As the first skyscrapers appeared in the distance and his ship entered New York Harbor, a young lawyer and Zionist activist looked at the rising American giant in awe. In his journal, David Ben-Gurion wrote that those who wished to build a new land out of ruins had much to learn from the “deportees and persecuted people from England” who had created a vast, rich country filled with “unparalleled treasures and creative power.”

That thought stayed with him. It also explains something deep about the relationship that would later grow between the United States and Israel. Long before Israel became a state, America had already become a model, an inspiration and eventually a partner.

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, and with the recent high point of US-Israel cooperation during the Iran war still fresh, it is worth looking back at the people who built this relationship, brick by unlikely brick.