There have been only a few moments in Jewish history when our people stood together in complete unity.

We marked two of them this week.

The first was the transcendent moment we stood at Mt. Sinai “as one body with one heart,” receiving the gift of the Torah and becoming a Jewish people. On Wednesday and Thursday, we celebrated Shavuot, recalling that unity.

The second moment of unity was far more recent — 50 years ago this week, to be exact. It was in the days leading up to the Six-Day War, when Jews everywhere were united in the common realization that just 22 years after the Holocaust, Israel could be literally wiped off the map.

As Yossi Klein Halevi writes in his book, Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation, “Perhaps not since the revelation at Mount Sinai — when the people of Israel were camped ‘as one body with one heart,’ as a famous rabbinic commentary put it — had the Jews been as united as we were in those terrible, exhilarating weeks of late spring 1967.”

We know how it ended — miraculously — a war won in six days; the Western Wall in Jewish hands after 2,000 years of exile. The reunification of Jerusalem. Capture of the West Bank, Gaza, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights. The armies of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan — vanquished.

We also know that in the war’s aftermath, Jewish unity has proved ever more elusive, particularly around the subject of Israel. From the start, as Yossi Klein Halevi brilliantly details in his book, even the very soldiers who reunited Jerusalem were at odds over the right way forward for the country: one group saw the results of the Six-Day War as the best thing to have happened to the modern state of Israel, and absolutely essential to the country’s continued strength and security. The other group saw the same results, in particular, Israeli control of the West Bank and Gaza, as inexorably leading to the end of a Jewish and democratic state.

From the perspective of 50 years of history, that divide has only deepened.

A few weeks ago, I was privileged to moderate a conversation between Yossi Klein Halevi and former Ambassador Dennis Ross on the Six-Day War and its aftermath. Over 900 people gathered for the event hosted by UJA and The Jewish Week, and while it was clear that many had strong opinions about politics and policies — some agreeing with the speakers, others not — everyone respectfully listened and learned.

Convening our community for these discussions is important, and we’ll continue to present many more opportunities like this in the future. But the goal of these events is not about achieving consensus. After all, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile the competing views about the right way forward for Israel. Rather, our goal — in the face of significant differences — is to instill a sense of tolerance and even unity, recognizing that it’s precisely our shared, deep love of Israel that makes these issues so emotionally charged.

In 1967, Elie Wiesel, z”l, wrote an essay in The Forward, recently republished, capturing the extraordinary sense of transcendent unity that marked the days leading up to the Six-Day War. “Rarely, as a people, do we feel such a deep connection to each other, of loyalty to the purest principles driven by our shared history. Do you remember how thousands of Jewish youth besieged the Israeli Consulates, pleading to be sent as volunteers to Israel? Do you recall the mass demonstrations in the streets? And the countless Jews, including the poorest of the poor, donating their meager savings to the pushkes [charity boxes] of the United Jewish Appeal?”

So, let me end with an invitation. This is the week to remember our shared history and destiny, and to show the world that for all our differences, we do — for at least one day a year — stand united. The Celebrate Israel Parade, significantly funded by UJA and organized by our partner, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, is the largest pro-Israel gathering in the world. This Sunday, 40,000 will march, representing synagogues, day schools, and Jewish groups of every variety, and hundreds of thousands of spectators are expected. Come march with us. Then join us at two more events funded by UJA and hosted by the Israeli-American Council/Dor Chadash: the family-friendly Celebrate Israel Festival and the After-Party for young professionals.

Bring your flags and your love for Israel and let us march together — toward unity.

Shabbat shalom