Yom Ha-atzma'ut

(1) A psalm for praise.^-a

Raise a shout for the LORD, all the earth; (2) worship the LORD in gladness;
come into His presence with shouts of joy. (3) Acknowledge that the LORD is God;
He made us and we are His,^-b
His people, the flock He tends. (4) Enter His gates with praise,
His courts with acclamation.
Praise Him!
Bless His name! (5) For the LORD is good;
His steadfast love is eternal;
His faithfulness is for all generations.

(1) Yom Ha-atzma’ut, Yom Yerushalayim, Yom Ha-zikaron, and Yom Ha-Sho’ah / Salvation of Israel

(2) On Yom Ha-atzma’ut (Israel’s Independence Day), the Jewish people were delivered from bondage to freedom, from subjugation by foreign powers, with all it entails, to political independence. This also brought about an actual physical salvation from death: until then, we were unable to defend ourselves from the attacks of our enemies, but from that day on, thanks to God’s kindness, we have defended ourselves and triumphed over our enemies. Although the enemies who have risen up to destroy us have not yet been destroyed, ever since the establishment of the state we have had an army, thank God, so we have the power to fight back and triumph. And even though more than 20,000 holy souls have given their lives in wars and terror attacks since the establishment of the state, just a few years earlier, during the horrific Holocaust, more than six million holy Jews were killed in the span of five years – more than 300 times that amount. This is the difference between having the ability to fight back and not having that ability.

(3) That day brought about a salvation for Diaspora Jews, as well. They now have a country that is always willing to take them in and that even acts on their behalf in the international arena. Before the state was established, almost no one paid attention when the Jews would complain about the murderous, anti-Semitic persecution that raged in many countries. After Israel gained independence, however, even the most evil regimes were forced to take into consideration Israel’s actions on behalf of the Jews living in their midst. Even Communist Russia had to relent and allow the Jews to leave from behind the Iron Curtain, something that was unfathomable before the state was established.

(4) The establishment of the state also brought spiritual salvation to the Jews. The Jewish nation underwent a profound spiritual crisis in the modern era. The opportunity to integrate into the civil and national frameworks of developed nations, which Jews now enjoyed, generated a strong desire to assimilate. This is not the place to elaborate on the reasons for this crisis; R. Kook deals with the issue at length, discussing its various facets. Practically speaking, a dangerous process of assimilation and the abandonment of religion developed in all countries that embraced modernity. This process threatened the very existence of the Jewish communities in the Diaspora. Assimilation began approximately 200 years ago in Western Europe, spreading gradually to Eastern Europe and the capital cities of the more developed Arab countries. Today, most youths in the greater Jewish community in the United States marry outside the faith, and even those who marry Jews generally do not have many children. Under these circumstances, Diaspora Jewry is fading away. Only in Israel is the Jewish population growing, and intermarriage there is relatively rare. Moreover, the percentage of Jews connected to Torah and mitzvot in Israel is higher than that of any other Jewish community in the world. This spiritual salvation came about in the merit of the establishment of the state, which enabled the ingathering of the exiles and diminished the temptation of assimilation.

(5) Thus, Yom Ha-atzma’ut is invested with three sanctities: the sanctity of the mitzva of settling Eretz Yisrael; the sanctity of the beginning of the redemption, which created a kiddush Hashem in the eyes of the nations; and the sanctity of the salvation that the establishment of the state brought for the Jewish people.

(1) Yom Ha-atzma’ut, Yom Yerushalayim, Yom Ha-zikaron, and Yom Ha-Sho’ah / The Beginning of the Redemption and Sanctifying God’s Name

(2) The establishment of the State of Israel removed the disgrace of exile from the Jewish people. Generation after generation, we wandered in exile, suffering dreadful humiliation, pillaging, and bloodshed. We were an object of scorn and derision among the nations; we were regarded as sheep led to the slaughter, to be killed, destroyed, beaten, and humiliated. Strangers said to us, “You have no hope or expectation.” That situation was a terrible ḥilul Hashem (desecration of God’s name), because God’s name is associated with us, and when we are degraded, His name becomes desecrated among the nations (see Yeḥezkel 36).

