From Passover to Independence

by Dr. Haim Shine

The Passover holiday, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism, and Independence Day are benchmarks on the Jewish calendar. The proximity of the dates is not a coincidence, but carries profound meaning worth examining.

 

In Jewish history, Passover symbolizes the exodus from Egypt, from bondage to freedom. A group of Hebrews, 3,327 years ago, decided they were a nation and began marching on the path to liberation. It was a long and arduous road. The agony of winning liberty is often harder than the horror of slavery. During a long 40-year march through the desert, a generation of Hebrews who left Egypt died and passed from the world, kept from entering the Land of Israel. Those who witnessed God's miracles on the banks of the Red Sea, heard His voice on Mount Sinai, and received heavenly sustenance could not cope with the tasks of an independent entity requiring supreme responsibility and personal sacrifice. Hundreds of years of sovereignty ended with a 2,000-year exile in the Diaspora.

 

Holocaust Remembrance Day is a painful historic summary of the tribulations in exile. Destruction, blood libels, expulsions, crusades, inquisitions, and finally the attempt to implement the final solution to the Jewish problem. In the 20th century, a third of our people were slaughtered in a variety of ways. Only a fraction remained of the most ancient people on Earth. Through an inexplicable miracle, this nation rose from the ashes and valleys of death, breathed new life and again began to march. Ghosts of the past rose from their graves to point the way to the ancient homeland. The remaining survivors made their way to Zion, in rickety smuggling boats. Many drowned on the way. Great Britain, the empire of the day and the champion of hypocrisy, blocked them from entering Israel. The miracle of resurrection after the Holocaust is so great that the human spirit has yet to understand and internalize it.

 

Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism reminds every single Israeli of the price of freedom. More than 23,000 fallen have sacrificed their lives on the altar of national resurrection in the country's wars and battles. It is an incomprehensible number. The military cemeteries across the country are full of lives cut short, leaving only their memories behind. About half of my comrades from our tank officers' training course paid with their lives in the Yom Kippur War. I look at our yearbook and see the smiles, along with the dashed hopes and dreams. Generations of Jews, wiped out forever.

 

Independence Day is the loftiest expression of our resurrection in the Land of Israel. A small gathering of 600,000 Jews stood courageously against the combined Arab armies and defeated them. There is no other country on the planet, the same age as us and with the same achievements. It is a country that in a short period of time succeeded to establish a military, industrial and educational global power. We have reason to feel pride and joy. We were able to witness, in the generation of the Holocaust and revival, the realization of an ancient dream.

 

Amid all the accomplishments, it is important to remember that the next holiday is Shavuot -- the day of the giving of the Torah, during which we agreed to assume the responsibility of tikkun olam (repairing the world). Now, after realizing our independence, the time has come to prioritize making Israel a country that lives according to values, integrity and morals, so that we realize the essence of our mission on earth. In our flurry of activity, we have lost our moral compass. We must lay out a new path and reach the yearned-for objective of a just and ethical society in the Holy Land.

Dr. Haim Shine

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=8131

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