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Sadness and joy,
drizzling sunbeams,
remember, remember,
and fill your soul with memories you never witnessed;

Remember, remember,
join yourself up again to the
massive Whole.

Grieve, shed tears,
make room for the darkness
of the families, children destroyed forever,
though they were never your children.

Remember the blood-stained uniforms,
the smell of explosions and darkness and death,
though it was not your nose
that smelled them.

And remember the joy,
fireworks and flags,
elation and trepidation,
fighting fiercely, joyfully for your lives -
though it was not you
who fought, whose heart rejoiced.

To be one of the Nation,
to be one with the Nation,
my mind must remember,
my soul must remember.

To be a soul holding hands
with those before and those after,
with those beside me and those far away,
I must remember.
We must remember.

Taste the joy,
the fear, the darkness,
the light, the death,
the throngs of jubilant rejoicers and
the full, silent cemeteries
in the moments of silence.
Remember the stories.
Remember today.

—–
* Pictures 1, 2, 6 & 7 are of the Gush Katif Human Chain, and are from this site. There are more wonderful pictures there; go and look!
* Picture 3 comes from this page.
* Picture 4 comes from this page.
* I’m not sure where I got Picture 5 from.

Part of The Yom Haatzmaut Project

Continued from Part 3

The fourth accomplishment I want to discuss is the universal hope brought through the creation of the State of Israel.

The world might not be willing to admit it right now, but the State of Israel is a great message of Hope. It is a message of Hope for every single oppressed nation in the world. After two thousand years of exile and oppression, the Jewish People have returned to their land! This is the greatest message of hope which has ever been given in the world.

Rav Kook write on the month of Nissan, that “The exit of the Jews from Egypt will forever remain the spring of the entire world”. The fact that the oppressed nation of slaves was able to leave this land of oppression showed the whole world that there was justice in the world, and it gave them hope.

What is true for the redemption from Egypt is also true for Zionism and the creation of the State of Israel. The State of Israel, by its very existence, is the most incredible statement of support for human rights and the oppressed people.

It is interesting that those who dig deeper can see that when Israel is often accused of being against human rights, it is being accused of such specifically by nations who are the biggest enemies of Human Rights. In some ways, these nations are afraid of the message of hope which the State of Israel brings to the world and they try to counter it by blurring the reality. They create a nation of refugees and direct the world attention to them in order for the world to ignore their own atrocities. The UN Human Rights Council keeps on condemning Israel, but no one condemns Sudan. No one Condemns China. Maybe, if they stopped condemning Israel, the world would realize what an amazing message of hope Zionism is and they would realize that this is the message of hope that the people of Tibet, Sudan and Burma all need in order to counter the attorcities being done against them.

Restoring hope to this world, now this is one of the greatest accomplishments of the State of Israel.

Part of The Yom Haatzmaut Project

1) Makolet: I personally believe that Makolets are Israel’s most incredible accomplishment. No joke. I can’t even count on one hand the amount of times a shot-gun picnic has been called for outside of a Makolet, going inside and coming out with all of the necessary accoutrement’s for a perfect picnic. How many times have you been incredibly thirsty/hungry, and how many times has there been a Makolet “Just around the corner” to save you? There is nothing in North America that rivals an Israeli Makolet. Arguably, there are levels of varying Makolets. There are “good” Makolets, “really bad” Makolets, and then there are the “wham bam thank you m’am” Makoelets that are just bursting with so many products that you could probably get your school, cooking, cleaning and beauty supplies all there. B’erech, Makolets rock.

2) Egged: Okay, fine, we all know that the inner city buses aren’t necessarily the most reliable of all bus systems. BUT who has used that really funky text messaging system that Egged has for the inter city bus systems? You text your departure spot, and your desired arrival spot to 4100 and THEY TEXT YOU BACK WITH ALL OF THE DEPARTURE TIMES! They sure don’t have that in Vancouver OR Toronto. Seriously, that’s pretty amazing. And in what other country can you travel from top to bottom on like, less than $25?! That’s what I thought. Egged takes you everywhere (except for Modiin and Chashmonaim…where both of my Rabbi’s live. Go figure).

