The nations of the world have come to realize our uniqueness by witnessing our inexplicable survival in modern times, thousands of years after our nation first came into being.

But the Jewish People themselves were fully aware of this unique quality long beforehand.  Two and a half thousand years ago, the Middle East was under the uncontested dominion of the greatest empire of the time, the indomitable Babylonians.  In the wake of their conquest, Babylonian culture swallowed up one lesser nation after another.  Even the powerful Egyptians succumbed to the overpowering invaders from the East.  Judea fell as well, and the holy Temple was burnt to the ground.  The elite of Israel were slain; the others fled in all directions.  The land lay in ruins; Judea seemed lost.

The remnant of Israel surveyed the desolation around them.  They were overcome with anguish and despair.  It was at this point that Jeremiah the Prophet rose and confidently declared that Babylonia and all other contemporary world powers would eventually disappear from the face of the earth.

But that was not all the prophet foretold.  He continued to describe what would happen to the tiny, defeated nation now scattered in exile, what would be Israel’s fate?  Would it, too, disappear into the dark whirlpool of time which eventually swallows up even the mightiest world power?

Most definitely not, declared the prophet.  The nation of Israel would cease to exist only when the ocean’s waves no longer beat upon the sands of the shore, only when dawn ceases to break each morning, only when the stars fail to shine in the night; only then, will the Jewish People cease to exist!

Thus said G-d, Who gives the sun as a light by day, and the moon and the stars by night; Who agitates the sea so that its waves roar; the L-rd, Master of Legions, is His Name.  If these laws will move away from before Me, the seed of Israel will also cease to be a nation before Me all the days.

Jeremiah 31: 34-35

How could a human being dare to make such a statement thousands of years ago?  Why should the Jews outlive the dominant cultures of their times?

Jeremiah could make this sweeping prediction with full confidence because he knew that behind him stood the one and only Being Who was able to promise Eternity — the Source of all truth, and of Jeremiah’s words of prophecy.  The source of Israel’s eternalness is G-d, the Creator of Time, Who endures forever.

G-d promised Israel that He would never forget His covenant with them.  Never would He totally reject them, and never would He let their light be extinguished.

“But despite all this, while they will be in the land of their enemies, I will not have been revolted by them, nor will I have rejected them to obliterate them, to annul My covenant with them - for I am the L-rd their G-d.  

Leviticus 26:44

The Creator of the world declared: “I am One and eternal, and the nation I have chosen is eternal.”  He Who established the laws of nature also proclaimed that His people would live forever.

For I am the L-rd - I have not changed; and you, the children of Jacob, have not ceased to be.

Malachi 3:6

Thousands of years ago, G-d made this promise to the Jewish People.

He Who made this promise has kept His word.

Our existence is a living fact.

You, the living Jew, are the proof!  You are the greatest wonder of history.