(3) The prophets of Israel prophesied, in God’s name, that the exile will eventually end: “I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you back to your own land” (Yeḥezkel 36:24); “They shall build houses and dwell in them; they shall plant vineyards and enjoy their fruit” (Yeshayahu 65:21); “Again you shall plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; Men shall plant and live to enjoy them” (Yirmiyahu 31:4); “And the desolate land, after lying waste in the sight of every passerby, shall again be tilled. And men shall say, ‘That land, once desolate, has become like the Garden of Eden; and the cities, once ruined, desolate, and ravaged, are now populated and fortified” (Yeḥezkel 36:34-35); “I will restore My people Israel. They shall rebuild ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine; they shall till gardens and eat their fruits. And I will plant them upon their soil, nevermore to be uprooted from the soil I have given them – said the Lord your God” (Amos 9:14-15).

(4) However, after so many years passed without God’s word coming to fruition, God’s name became increasingly desecrated in the world, and the enemies of Israel decided that there is no chance that the Jews would ever return to their land. Even the Sages spoke in hyperbole about the miracle of the ingathering of the exiles, to the point that they said, “The ingathering of the exiles is as great as the day upon which the heaven and earth were created” (Pesaḥim 88a). But a miracle occurred, and God fulfilled His promise, causing an enormous and awesome kiddush Hashem (sanctification of God’s name). This kiddush Hashem became amplified even further during the Six-Day War, when Jerusalem was reunified and the holy cities within Judea and Samaria were recaptured.

(5) This process – the ingathering of the exiles and the blooming of the wasteland – which gained tremendous momentum when the State was established, marks the beginning of the redemption. As R. Abba said, “There is no clearer sign of the end of the exile than this verse: ‘But you, O mountains of Israel, shall yield your produce and bear your fruit for My people Israel, for their return is near’ (Yeḥezkel 36:8) (San. 98a).” Rashi comments, “When Eretz Yisrael yields its fruit in abundance, the End will be near, and there is no clearer sign of the end of the exile.”

(6) Nevertheless, many things still need to be fixed. Unfortunately, we have not yet fully repented, and many Jews have yet to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael. Despite this, the Sages taught that redemption can come in one of two ways. They interpreted the verse, “I the Lord will speed it in due time” (Yeshayahu 60:22) to means that if we achieve complete repentance, God “will speed it”; i.e., He will hasten the redemption. But if we do not repent fully, the redemption will still come “in due time,” through natural processes (San. 98a). That is, even if Israel fails to repent, when the predetermined time for redemption arrives, certain natural processes will begin to unfold. These processes will be full of complications and severe hardships, causing the Jewish people to return to their land and rebuild it. We will proceed from stage to stage in this manner, until the ultimate redemption materializes. These hardships, which stimulate the redemptive process, are called the birth-pangs of the Messiah. The more we strengthen ourselves in the mitzvot of settling Eretz Yisrael and penitence, the sweeter and more pleasant these birth-pangs will become (based on Vilna Gaon in Kol Ha-tor). Concerning this type of redemption, the Sages say, “Such is the redemption of Israel: at first little by little, but as it progresses it grows greater and greater” (y. Berakhot 1:1).

(7) Explicit verses in the Torah and the Prophets indicate that the order of redemption is as follows. First, there will be a small degree of repentance and the Jewish people will gather in their land, which will begin to yield its fruit. Afterward, God will bestow upon us a spirit from on high, until we return to Him completely.

(1) Yom Ha-atzma’ut, Yom Yerushalayim, Yom Ha-zikaron, and Yom Ha-Sho’ah / The Mitzva of Settling Eretz Yisrael

(2) When the State of Israel was established, on the fifth of Iyar in 5708 (1948), the Jewish people fulfilled the mitzva of settling Eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel). It is true that even prior to the establishment of the state, any Jew who lived in Eretz Yisrael fulfilled this mitzva, and the Sages even said:
One should always dwell in Eretz Yisrael, even in a city inhabited mostly by idolaters, and he should not dwell outside the land, even in a city inhabited mostly by Jews, for anyone who dwells in Eretz Yisrael is like one who has a God, and anyone who dwells outside the land is like one who has no God. (Ketubot 110b)
However, the primary mitzva is for the Jewish people collectively to have sovereignty over Eretz Yisrael. The mitzva for every Jew to dwell in Eretz Yisrael is an offshoot of the collective mitzva that is incumbent upon the Jewish people.