3) The Sounds: Hayehudim, Moshav Band, David Broza…and you have to appreciate the radio stations too “GalGalGalGalatz!”. What about all of the crazy Temani music playing in the cabs and the crazy wailing sounds that just seem to be flowing out of every crevice and crack all over the country. Israel is never really silent. The beautiful sound of hebrew, ancient and modern just enveloping you like a security blanket. What about the sounds that unfortunately, have come to define Israel? Like the sirens of Yom Hazikaron, calling for a moment of silence. Or, “Tzevah Adom”, when a rocket is being launched into Sderot. Or of the ambulance sirens after a pigua, terrorist attack. But there are also the sounds of kiddush, zmirot, laughter, and yiddishkeit overflowing and rippling out of homes on Shabbat. Israel’s ability to produce and co-exist with both types of sounds is, in my opinion, Israel’s greatest accomplishment.

4) Look at a picture of the Tel-Aviv desert area prior to the establishment of Israel. And now look at a picture of Tel-Aviv today. Apply it to the whole country, and I think you’ll get an idea of

Survival: Israel’s ability to survive is it’s greatest accomplishment. According to the laws of nature, physics, economics, politics, and reasonable doubt there is no reason why Israel should still be in existence today. But, we’re not depending or relying on any of those laws. We’re relying on G-d. Hashem, the One in Heaven.

Part of The Yom Haatzmaut Project
There are times in life where words fail to encapsulate the true emotions one feels in regard to certain events. The establishment of the state of Israel has undoubtedly left me speechless at many times in my life to the point where words just couldn’t do justice in describing how much it means to me, and of course to the entire world. So, whatever I have written here does not convey even the tip of the iceberg of my feelings for Israel. The 4 things that bring me utter joy and pride when I think of Israel are not one-time events that appear on a history chart, rather they are ongoing events that are part of the very essence of the land if Israel and everything it stands for:

1)Torah

We say everyday at the conclusion of our Shemonah Esrei “May it be the will from before You, Hashem our God, that the Beit Hamikdash be rebuilt speedily in our days, and grant us our portion in your Torah. And there we shall serve you with fear as in days of old and in former years, and the offering of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to Hashem as in days of old and in former years.” I quoted the entire paragraph to point out that the words “and grant us our portion in your Torah” seem to be completely out of place. (To internalize this question further, try reading the prayer without the “Torah” part and see how nicely it flows. Now read it again with the “Torah” part; you’ll most likely notice how its placement appears out of sync with the rest of the paragraph) What is the connection between the Beit Hamikdash and the Torah?

The RaMBaN explains that the sole purpose of the Mishkan (and ultimately, the Beit Hamikdash) was to serve as a continuation of the “Sinai” experience. This is why the very same stone tablets we received at Sinai are placed inside the golden ark of testimony of the Beit Hamikdash. Furthermore, there are three boundaries of sanctity surrounding the Beit Hamikdash, paralleling the three boundaries that were issued at Sinai. The list goes on. With the Beit Hamikdash amongst us, the Jews were constantly able to relive the revelation at Sinai, and strengthen their connection to God daily through the Torah that He has bestowed upon us.

As home to the Beit Hamikdash, the land of Israel has undeniably taken on the quality of perpetuating the “Sinai” experience not only for its inhabitants, but for the entire world. The amount of yeshivas and Rebbeim that are strewn across the country cause a tremendous outflow of Torah that reaches the far corners of the earth. Personally, it was this element of the land that brought me closer to my Jewish roots, and it continues to inspire me to this day.

2)Science

It is a fact that Israel is one of the most, if not the most, advanced country technologically. Breakthroughs in all fields of knowledge, most heavily in medical science, have spewed forth from the land of Israel and have injected a lasting impact in the world of science throughout the entire world. Personally, this really hit during a class I took this past semester. Outside of the cell physiology textbook, our teacher had us read separate articles pertaining to the subject. One of these articles described the discovery of cellular entities called proteasomes, which are vital to our bodies in the area of protein degradation. This massive discovery was made by a man named Avram Hershko in his lab in the Technion – The Israel Institute for Technology, in Haifa. I guess since my studies are science-oriented this aspect of Israel has made me really proud.

