Page 12 - HaMizrachi #29 Yom HaAtzmaut 2021 USA

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-
ation may take Israel for granted
sible route… Unbelievable stories. We
handed my ID to the chairman, and he
and not appreciate it enough, but
wrote my name on a piece of paper, and
they go through all this? What life expe-
anyone who was here in 1948 knows that read my name. The deputy chairman look at these people, and wonder – did
allowing the miraculous to become ordi- assigned me the number 1. He handed rience, what cumulative strength, O how
nary is a crime. me an envelope and I went into the other much we can learn from them!
room, where all the parties’ slips were.
Moshe Yekutiel Alpert, an ultra-Ortho- With a trembling hand and a sense of I think this is what the Torah meant
dox Jew from the old yishuv of Yerusha- sanctity, I took one slip for the Religious in three words in Parashat Kedoshim,
layim, described in his diary how he Union party, and placed it carefully in which we read during this time: ָּ ת ְ ר ַ ד ָ ה ְ ו
went to vote in the first parliamentary the envelope I had received from the ן ֵ קָז יֵנ ְּ פ. We’ve known this mitzvah since
elections after the establishment of the chairman. kindergarten, so much so that perhaps
we have forgotten to pay attention to the
State:
I went back into the polling station words. It is not, “you shall care for the
“At 05:35, early in the morning, my wife again, and showed everyone that I had elderly,” nor “you shall have sympathy
and I got up. After drinking coffee, we only one envelope. And then I experi- for the elderly,” nor “you shall stand for
wore Shabbat clothes in honor of this enced the holiest moment of my life, a the old man on the bus.” VeHadarta,
great and holy day. For ׳ה הׂ ָ ש ָ ע ם ֹוּי ַ 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
2,000 years of exile, and perhaps even time, in my life, merited such a pure and days, but throughout the year, take care
to respect, elevate and glorify the elders
since the six days of Creation, we have 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 bar-
deputy and the rest of the committee 3
becues and the annual torch-light-
...My wife and I and my brother-in- and left. I waited in the hallway for my ing ceremony, the ך"ָנ ָּ ת ַ ה ןֹודי ִ ח, the
ְ
law went to the polls in the area of wife because she was number 2, and at World Bible Quiz, has also become one
HaChabashim Street, carrying our 06:28, we returned home and I went to of the symbols of Yom HaAtzmaut.
little State of Israel ID books. We took pray. It was a day of great celebration!” Excited teenagers from all over the world
the shortcut, and I walked every step in VeHadarta | “On Yom HaShoah, take to the stage to test their knowledge
great joy, the way I dance hakafot with a 2 of the Book of Books. When Yuli Edel-
Yom HaZikaron and Yom
Sefer Torah on Simchat Torah, because HaAtzmaut everyone is looking stein served as Speaker of the Knesset,
I had an Israeli ID in my hand. My joy for elderly people to talk to,” writes he was also Chairman of the Judges for
and happiness were boundless. When illustrator Naama Lahav. “Yes, old men the quiz. One year, he gave a speech in
we arrived, the official brought the ballot and women. For schools, for radio and which he shared his experiences as a
box, and the chairman called me and television interviews, for conferences. Prisoner of Zion:
said ן ֵ קָז יֵנ ְּ פ ָּ ת ְ ר ַ ד ָ ה ְ ו – “you shall respect the Someone who escaped from Treblinka, “I look at you, the contestants. You
elderly.” Since I was the oldest there, I someone who spent the night in the are from the United States, Panama,
would be the first to vote. orchards of the kibbutz, a 10-year-old Mexico, Belarus, South Africa... I am

12 |