence of an entity willing to take Gaza under its wing, chaos will prevail there. This is less terrible than people may think. Chaos would allow Israel to establish buffer zones along the Gaza border without interference. Any entity controlling Gaza would oppose such measures and would resist necessary Israeli measures to reduce terrorism. Chaos may also encourage emigration.

Israel is doomed to live with bad neighbors for the foreseeable future. There is no way to ensure zero terrorism. Israel should avoid adopting a policy of containment and should constantly “mow the grass” to minimize the chances of a major threat emerging across the border. Periodic conflicts may be necessary. If the Jews want a state in their homeland, they need to internalize that Israel will have to live by the sword for many more years.