Thirty-three votes. That’s what two millennia of Jewish yearning came down to — 33 votes in favor, 13 against, 10 abstentions, 1 absent (Siam, if you were wondering).

On November 29, 1947 — 70 years ago this week — the United Nations General Assembly voted by a two-thirds majority to pass Resolution 181, partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, leading to the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948.

As the votes were cast, Jews across the world crowded around radios, keeping a running tally. The entire future of the Jewish people was in the hands of this small group of diplomats in Flushing Meadows, at what is now the Queens Museum and was then home to the newly formed United Nations.

This week, to mark the historic occasion, I was honored to join a group of diplomats and dignitaries, including Vice President Pence, who, at the invitation of Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, once more gathered at the Queens Museum to recreate the vote that changed the course of modern Jewish history. The same grand hall was set up with a dais like the one from 1947. We watched grainy footage of the original vote, and even today, you could feel the suspense and anticipation that surrounded the proceedings.

It’s been said that the vote took only a minute, but it “felt the length of the Jewish exile.”

The Jewish people, as we know, have always had our differences. But for one minute in 1947, Jews everywhere were united by a single fervent desire — for a Jewish homeland, recognized by the world. Jews in Palestine who had lived under the British mandate. The displaced Jews of Europe who had survived the horrors of the Shoah. Jews in the Soviet Union, struggling to maintain their Jewish identity. Jews in the United States, who were slowly gaining more acceptance in society. All held their collective breaths.

And then their dreams were realized.

The challenge, of course, all these years later, is that our differences are perhaps even more entrenched than ever, and sadly, Israel itself is the source of deep contention. As we begin celebrating Israel at 70, we cannot shy away from addressing — with respect and dignity on all sides — the serious challenges confronting the still young Jewish and democratic state. But we must never forget what I so powerfully felt standing in that hall this week, reliving the historic vote from 70 years ago — a miracle happened. After 2,000 years, the Jewish people could return to their homeland.

We must also never forget that today the legacy of those 33 votes is in all our hands.

Shabbat shalom