We have much to celebrate this Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day).

To use one of today’s more popular terms, Israel began as a start-up dream. Groups of Jewish upstarts connected to the nationalist fervor of the late 19th century and began to dream of a Jewish state in Palestine. Theodor Herzl expanded on these nationalist ideals in his writings “The Jewish State” (1896) and “Old New Land” (1902). These early utopian works expounded the Zionist dream for a Jewish and democratic homeland and today, a little more than 100 years later, we celebrate the vibrant and exciting State of Israel.