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April 23, 1955

Israel Independence Day (1955)

Yom Ha'atzmaut & Yom Yerushalayim
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Outline

Chag He-Asor (1958)

As we Jews would over .... David: זה היום עשה ד' נגילה ונשמחה בו. Indeed, נגילה ונשמחה not as easy as seems. For many years never assimilated full impact of event – supernatural, incredible, meta-historical – words prophets – and all we thought of was: Polit., Money... exiqencies of impact ... Like traumatic event, leaves state shock, disbelief, so ... Now, however, that event receding into
Yom Ha'atzmaut & Yom Yerushalayim

Synagogue Sermon

A National Insurance Policy - editor's title (1962)

The occasion of the birthday of the State of Israel is one of great Simchah for Jews throughout the world. We recall, at this time, the birth agonies of the state, the anxieties as we counted votes in the United Nations, the agitation and the worry as Israel encountered the armies of seven Arab countries, and also the indescribable thrills we experienced when it emerged victorious and forged a state not only out of dreams and prayers, but blood and steel, as well. We remember all these vicissitudes of the state, and the goodness shown to it by the Almighty in miracles both apparent and hidden, from the moment of its birth through the Sinai war and until this very day.Yet Simchah means more than just happiness or joy for Jews. Our tradition has made of Simchah a creative spiritual act. Maimonides taught, in the Laws of Festivals, that לא נצטוינו על הוללות וסכלות אלא על שמחה שיש בה עבודת יוצר הכל – Simchah does not mean vain merry-making of hollow party-going but rather that kind of joy which leads to an understanding of Providence, an appreciation of the presence of G-d in history. True Simchah must lead us to recognize our duties to our fate, and challenge us to our rendezvous with destiny.And therefore, at this time, we must ask ourselves: do we Jews in the United States practice real Simchah? Is our celebration only empty and trivial gaiety, or does it participate in this higher and nobler joy?I believe that too often, too many of us are guilty, with regard to the State of Israel, of a historical sin. One of the words for “sin” in Hebrew is Averah. The origin of the word is Avor, which means: to pass by or pass over. One of the great Averot that many of us American Jews are guilty of is that we have allowed history to pass over us and we have remained largely oblivious to and unaffected by it. Compared to the ages of most nations, the State of Israel, though fourteen years old, is but an infant. It was born only yesterday. Our times are extraordinary; history is …
Yom Ha'atzmaut & Yom Yerushalayim

Synagogue Sermon

Every Name Under the Sun - editor's title (1957)

Since last Independence Day, a major change has come over the situation for Israel: it has lost the goodwill of the great powers. Before, only the Arabs damned her; now no one has any love for her. This 9th birthday finds the United States and Russia both appeasing the Arabs and opposing the Israelis. Israel’s very existence has been called into question, and she has been called upon to justify her very survival as well as her attack on Egypt. Israel has now been called every name under the diplomatic sun: aggressor, war-maker, offensive. And an argument repeated often enough can affect even the strongest partisans and make them over into opponents.Our Rabbis of the Midrash tell us that God showed Moses *dor dor v’dorshav*—each generation and its leaders, its prophets, its wise men, and so on. This means that He showed him the *kohanim* of the future who would remain spiritually *b’nei Aharon*. But also included in this vision, though less known, were each generation’s *gazlanim* and *chamsanim*—and we wonder: are these too *kohanim b’nei Aharon*?And the answer is: no, it is not that the descendants of Aharon will be robbers and thieves. But the meaning is that despite their being the preachers and leaders and prophets and wise men of every generation, they will be called robbers and thieves. As though God said to Moses: they still are to Me, despite all the names so unjustly applied to them by others, *kohanim b’nei Aharon*.And so, when we find that Russia calls Israel an aggressor, the United States calls her an unjust intruder, and India calls her a thief, we open the Bible and the Midrash, and we find that God tells us that those whom others call, in their generations, robbers and thieves, remain the “priests, the children of Aaron,” the priests of all nations and the kingdom of holy people.Why is Israel right? Why do they remain the *kohanim b’nei Aharon*? What is the underlying principle of Israel’s claim to statehood, its justification of Operation Sinai, an…
Yom Ha'atzmaut & Yom Yerushalayim