Yom HaAtzmaut 5780
We’ve all had the experience of feeling under appreciated. We work hard, try our best, and produce a result of which we may personally be proud, yet is met with criticism rather than congratulations. And it’s infuriating. “Why,” we ask ourselves, “are these critics focusing on what went wrong, rather than what’s gone right? Why comment on what the event/presentation/project was lacking, rather than express gratitude for all that it had?”
We’re all guilty of this criticism on some level, and, in truth, it’s the unfortunate byproduct of sophistication. Life experience sharpens our minds, allows us to develop our analytic capabilities, and it becomes difficult to hold back from noticing—and commenting—on what is lacking, irrespective of the enormity of what’s been achieved. When presented with items of great complexity, we respond with detailed analysis, and what rises to the surface of our minds is what’s amiss and what went wrong.
But what we lose in the process is gratitude. Gratitude demands that we respond somewhat superficially to whatever we are presented with. Because if we analyze too deeply, we are bound to find fault, and, once found, it is fault that fills our minds. It takes conscious effort to feel genuinely grateful that you had our family over for a meal, when the chicken was a little overcooked and it took too long to finally bentch.
If we tend to be cynical of the acts of human beings, we are generally less so of Hashem’s. When it comes to Divine activity, we are more adept at shrugging our shoulders, recognizing that we’re usually at a loss to explain all the ins and outs of Hashem’s plan, and simply saying thank you for the blessings provided.
Yom HaAtzmaut poses a challenge in this capacity, because it is a day when human involvement and Divine intervention converge. In assessing the day and its import, we can easily turn to the human side of the coin and our sophisticated brains naturally do their analytical thing. We dissect and discern, ponder and probe, and can end easily overlook the opportunity to properly thank Hashem for the blessings conveyed by way of a Jewish State, in favor of finding fault with a government that falls so short of religious and halachik ideals.
I’d suggest that we do our best to separate the two fields and make Yom HaAtzmaut a day to focus more on Divine, rather than human, achievement. If assessing human achievement becomes mired in debate over religious validation of a secular government, perhaps simple gratitude to Hashem can be expressed without getting caught up in such arguments. A person who desperately needs a vehicle for his commute to work and receives a car through some series of Divinely orchestrated events, can and should give thanks to Hashem. His gratitude in no way indicates that this would be his ideal choice of car or that he finds no fault in the human engineering of the vehicle. In a conversation with his friends, he can detail every issue he has, from gas mileage to counterintuitive layout of the dashboard. But if those issues prevent him from saying thank you to G-d, he is guilty of a moral failure.
The Gemara in Brachos 19a relates how Choni HaMaagel narrowly escaped excommunication. Choni was famous for his forwardness in standing in a circle he’d drawn on the ground and standing in it to beseech Hashem for proper rainfall, with the proviso that he would not exit the circle until his prayers were answered. As rain began to fall, first too heavily, then too lightly, Choni responded with, “Lo kach sha’alti—this is not what I asked for.” Shocked by such a response, Shimon ben Shetach refrained from excommunicating Choni only because of his reputation and body of work until that point.
If Lo kach sha’alti is an inappropriate response from the mouth of a great Sage, all the more so from our own. Does the modern State of Israel fulfill our every dream of what Jewish sovereignty ought to look like. By no means. But the blessings it allows for are numerous, and we cannot allow them to go unappreciated or unnoticed because, “Lo kach sha’alti,” we still hope for so much more.
It is because of the Jewish State that the mitzvah of yishuv Eretz Yisrael is enjoying a renaissance, allowing Jews even well-off in Chutz La’Aretz to legitimately consider relocation to the Holy Land and to thrive there. It is because of the Jewish State that my family and I have had the privilege of traveling to sites that Judaism holds most holy and dear in peace and security. It is because of the Jewish State that millions of secular Jews can at least speak Lashon haKodesh and are connected to authentic Judaism through myriad points of contact that do not exist in the diaspora. It is because of the Jewish State that eating produce of admas kodesh is a regular occurrence, even halfway across the world. It is because of the Jewish State that Eretz Yisrael is populated by countless yeshivos and that the promise of Ki Mitzion teitzei Torah is alive and well. It is because of the Jewish State that tens of thousands of Jews that had suffered persecution in their countries of origin are now living in safety. It is because of the Jewish State that world-wide Kiddush Hashem is possible through the humanitarian efforts made to countries benefiting from Israeli technology and know-how.
Not unlike the one that gets us to work in the morning, the State of Israel is a vehicle; one that has provided the Jewish People with blessing and bounty, with safety and security. From a religious perspective, it is far from perfect. But if imperfection prevents us from saying thank you, we are guilty of ingratitude. Gratitude always demands that we view things somewhat superficially and ignore shortcomings that our sophisticated minds so easily discern. My gratitude to Hashem need not be an admission that all is perfect or that we yet hope for more. Nevertheless, zeh hayom asah Hashem, nagilah v’nism’cha vo, this day is one made by Hashem, let us be celebrate and rejoice on it.