David Ben-Gurion declared Israel a state on May 15, 1948. With only 600,000 Jews in the area-and surrounded by hostility on all sides-most of the world believed Israel would not last.

But last it did. And Ben-Gurion became the first prime minister of the tiny Jewish nation, calling Jews from around the world to come home.

Dr. Shlomo Gabbay heeded Ben-Gurion's call. Leaving Morocco at age eleven, he completed his schooling there and eventually served in two wars. Gabbay's participation in the forging of Israel, and his scholarship of both biblical history and Middle Eastern foreign...