Is there more to Israel Independence Day than fireworks and flag- waving? Is Yom Ha'Atzmaut just a secular holiday, celebrating our political independence, or does it hold a deeper meaning for us?

Sanctity of Mitzvah

Rav Kook passed away in 1935, thirteen years before the State of Israel was established, but his son Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook applied his father's teachings to the historical events of his time. In an article entitled "Affirming the Sanctity of the Day of Our Independence," Rav Tzvi Yehudah analyzed the religious significance of Yom Ha'Atzmaut.

We connect with holiness through the mitzvot of the Torah. Before performing a mitzvah, we say, "Who sanctified us with His mitzvot." The holiness of Yom Ha'Atzmaut, Rav Tzvi Yehudah wrote, is anchored in the holiness of mitzvot. But which mitzvah is connected to this day?

The Ramban defined the mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel "that we will not abandon it to another nation, or leave it desolate." From the Ramban's definition it is clear that principle fulfillment of this mitzvah is on the national level, when the Jewish people takes possession of the land and governs it. On the basis of that primary level comes the mitzvah for each individual to live in Eretz Yisrael.

The Ramban emphasized that this mitzvah is in effect at all times. This view is upheld in the Shulchan Aruch (Even Ha'ezer 75:6, Pitchei Teshuvah ad loc).

This then is the significance of Yom Ha'Atzmaut: that we have finally merited, after centuries of exile, to once again fulfill this elevated mitzvah, valued by the Sages as 'equal to all the other mitzvot', "to return and possess the land that God promised to our fathers." We should be full of gratitude to be here, in Eretz Yisrael, 'the place that Moses and Aaron did not merit' (Ketubot 112a). We should be grateful to have merited living at this time, to witness the hour of redemption that so many great and holy leaders of our people did not merit to see.

Why This Day?

And yet one may ask: why should the 5th day of Iyyar be chosen for celebrating this event? Perhaps a different date, such as the date of the ceasefire after the War of Independence, would be a more appropriate choice?

The greatest miracle of the establishment of the State of Israel, Rav Tzvi Yehudah explained, was not the military victory of a fledgling state over the armies of five enemy countries. It was the remarkable courage on the 5th of Iyyar to make that fateful decision and announce the establishment of an independent state. Under great pressure from the US State Department not to declare a state, and the belligerent threats of the surrounding Arab countries to attack and destroy the Jewish community in Eretz Yisrael, this decision was not a trivial matter. The motion to declare a state only passed by a thin majority in Ben-Gurion's cabinet.

Moshe Sharett later recalled in his diary that he signed with "a sense of excitement together with a clear premonition of danger, such as one might feel while standing on a cliff, ready to leap into a yawning chasm. We felt as though we stood on a very high crest, where roaring winds were brewing about us, and that we had to stand fast." 

This courageous decision was the true miracle of Yom Ha'Atzmaut. The Sages in Baba Metzia 106a wrote that a shepherd's rescue of his flock from a lion or a bear may be considered a miracle. Where exactly is the miracle in this act? The Tosafists explained that miracle is to found in the shepherd's "spirit of courage and willingness to fight." This spirit of valor is a miracle from above, an inspired inner drive spurring one to rise to the needs of the hour. This is the meaning of Ezekiel's prophetic vision:

"I will place My spirit in you and you shall live. I will set you on your land, and you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and performed it" (Ezekiel 37:14).

Atchalta DeGeulah

Nevertheless, many people have difficulty reconciling the current moral and spiritual state of Israel with the vision of the redemption as described by the Prophets and the Sages. Is this the Messianic Era for which we prayed two thousand years?

The Sages determined that "The only difference between this world and the Messianic Era is freedom from the bondage of foreign powers" (Berachot 34b, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 12:2). While we have certainly not yet merited the final phase of redemption, we have achieved this criterion of redemption — independence and self-rule over our geographical area.

Many Torah scholars fought against Zionism because they envisioned redemption as a future era that arrives complete from the very start, not an ongoing process. But the very significance of the Talmudic statement (Jer. Berachot 1:1) that the redemption will appear "little by little," like the spreading dawn in the morning sky, is exactly this: that the redemption is a process that progresses in stages.

We need to examine history with a perspective of faith in God. We need to recognize that the Master of the universe controls all events. The Sages taught:

"What is the meaning of the verse, 'For who has scorned the day of smallness' (Zecharia 4:10)? What causes the table of the righteous to be scorned in the future era? Their smallness of faith, that they failed to believe in the Holy One" (Sotah 48b).

Why is the future portion (the 'table') of the tzadikim marred? Because they are tzadikim who do not believe. They look at the world with a narrow viewpoint, and fail to see God's hand in the events of history. The redemption does not have to come through great miracles; God can also bring the redemption using natural forces and events.

Ezekiel's Prophecy of Redemption

The various stages of redemption are clearly portrayed in the order of events in Ezekiel's prophecy. The prophecy first describes the initial stage of redemption, the ingathering of the exiles:

"I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the lands and I will bring you to your land" (36:24).

Only after this initial redemption does the prophet speak of the spiritual return and teshuvah of the people:

"I will sprinkle over you purifying water and you will be purified from all of your impurities... I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will place in you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My spirit within you so that you will walk in My statutes... And you will be My people, and I will be your God." (36:25-28)

This description of redemption matches the opinion of Rabbi Yehoshua in Sanhedrin 97b, that the redemption will come regardless of the merits of the Jewish people, "even if they do not repent." (See LeNetivot pp. 195-196, where he demonstrates that the Halachah follows this opinion.)

(Adapted from LeNetivot Yisrael vol I, pp. 181-184, 192-200; Sichot HaRav Tzvi Yehudah 19.)

Copyright © 2006 by Chanan Morrison