Page 12 - HaMizrachi Yom HaAtzmaut AUS 2021

TORAT MIZRACHI MIZRACHI SCHOLARS-IN-RESIDENCE

Sivan Rahav Meir and Yedidya Meir

Four Ideas for Yom HaAtzmaut

1 Trembling with awe and reverence, I who immigrated to Israel via an impos-
Trembling in Awe | Our gener-
handed my ID to the chairman, and he
ation may take Israel for granted
sible route… Unbelievable stories. We
and not appreciate it enough, but
they go through all this? What life
wrote my name on a piece of paper,
anyone who was here in 1948 knows read my name. The deputy chairman look at these people, and wonder – did
that allowing the miraculous to become and assigned me the number 1. He experience, what cumulative strength,
ordinary is a crime. handed me an envelope and I went into O how much we can learn from them!
the other room, where all the parties’
Moshe Yekutiel Alpert, an ultra-Ortho- slips were. With a trembling hand and I think this is what the Torah meant
dox Jew from the old yishuv of Yerusha- a sense of sanctity, I took one slip for in three words in Parashat Kedoshim,
layim, described in his diary how he the Religious Union party, and placed it which we read during this time: ָּ ת ְ ר ַ ד ָ ה ְ ו
went to vote in the first parliamentary carefully in the envelope I had received ן ֵ קָז יֵנ ְּ פ. We’ve known this mitzvah since
elections after the establishment of the from the chairman. kindergarten, so much so that perhaps
State: we have forgotten to pay attention to
the words. It is not, “you shall care for
I went back into the polling station
“At 05:35, early in the morning, my wife again, and showed everyone that I had the elderly,” nor “you shall have sympa-
and I got up. After drinking coffee, we only one envelope. And then I experi- thy for the elderly,” nor “you shall stand
wore Shabbat clothes in honor of this enced the holiest moment of my life, a for the old man on the bus.” VeHadarta,
great and holy day. For ׳ה הׂ ָ ש ָ ע םֹוּי ַ ה הֶז, moment that neither my father nor my respect the elderly. See the majesty
this is the day the L-rd has made. For grandfather merited. Only me, in my (hidur) in his face. Not only on special
days, but throughout the year, take care
2,000 years of exile, and perhaps even time, in my life, merited such a pure to respect, elevate and glorify the elders
since the six days of Creation, we have and holy moment. How blessed I am! in our society. Respect every year and
not merited such a day, upon which we every wrinkle.”
go to the polls to vote in a Jewish State, I put the envelope into the ballot box,
ְ
הֶּז ַ ה ן ַ מַּז ַ ל ּונ ָ עיִּ ג ִ ה ְ ו ּונ ָ מְּי ִ ק ְ ו ּונָי ֱ ח ֶ ה ׁ ֶ ש ךּור ָּ ב. shook hands with the chairman, the What Unites Us? | Between
deputy and the rest of the committee 3
barbecues and the annual
...My wife and I and my brother-in- and left. I waited in the hallway for my torch-lighting ceremony, the
law went to the polls in the area of wife because she was number 2, and at ך"ָנ ָּ ת ַ ה ןֹודי ִ ח, the World Bible Quiz, has
ְ
HaChabashim Street, carrying our 06:28, we returned home and I went to also become one of the symbols of Yom
little State of Israel ID books. We took pray. It was a day of great celebration!” HaAtzmaut. Excited teenagers from all
the shortcut, and I walked every step VeHadarta | “On Yom HaShoah, over the world take to the stage to test
in great joy, the way I dance hakafot 2 their knowledge of the Book of Books.
Yom HaZikaron and Yom
with a Sefer Torah on Simchat Torah, HaAtzmaut everyone is looking When Yuli Edelstein served as Speaker
because I had an Israeli ID in my hand. for elderly people to talk to,” writes of the Knesset, he was also Chairman
My joy and happiness were boundless. illustrator Naama Lahav. “Yes, old men of the Judges for the quiz. One year, he
When we arrived, the official brought and women. For schools, for radio and gave a speech in which he shared his
the ballot box, and the chairman called television interviews, for conferences. experiences as a Prisoner of Zion:
me and said ן ֵ קָז יֵנ ְּ פ ָּ ת ְ ר ַ ד ָ ה ְ ו – “you shall Someone who escaped from Treblinka, “I look at you, the contestants. You
respect the elderly.” Since I was the someone who spent the night in the are from the United States, Panama,
oldest there, I would be the first to vote. orchards of the kibbutz, a 10-year-old Mexico, Belarus, South Africa... I am

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