“Strangers will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.” Isaiah 61:5

The idea that Gentiles would play a crucial role in helping the Jewish people return to their land and settle in Israel is well-known to many of our readers. Many of you are taking an active part in restoring the Land by partnering with Israel Today in planting trees in the desert and supporting our soldiers. But did you know that understanding the critical part non-Jews would play in the growth and development of Israel was first promoted by a famous rabbi?

The German Rabbi Israel Lipschitz (1782-1860) in his commentary Tiferet Yisrael (The Glory of Israel), commented on this verse in Isaiah, noting that the day would come when non-Jews around the world would help the Jewish people build their homeland by working in agriculture and farming, just as the prophet had predicted over 2,700 years earlier. 

Is it not fascinating that Rabbi Lipschitz understood and was proclaiming that the children of Israel would return...