Israel in the eyes of the world.

Before Erev Shabbat services on July 10th, more than thirty people came for a cookout followed by a presentation by Cincinnati Shaliach Amir Yarchi. Amir, his wife Moran and their twin sons joined us for dinner. Amir and his family will be staying another year in Cincinnati to continue serving as the official representative from the State of Israel.

Amir's presentation was very though provoking, at least for me. He suggested that we have made a significant error in the way we talk about Israel. He points out that usually when American Jews talk about Israel, it is in regards to security threats. The fear of those threats is great. In the aftermath of the Holocaust era, we look back and see that the American Jewish community was not prepared to do all that it might have done. We live with the motto, "never again."

We have done an admirable job here in the U.S. Public support for Israel is high. US leaders continually stress the strong support for Israel even when it conflicts with economic and foreign policy interests. However, there have been times when that relationship seemed strained, yet politicians have never swerved from voicing their support. Even Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to serve in Congress expresses his strong support.

The truth is, however, we do Israel a disservice. In his column, Al Miller highlighted some of Israel's achievements. We need to do this more often. Amir brought with him the first ingestible video camera (it is the size of a large capsule and it is swallowed) developed by Given Imaging Once swallowed, the camera produces digital images of the small intestine (some BIS members and probably some of your friends have already benefited from it). An Israeli company developed and installed the first large scale solar powered electric generating plant in California's Mojave Desert. Last year, an Israeli company announced plans to create 1/4 million charging stations in Israel for electric cars that are to be built within three years.

These and many other technological achievements are the result of the fact that Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians per capita in the work force. While Israel is tiny, on a per capita basis, it leads the world in many things, including the number of museums.

More than 100 years ago, Theodore Herzl's vision was of a Jewish State that was a leader in sciences and the arts. We would do well to remember his vision and let the world know about Israel's contributions to all of humanity.