My first visit to Israel was in 2000, soon after my conversion to Judaism. I went with the intent of learning in yeshiva in Jerusalem, experiencing Torah learning in the Holy City, and having the “year in Israel” experience I had heard so much about. I identified Israel with the land of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and King David — and imagined Jerusalem as a theological time capsule where ancient faiths were dutifully practiced universally, where the G-d of Scripture was as real today for everyone as it was for their Biblical counterparts. There could be no atheists in Jerusalem, I thought, because how could one live in Jerusalem and not feel the Divine Presence?

Well there are atheists in Jerusalem, as well as Buddhists, Hindus, agnostics, and Sikhs — and I would meet many of all sorts of people at the bars that I also had no idea existed. But I can’t say that they aren’t connected. First off, Israelis seemed connected to each other in a way quite different from Americans. There was a pervasive “us” that could be activated in everyone’s mind at any moment — whether by an existential terrorist threat or by a political corruption scandal. Israelis had the ability — as I would see first-hand being in yeshiva during the 2000-2001 intifada — to spring into spontaneous unity as a collective family, to act as one at a moment’s notice.

Prime Minister Olmert spoke of how the feeling of “unity and shared destiny” is stronger on Independence Day than at any other time, but I think that the feeling of unity is what has kept Israel thriving for these past 60 years and what will keep Israel moving towards the future. Israel’s destiny is shared just because of that — Israelis realize that they are “in this together” in a way many other nations could learn from.

As a religious Jew, I would attribute this to the Divine sparks inherent in human beings, or to the Divine Presence which I believe permeates the Land. But no one can deny the reality: united Israel stands and advances, divided — chas v’shalom the opposite, and at 60, Israel should stand united and know that it is precisely their unity that made all their achievements possible.