Happy Birthday to the State of Israel

It is the only country in the world which is financed by its taxpayers abroad.

It is a country which all the time eats up its inhabitants, and yet does not grow fat.

It is a country of boundless boundaries.

It is a country where mothers learn the mother tongue from their sons.

It is a country where the fathers ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth are excellent.

It is a country where one writes Hebrew, reads English, and speaks Yiddish.

It is a county where everybody has the right to speak his mind, but there is no law forcing anybody to listen.

It is a country where all the capital is concentrated in Jewish hands--and there is much grumbling because of this.

It is a country where one can buy anything in the world for his money--except an apartment, which is very expensive.

It is a country where any babe in arms may contradict his papa's political views.

It is a country of elections, but no choice.

It is a country which is an organic part of its trade unions.

It is a country where nobody wants to work, so they build a new town in three days' time and go idle the rest of the week.

It is a country where a slip of paper can move mountains, but all the mountains beget is speeches.

It is a country which produces less than it eats, and yet, of all places, it is here that nobody has ever died of hunger.

It is a country where nobody expects miracles, but everybody takes them for granted.

It is a country where one calls ministers simply "Moishe"--and then almost dies with the excitement of it.

It is the only country in the region whose political regime is the bus cooperative.

It is a country whose survival is permanently endangered, and yet its inhabitants' ulcers are caused by the neighbors from above.

It is a country where every human being is a soldier, and every soldier is a human being.

It is the only country in which I could live. It is my country.