On a deeper level, we can always ask: why is the outflow of science so immense in the land of Israel? Is it because “Jews are smarter” and there are more Jews in Israel? I don’t believe that to be so. I believe it has something to do with the intrinsic nature of the land, and again this relates to the Beit Hamikdash. The sages tell us that in the creation of the world, when God declared that land and vegetation sprout forth, it commenced at the site of the Kodesh Hakodashim inside the Beit Hamikdash. At this very location Heaven and Earth, so to speak, kiss. Every physical thing in this world has a spiritual counterpart, and in order for everything to be created it had to flow from the point in the world where physicality and spirituality meet. So, the land of Israel contains within it the origin of the world; where everything stems from. Technology in Israel is ever-growing, and I believe that it has to do with its proximity to the source of everything in this world. The ongoing outpouring of “worldliness” from this location in Israel helps discover new facets of the world and the scientific rules it follows.

3)Kiruv

Personally, if I hadn’t gone to Israel for two years of my life, my spiritual life would be underdeveloped and dormant. The experiences I had while I was in Israel have influenced me to become the person I am today, and to really generate a connection to Judaism and, ultimately, to God. You may say that “Kiruv” is a cop-out answer because it’s the same as the “Torah” one, but it’s not true. Had I spent two years in a yeshiva in the states, it wouldn’t have done it for me. Torah had a strong impact during those years but to be frank, my learning wasn’t so serious when I came back home after yeshiva; it only really developed in the years back in Montreal. There is something about just being in Israel that had a lasting influence upon my soul. While I’m there, everything – my tefillah, my learning, my thoughts etc. – is intensified.

Upon the passing of my father Z”L this past year, we traveled to Israel for the burial. Literally, we were in Israel for 10 hours; I flew there without a change of clothes and only a knapsack. I’m not exaggerating when I say that once I stepped out of the airport and breathed in the air, I had felt like I had never left. It had been over a year and a half since I had been there last, and the sensation was unbelievable.

There are so many stories I’ve heard of people, many from people I know personally, who don’t practice Judaism in the slightest, but when visiting Israel for the first time, they feel this strange pull towards religion. A very good friend of mine who went to a religious high school used to know Shemoneh Esrei off by heart. After high school he lost touch of religion and if he ever happened to be in shul for a family occasion, he would have to pick up a siddur to recite the Shemoneh Esrei because he forgot its words off by heart. He told me that on his Birthright trip to the Kotel, it eerily came back to him and he was able to recite it off by heart as if it never left him. Stories like these show how the land possesses this strange power of revitalizing a Jew’s relationship with his soul.

4)Kiddush Hashem

Having our own state allows the nations worldwide to be exposed to the Jewish nation, and what we stand for: God. Israel is the crucial element in our goal of being a “light unto the nations”, whether it be in the form of tourists visiting our country or what is depicted on the media. Unfortunately, because of the nature of our world today, this is slightly dimmed. Through the false vilifying of Israelis and praising of Palestinians, the media attempts to turn the land of Israel into the very opposite extreme: a Chilul Hashem, God forbid.

Nevertheless, the very fact that we have a state awards us recognition amongst the nations and allows us to have an international identification with the rest of the world. God willing, in the days of moshiach may our country be portrayed in the right manner so that the entire world can place “Kiddush Hashem” on their list of top 4 accomplishments of the state of Israel.

Part of The Yom Haatzmaut Project
1. Irrigation ~ Breathing life back into a dead land.
When Zionist idealists first arrived in Israel it consisted of parched desert wasteland, and intolerable swamps. The State of Israel created an ingenious irrigation system that allowed thousands of trees and crops to flourish. Even now, the government has completed the Israeli National Water Carrier, which brings water from the Sea of Galilee, in order to further increase the amount of land cultivated in the country.

2. Israel’s various rescue operations ~ Saving Jews and bringing them home.
From the 1991 Operation Solomon in which 14,500 Ethiopians were covertly airlifted to their awaiting brothers, to the 1676 rescue of high jacked Jews in Entebbe, this country refuses to allow Jews to suffer, anywhere.

3. Shmita ~ Rebirth of Hilchot Ha’aretz.
After hundreds of years of not being able to fulfill and experience of beauty of “The Shabbos of the Land,” The State of Israel’s existence has allowed for the reinstating of a huge halachic obligation and privilege.

4. World Crisis Aid Relief ~ Tikkun Olam.
Despite the size and lack of money in the country, Israel never fails to be one of the first country’s represented at a tragedy relief scene. During the aftermath of disasters such as the Tsunami, Hurrican Katrina, and various famines throughout Africa, the familiar Magen David Adom is among the rubble. Israel continues to provide food and medical attention for the greater global community in need.