Shinshinim 2024-2025

Shabbat Shalom, 

This past week we observed the Memorial day for holocaust, and heroism.  And as we look ahead to the upcoming week to honor our fallen soldiers and victims of terror attacks on Memorial Day. And right after that the celebration for our Independence Day. 

These two weeks of the switch between Nissan and Eyar has always been hard. 

The switch between the memorial day to Independence Day is a switch that is so fast that sometimes you can’t even grasp it, can’t even count it or measure it, as the sunset-sets a whole new happiness comes and overcast the sadness and grief of the past day.. 

This year it’s even harder, as this whole past year has been painted with the color of sadness. 

As we still have our own brothers and sisters held in captivity, as so many of our people fell while protecting our country. 

How can we celebrate our independence with happiness? And indeed, some voices from Israeli society have risen, not to do the celebration this year.

Usually we do celebrations of shows, concerts, music, family and pure happiness. Personally, I think that canceling the celebrations is not the right thing to do. Of course adjustments have to be made. 

There will be no fireworks this year, the hostages will be mentioned in every part and our prayers are still with them, everything will be modified and with all of that, WE have to celebrate. Not celebrating now is just like giving a prize to our enemies.

This celebration it’s not only our generation's celebration, not only our time. We owe all of those celebrations to all of the pioneers who established everything we have now, all the people who have dreamed for DECADES to have the ability to even have a country, to our soldiers who have fallen throughout this war and all of Israel’s many wars, for every person who fell during the vicious act of terror against us, for every person who fell in the effort of protecting this amazing piece of land we have.

And what better way of remembering and cherishing those people than to have a full day of being in grief and soreness and as the sun-set to start celebrating their magnificent results of us having are very own country. 

We have to celebrate this year not in spite of what we went and been through, but rather because of what we went through and who we owe this for. 

This is our very own Jewish essence celebration mixed with sadness. Acknowledging the past while embracing the present, looking towards the future with a prayer of hope, gratitude, and peace.