I ended my time at Eshbal, a small kibbutz community of educators. Beyond hoping to grow their kibbutz to 250 educators in a few years, they also operate a boarding high school for troubled teens. Similar to the pet therapy program the Jewish Federation funded at Neve Michael, Eshbal offers a dog training program and horse care and riding program for these vulnerable young people.
My train ride back to Tel Aviv was filled with young soldiers in their dress uniforms on their way to Yom HaZikaron ceremonies across the country. Sadly, during that train ride we learned of a horrific car ramming terrorist attack at Jerusalem's Machane Yehuda shuk.
Yom HaZikaron began Monday night at 8:00 pm with a minute-long siren throughout the country -- another siren goes off at 11:00 am the following morning. Everyone stopped (even if driving on the highway)...stood at attention...and paid homage to the 24,213 fallen soldiers and 4,255 victims of terror. It is a chilling moment, especially in a small country where everyone has or knows someone who has lost a loved one.
Tuesday night, as if someone "flipped a switch," mourning went to pure joy and celebration for Israel's 75th. I participated in a huge celebration with over 1,000 North American Jews at the GA and then on the streets with Israelis. I have been fortunate to be in Israel multiple times for this "transition" and it never ceases to amaze me -- the pride, joy, and love for what this country has become, despite so many challenges.
My colleague, Doron Krakow, CEO of the Jewish Community Centers Association, said it beautifully about Yom HaAtzmaut:
As the sun sets following Yom HaZikaron, we usher in perhaps the single most significant milestone since her founding in 1948 -- the celebration of Israel’s 75th anniversary. Having so recently paused to remember the precariousness of Jewish life in a world without Israel (Yom HaShoah) and having spent the preceding day (Yom HaZikaron) remembering those whose lives made the celebration possible, this year’s Yom HaAtzmaut celebration should be of unrivaled proportion. A single day on which we set aside all other concerns and considerations as we revel in the miracle of modern Zionism and its achievements.
The celebration should be unbridled, uninhibited, and unconditional. We stand at the high point of the last 2,000 years of Jewish history—and we do so because we live in a world of Jewish freedom, Jewish independence, and Jewish self-determination. For one day, let’s rejoice in our historic good fortune and let the celebration ring out in every corner of the Jewish world. And then, the next day, we’ll get back to work on the unfinished business of making Israel, and all of us, the best possible version of ourselves. God knows we’ve still got plenty to do.
Shabbat shalom.
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