(3) This is the meaning of the verse, “You shall take possession of the Land and settle in it, for I have assigned the land to you to possess” (Bamidbar 33:53). “You shall take possession” denotes conquest and sovereignty, while “and settle in it” implies inhabiting the land to prevent it from being desolate. Similarly, the Torah states, “you shall possess it and settle in it” (Devarim 11:31). Accordingly, Ramban defines the mitzva as follows: “We were commanded to take possession of the land that God, may He be exalted, gave to our fathers, Avraham, Yitzḥak, and Yaakov; and we must not leave it in the hands of any other nation or let it remain desolate” (Addendum to Rambam’s Sefer Ha-mitzvot, Positive Commandment 4).

(4) This mitzva is incumbent upon the Jewish people in every generation. For a long time, however, we lacked power and were thus forced to neglect this mitzva. We did not have a military or weapons with which to conquer and settle our land. In recent generations, God showed kindness to His people and a national spirit began to stir. Jews went forth and assembled in Eretz Yisrael. They planted trees, developed the country’s economy, organized a defense force, and resisted foreign rule, so that when the British Mandate ended, our public representatives were able to declare the establishment of the State of Israel. On that day, the Jewish people began fulfilling the mitzva of settling Eretz Yisrael. While it is true that we are not yet in control of the entire Eretz Yisrael, and we are still somewhat dependent on the nations of the world, we are actually fulfilling the mitzva of settling Eretz Yisrael once again.

(5) We likewise find that the halakhot of mourning over Eretz Yisrael’s destruction depend on Jewish sovereignty over the land. The Sages enacted that one who sees the cities of Judea in ruins should recite, “Your holy cities have become a desert” (Yeshayahu 64:9) and tear his garments. The poskim explain that the definition of “in ruins” depends on who is in control. If non-Jews rule the land, its cities are considered ruined, even if most of the inhabitants are Jews, and one must rend his garment upon seeing them. But if Jews control the cities, they are not considered ruined, even if non-Jews form the majority of their inhabitants, and one does not rend his garments upon seeing them (Beit Yosef and Baḥ OḤ 561; MA ad loc. 1 and MB ad loc. 2).

(6) In addition, the Sages lavish praise upon the mitzva of settling Eretz Yisrael, going so far as to say that it is equal to all the mitzvot of the Torah (Sifrei, Be-ha’alotekha §80).

(1) Yom Ha-atzma’ut, Yom Yerushalayim, Yom Ha-zikaron, and Yom Ha-Sho’ah / Establishing Yom Ha-atzma’ut as a Permanent Holiday

(2) There is a mitzva to establish a holiday of rejoicing and praising God on a day when the Jewish people were saved. It was on this basis that the Sages established Purim and Ḥanuka as permanent holidays. Even though one may not add mitzvot to the Torah, this mitzva is derived from a kal va-ḥomer (a fortiori argument): When we left Egypt and were delivered from slavery, God commanded us to celebrate Pesaḥ and sing praise to Him every year; all the more so must we celebrate Purim, when we were saved from death (Megilla 14a). This principle served as the Sages’ basis for establishing Ḥanuka as well (Ritva ad loc.). Ḥatam Sofer explains (end of YD 233, OḤ 208) that since this mitzva is derived from a kal va-ḥomer, it is considered a Torah commandment. However, the Torah does not prescribe exactly how to establish a holiday; therefore, one who does anything to commemorate the salvation fulfills his Torah obligation. It was the Sages who determined that we read the megilla, conduct a festive meal, send mishlo’aḥ manot (gifts of food) to others, and give charity to the poor on Purim, and light candles on Ḥanuka.

(3) Many Jewish communities throughout the ages kept this mitzva, instituting days of joy in commemoration of miracles that they experienced. Many of them included the word “Purim” when naming these days, like “Purim Frankfurt” and “Purim Tiberias.” Some communities had a custom to eat festive meals, send mishlo’aḥ manot to one another, and give charity to the poor on these days. Maharam Alashkar writes that the enactments that these communities made have binding force, obligating all of their descendants to keep them, even if they move to a new community (Responsa Maharam Alashkar §49). Other Aḥaronim concur (MA and Eliya Rabba 686:5).

(4) The great sage R. Meshulam Rath writes: “There is no doubt that we are commanded to rejoice, establish a holiday, and recite Hallel on the fifth of Iyar, the day that the government, the members of the Knesset [who were chosen by the majority of the people], and most of the greatest rabbis established as the day on which to celebrate, throughout the land, the miracle of our salvation and freedom” (Responsa Kol Mevaser 1:21).