I sit here today like many Jews filled with both sadness and joy, with mourning and with celebration deep within my soul. Most of yesterday was spent scrolling thru the various sites which had the scenes of two days - Israel Memorial day or Yom Hazikaron and Israel Independence Day, its 69th birthday in modern statehood, Yom Haatzmaut.
Much of yesterday was spent in tears as ceremony after solemn ceremony was held. All throughout the land there were such events, all mourning together the death of so many, over 23,400 , soldiers and civilians alike, the cost of being a nation unto ourselves, the Land and the State of Israel. These civilians, these victims of terror ranged from the unborn to the babies, the toddlers, the children, the kids and the adults, including the elderly. The knives and the guns, the smashing cars and the bombs made no distinction. It was the blood of Jews that these terrorists wished to spill and it mattered not the individual.
The ceremony held at Gush Etzion was particularly moving, I have relatives living there, my grandson is there in yeshiva learning for a second gap year. This area has suffered terribly and we can all remember the three boys kidnapped and killed, the American boy from Boston killed there and many, many more. The tears ran and the mourning prayers were chanted, the sad songs that sang of the flowers taken from us, of the mother who waited for her son who promised to return - but did not but the reasoning, the need behind all this still remains unclear.
Why, among all nations of the world, are the Jews not allowed to have their own nation, this tiny state surrounded by enemies, this tiny state that barely existed 69 years ago yet managed to take in thousands upon thousands of Holocaust survivors without a penny to their name, with just the shirt on their back, many still wearing the striped shirt worn in the death camps, why was this state so forbidden to be in existence.
It seems that the hatred of the Jewish people is doomed to be neverending but this day of mourning, of true mourning, not the start of summer, not the day of sales, not the day of backyard barbecues, this day reminds the world that argue though we might amongst ourselves, today, we mourn together, as one, as one people and one nation. These are all our children and believe me, when the camera panned over the crowd one saw the universality of that -the blonds and the bruntettes, the black hair and the skin tones that ranged from black to brown to white and all shades in between. It mattered not their origin for they were all Jews, all returned to their homeland, all as one.
So here in Gush, where the battle to save it failed in 1948 and the defenders slaughtered, including seven who were the last surviving branches of their families, the day is particularly meaningful. They have returned, the descendants of those slaughtered here and the area now has 20 cities and over 20,000 people. Thank the Lord above for watching over us. We know that the cost of survival is high, but we do it with an open and understanding heart even as we mourn the dead for what comes after this Memorial Day is a day of happiness. This is the day of barbecues, of kids with shaving cream, of special seders for this day, of special prayers of thanksgiving and joy. We are a nation. We are a state and there is no one on this earth, no power other than G-d that will change that fact.
And so even as we mourned we knew that the mourning led to a time of joy and a time of gratitude towards those who made the ultimate sacrifice and to G-d who has watched over His people lo these thousands of years. Thru the pogroms, thru the burnings and torture of the Inquisition, thru the expulsions and the hatred, thru the forced conversions and after the Holocaust - WE ARE HERE!!
So Chag Sameach - a happy Holiday to all who support the State of Israel.
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