Page 12 - HaMizrachi Yom HaAtzmaut AUS 2021
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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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