In its tribute to Israel's 60th anniversary, the American financial publication Dow Jones carried a moving article highlighting the miraculous and rapid development of Israel's economy against all reason.
The article notes that in addition to be reborn into a world of war fighting for its very existence just minutes after declaring independence, 60 years ago Israel was also desperately short of cash, food and trade partners.
Israeli leaders imposed a strict socialist system that helped the state to sustain itself, but also led to a bloated public sector, high unemployment and rampant inflation.
But Israel pushed forward, and in a few short decades not only brought its economy under control, but last year had the highest annual economic growth percentage (5%) of all industrialized nations for the fifth year running.
Israel's shekel was also recently added to the short list of world currencies traded on the international markets. Only 17 national currencies belong to that prestigious group.
And few need to be reminded anymore of the prowess of the Israeli hi-tech industry.
These and other tremendous achievements for such a young modern state with so few natural resources brought even the secular world's top financial publication to nearly declare Israel's economic power a divine miracle.