Celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut is a
mitzvah! Every Jew should rejoice over
the State of Israel.
But we all know Jews. There are the Zionists, and non-Zionists, and
Religious Zionists. To say Hallel on Yom
Ha’Aztmaut or not to say Hallel? To
recite it with a beracha or without the beracha?
Let’s also factor in that Yom Ha’Atzmaut
takes place during the period of the Omer, when we limit our rejoicing. How can we sing and dance to celebrate Israel
when we’re supposed to be limiting our happiness?
Celebrating Yom Ha’Atzmaut would
seem to be more complicated than we think.
Wrong!
Let’s be clear. The State of Israel is a miracle. It behooves us to celebrate the day
religiously, and that means Hallel with a beracha.
It’s really very simple. It is just like Chanukah.
Here is what the Rambam says
about Chanukah (Laws of Chanukah 3:1-3):
During the Second Temple Period,
when the Greeks ruled, they issued decrees against the Jews, denying their
faith, and did not permit them to engage in Torah and the commandments…And the
sons of Chashmonai, the Kohanim Gedolim (High Preists), prevailed, and killed
them, and saved Israel from them, and appointed a king from among the kohanim. And Jewish sovereignty was restored for
more than two hundred years, until the destruction of the Second Temple.
Chanukah was a political
and military victory that restored Jewish sovereignty. Its celebration is a religious
obligation. We light candles each night
and give thanks to God by joyously saying Hallel with a beracha.
Ba-yamim ha-heim ba-z’man
ha-zeh – What happened in those
days is being experienced in our own time as well. We need to learn from the lessons of Jewish
history and apply them to our own experiences. We celebrated the miracle of Chanukah
then. Today, we have just as much of a
reason to celebrate Yom Ha’Atzmaut.
To quote
the late, great Rabbi Yehuda Amital of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel:
What better authority could we
seek than the Rambam, who views the fact that Jews achieved some level of
independence in their own country as one of the reasons for the holiday of
Chanukah?…If those two hundred years of Jewish sovereignty give added
significance to the miracle of Chanukah, then the ingathering of the exiles,
which is taking place before our eyes, is surely of no less significance!
Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebrates the
restoration of Jewish independence after nearly 2,000 years of exile. That is reason to celebrate. It is a reason to party like it’s 165 BCE!
After the last blue and white
cookie or falafel ball is eaten, let’s keep celebrating the miracle of the
State of Israel. With all of its
complexity, Israel is a beacon of light illuminating our lives and the lives of
Jews everywhere.
