Day 221 - May 14, 2024 - Unity of Independence

This Independence Day, we celebrate 76 years of Israeli independence and decolonization from the British Empire. 

Yet somehow, even with the return to our homeland, we find ourselves divided over and over again. You see, the Jewish people are a complicated people (to put it mildly). There is a Jewish proverb that says you can ask two Jews one question and get three answers. 

This is part of the beauty of Judaism. We debate. We dig and search for meaning. We struggle with our relationships with each other, with Gd, with the Torah, with mitzvot (good deeds). And boy, can we argue. And boy, do we always think we're right... Individually, not necessarily as a people. 

We are white, black, brown, yellow, and everything in between. 

We are religious, secular, and traditional.

We lable ourselves as Carlbachean, Chabadnik, Breslov, Reform, Conservative, or unaffiliated. 

Some of us are atheists and some agnostics. 

Some of us believe so deeply that their faith supercedes all else (emunah). 

Some of us come from English speaking countries like USA, Canada, Australia, Ireland, South Africa...

Some of us come from France, Germany, Argentina, Mexico, Russia...

Some of us come from middle eastern countries like Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan... 

We have been in Judea for generations.

We are also fresh off the boat, running away from antisemitism in our home countries right now. 

We come from deep lineages of Judaism. 

We also come from mixed lineages of diverse heritages. 

We can be stubborn, brutish, and entitled. 

We can also be deeply empathetic, giving, and kind. 

We can be our biggest heroes or our worst enemies. 

We are human. 

We are a people with a rich and complicated history that's spanned thousands of years. 

We have a complicated connection to our history and for many ... Israel itself. 

Through the millenia we have continued to have an eternal hope... 

Hope for freedom, acceptance, and the ability to live freely and safely in this world. 

Hope for a flourishing homeland for a complex and diverse nation. 

Hope... for Zion... for Jerusalem... for the Jewish people. 

Am Yisrael Chai. 

Listen to it here: Hatikva Anthem