Page 5 - HaMizrachi Yom HaAtzmaut 5782 USA

of personal dignity are of enormous stand tall and upright! Redemption
spiritual value. In fact, the Torah con- means that our people exchange a
siders self-confidence and dignity to sense of subservience and insignif-
be the ultimate blessing! icance for one of worthiness and
The greatest of all the blessings dignity. Redemption must come
promised to the Jewish people at with a strong belief in our legitimate
the beginning of Parashat Bechukotai right to freedom and independence,
ְ
ֹ
ְ
ֹ
is תּוּי ִמ ְמֹוק ם ֶכ ְת ֶא ך ֵלֹוא ָו ם ֶכ ְּל ֻע תטמ ר ּ ֹב ׁש ֶא ָו, no more or less than anyone else.
Louis' Maccabi Lithuanian membership, 1937 “And I will break the yoke of your This is komemiyut: standing tall and
erect, though never arrogant; living
South Africa knew the Jewish Guild burden and I will walk with you in with dignity and self-assurance, but
Country Club and some of my fondest a way that is komemiyut” (Vayikra never self-righteousness. It is this
childhood memories are of spending 26:13). Rashi explains that this unusual that we pray for every time we recite
Sundays in the swimming pool, on the word, which appears only once in birkat hamazon: ּונֽ ֻע ר ֹו ּ ב ְ ׁש ִי אּוה ן ָמ ֲח ַר ָה
ֵּ
ל
tennis courts, and on the soccer field. the whole Torah, means ה ָפּוק ְז ה ָמֹוק ְּ ב, ּונֵֽצ ְר ַא ְל תּוּי ִמ ְמֹוק ּונֵֽכי ִלֹוי אּוה ְו ּונֵֽרא ָּו ַצ ל ַע ֵמ,
My grandfather led the South African “an upright posture,” while Targum “May the Merciful One break the
delegation at many Maccabi games Onkelus translates it as א ָתּור ֵח ְל, “with shackles of our burden from off our
and attended three Olympic Games a sense of freedom.” necks and lead us upright to our Land.”
as part of the South African Olympic One of the great tragedies of genera-
Committee. He referred to the Olympic tions of exile, unrelenting hatred and Ben-Gurion always referred to the War
Games he attended as the three Ms – antisemitism is the psychological effect of Independence as תּוּי ִמ ְמֹו ּ ק ַה ת ֶמ ֶח ְל ִמ
Mexico in 1968, Munich in 1972, and it has had on many Jews who have – the War of Komemiyut. Unlike the
Montreal in 1976 – and was present at internalized the insults of enemies; more common name, תּוא ָמ ְצ ַע (inde-
the Olympic village in Munich at the told by so many for so long that they pendence), the word komemiyut is of
time of the terrible murder of eleven are hated, they have come to believe biblical origin and most powerfully
Israeli athletes. that they are hateful (Rabbi Jonathan captures the meaning of the unfolding
Sacks, Future Tense, p. 106–108). of the redemption and the blessing of
After making Aliyah, he worked at the an independent Jewish state.
Maccabi Village in Ramat Gan, even- The mind-boggling phenomenon
tually receiving the highest award of of Jewish antisemitism by some of Rabbi Berel Wein once told me that, as a
the Maccabi World Union, known as Europe’s assimilated Jewish elite led student of history, he found it very dif-
“Yakir Maccabi Olami.” He and my German Jewish philosopher Theodor ficult to imagine how the Jewish spirit
grandmother lived happily in Israel for Lessing to write his classic 1930 book, could have been resurrected after the
another 38 years and after an incred- Der Judische Selbsthass, On Jewish Self-Ha- devastation of the Holocaust, if not for
ible 75 years of marriage, they passed tred, in which he tried to explain this the miraculous establishment of the
away within a year of each other at the destructive phenomenon of Jewish State of Israel so soon afterwards. Our
age of 97. Pop Louis and Granny Min, as intellectuals who regarded Judaism people’s crushed spirit was revitalized,
we would fondly call them, were shin- as the source of evil in the world and our hopelessness became hopefulness,
ing examples of values-based leaders. turned against their own. Today, many and our devastation was transformed
They were loyal to each other, served such Jews continue to be at the fore- to a destiny of dignity. How blessed we
the community, and embodied a deep front of the movement denying our are to live in such a time!
love for the Jewish people, the State of people’s legitimate right to an inde- ,ּונ ֵראָּוּ ַצ ל ַע ֵמ ּונ ֵּל ֻע רֹו ּ ב ׁשִי אּוה ן ָמ ֲח ַר ָה
ְ
Israel and mankind. pendent Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael. ּונ ֵצ ְר ַא ְל תּוי ִמ ְמֹוק ּונ ֵכי ִלֹוי אּוה ְו
And so one of the greatest blessings
Komemiyut of redemption is to be redeemed from
My grandfather understood that this form of servitude – to no longer Rabbi Doron Perez is the Executive Chairman
Jewish pride, confidence, and a sense be curled up and bent over but to of World Mizrachi.

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