David Harbater
Times of Israel, Apr. 29, 2025
“In the immediate aftermath of October 7, we witnessed a stirring sense of unity, as people from all backgrounds and walks of life came together to defend our Land. Yet, in recent months, old divisions have resurfaced and our discourse has grown bitter once more.”
Rabbi Shimon ben Yocḥai teaches: The Holy One, Blessed be He, gave Israel three precious gifts—and each was given through suffering (Berakhot 5a). One of these three gifts is the Land of Israel.
That the Land is a gift is evident to anyone who has set foot upon it or who calls it home. From the snow-capped Mount Hermon in the north to the golden sands of the Negev and Arava in the south; from the Mediterranean coastline to the shimmering waters of the Kinneret and the salt-laden stillness of the Dead Sea; from the lush oases of Ein Gedi to the blossoming forests of the Galilee—the Land is breathtaking in its richness and its beauty.
The Torah itself sings the praises of the Land’s physical beauty and splendor, calling it “a land flowing with milk and honey” rich with “streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill—a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey” (Deuteronomy 8:7-8). But it testifies to its spiritual dimension as well: “a land which the Lord your God looks after, on which the Lord your God always keeps His eye, from year’s beginning to year’s end (Deuteronomy 11:12) and “You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I Myself abide” (Numbers 35:34).
Yom Ha’atzmaut is the day we celebrate this divine gift—the miraculous return to the Land and the establishment of a Jewish state within it after more than two millennia of exile. ….SOURCE