Dear Friends,

This week, we concluded the period of the Jewish calendar known as “the Yom’s” — “the days” — that include Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day), Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror), and Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day).

These days are a rollercoaster of emotions as Israelis and Jews around the world move from memory and commemoration to celebration and hope. To mark these days is to move to the rhythm of the Jewish People — shaped by sacrifice and loss, triumph and joy.

I recall a few years ago on one of CJP’s immersive travel experiences to Israel when 300 people from our Greater Boston Jewish community felt firsthand what it is like to experience these days in Israel. There is no greater feeling of Peoplehood than to cry with families who visit the graves of loved ones on Yom HaZikaron and then dance in the streets in celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut the next day.

This week, I had the privilege to join with members of our vibrant Modern Orthodox Jewish community for the ceremonial transition between the two days, and to share reflections about the significance of the juxtaposition at this moment in history. I invite you to read my reflections below or, if you prefer, to watch the video.

Chaverim yekarim, dear friends,

This moment in time – this liminal space between Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut – is one of the most precious windows of time on the Jewish calendar. It almost needs its own Psalm, like other transitions between kodesh and chol (sacred and mundane time), between life and death.

This is a transition from solemn remembering and the collective grief of Yizkor to the witnessing of miracles and collective joy of Hallel.

Holding this space is a microcosm of the Jewish People’s last 3,000 years and of what we hold in our Jewish consciousness every single day. I think of the day that the last chatufim (hostages) returned and the fraught sense of euphoria that so many of us felt. I had the privilege of being with Nova survivors that morning and to watch them put “home” stickers on the remaining posters, with tears of both joy and grief in their eyes. After all, many of them would never reunite with their loved ones; and yet, they and Am Yisrael were experiencing the miracle for which we had prayed and the IDF had fought for so long.

We are celebrating Israel’s independence, and the miracle that we are an am chofshi b’artzeinu (a free people in our historic homeland), yet we are still in a time milchama (war) – still at war on many fronts; this is just a ceasefire, a temporary break from what feels like interminable fighting with no clear end in sight; and, for so many of us, the reason why we need a modern state of Israel has never been clearer than it is right now.

As we prepare to raise the flag and transition from Yom HaZikaron to Yom HaAtzmaut, we know that this is not linear; our pain, the loss, are infused with a profound sense of purpose; our soldiers know what they are fighting for and sacrificing for.

The simcha (joy) of Yom HaAtzmaut does not negate or ignore or try to go around the grief or the complexity of this moment. This simcha and the love we feel for Medinat Yisrael (the Jewish State) and Am Yisrael (the Jewish People) include all of our experiences and all of our emotions - the highs and the lows, the losses and the triumphs, the vulnerability and the strength.

Our hearts are big enough and strong enough to hold all of these emotions – so this year let’s sing a louder, dance with extra passion – knowing that the miracle of Zionism the blessing of our Independent Jewish State are reflections of the strength, resilience and hope that our People have built up over all these years; they reflect our refusal to be victims; our insistence on choosing life and choosing joy; our will to survive and thrive against all odds.

In this sacred transition, we are called not only to remember and to celebrate, but also to take responsibility — to ask how we, wherever we live, can strengthen the bonds between Jews everywhere, support those rebuilding, and help shape the future of the Israel for which we pray every day.

All of that is what Israel represents, all of that is what we’re celebrating as we move into Yom HaAtzmaut, which we need to celebrate now more than ever.

Chag Sameach and Am Yisrael Chai!