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!