In the tenth blessing, we continue to focus on matters concerning national teshuvah and ask God to return us to our homeland. Only in the Land of Israel can we fulfill our national destiny to be a holy nation (not just holy individuals) and a “light to the [other] nations.” We begin this prayer with: “Sound the great shofar … Lift up a banner ….” We offer no reason, we just state it, sounding more like we are demanding than making a humble request. And we want our return to be no less than a celebration accompanied by a great shofar and a flying banner. We want to leave our exile proudly, not as bent-over Jews who would have preferred to stay in the Diaspora. We want to joyfully return home in anticipation of reclaiming our national independence and fulfilling our mission. Sound the great shofar for our freedom. Awaken us to our national identity and purpose. As long as we are in exile, we are a religion, but not the priestly nation we were meant to be. Only in Israel, our homeland, are we free to fulfill our national destiny. Lift up a banner and gather in our exiles, not as unwanted fugitives but as proud Jews, leaving in a joyous parade with great fanfare, celebrating our long-awaited return to our home where we can finally actualize our national dream. And gather us in from the four corners of the earth to finally take our rightful place on earth to become “a light to the nations,” a model state which inspires global change. Blessed are You … O how bountiful and abundantly present You are in our lives. O what an ever-flowing wellspring of blessings You are to us, YHVH, Timeless Ultimate Reality, who gathers in the dispersed of His nation Israel right now. The more we believe that God is always redeeming us from our exile, and the more we sincerely want to return as a nation to our homeland, the more the blessings for national redemption can penetrate and become manifest in the current events of history.