Yom Haazmaut 5766: Dancing With Both Feet on the Ground

 

Rabbi Daniel Myers


 

 

A colleague recently asked me if I would be joyously celebrating Yom Haazmaut this year, considering the recent tragedies. I responded that the festivities would be a bit subdued, in line with the concept of “Emo Anochi B’zarah,” feeling the evacuees’ pain, but otherwise I would be quite happy on the State’s birthday, even more then previous years! In response to his perplexed look, I offered a Mashal, an example: When a young couple is first engaged, they are often in a constant state of bliss, laughing and giggling over just about everything. As far as they are concerned, life together is beautiful and will forever remain that way. If one points out to them that there are various issues that they may need to seriously consider in order to insure a happy and successful marriage, such as finances, child rearing, conflicting personality traits and values, etc. the young couple may simply brush off the advice, quite confident that these may be issues of concern for other couples, but not for them, whose love will naturally get stronger, deeper and more passionate with each passing day. Often, months later, after the ‘honeymoon’ is over, the couple may not be flying so high; the passion and excitement have waned to a degree, and the naïve optimism may have been jarred by a harsh reality. If the couple is wise, communicative and determined, they will not only endure the difficult transition, tackling life’s challenges together, but they will be blessed for their efforts; their relationship will be more genuine and real, and they will have the opportunity to become true soul-mates, loving and caring for each other in a manner which was heretofore inaccessible to them.

This evolution applies to our relationship to the Medina as well. During our courtship and honeymoon with her, when we first brought the land to life a century ago, then miraculously gained independence with our fledgling army against the mechanized Arab armies in 1948, and finally expanded beyond anyone’s dreams in 1967, we were a starry-eyed nation, typified by that beautiful image embedded in our minds of the paratroopers staring at the Kotel in complete awe and disbelief moments after they captured it. This romance-despite hostility from without and wrangling from within-lasted for quite a while; we were soaring for a good few decades, convinced we were on a wonderful path and heading in the right direction! However, recently, our world came tumbling down; abruptly and ruthlessly striking at some of our most cherished dreams and hopes; our eyes became filled with tears instead of stars.

We have now seen quite clearly that there are formidable challenges facing us from without as well as from within. We were always aware of the former ones, but we may not have fully understood or accepted the magnitude of the latter challenges; the sad truth is that, in many ways, we are a divided nation, and we must now come to grips with this bitter reality and courageously respond to it. Nevertheless, despite the agonizing pain, anger and mistrust, we will resiliently adapt to this new stage in our relationship, recognizing that, like young newlyweds, we must evolve from a dreamy courtship to a more real, sober and genuine relationship.

We will continue to rejoice, celebrate and sing, but we will now be privileged to dance with both feet on the ground! Yom Haazmaut Samaich!