This week we celebrate modern-day Israel’s 77th Independence Day. On Hanukkah 1948, when Israel was 7 months old, it was fresh out of a War of Independence that claimed 6,500 lives, one percent of Israel’s population. The heroes who defended Israel were our modern-day Maccabees, the men and women of the newly established Israel Defense Forces.
As he stood before these heroes on an IDF base during Hanukkah, 1948, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Benzion Meir Hai Uziel expressed his deepest gratitude to them:
“Praised be you, our mighty soldiers and heroes, who armed yourselves with faith and heroism and renewed with splendor the acts of the ancient Maccabees. Praised be our sacred fallen heroes, who fell in defense of our independence, who with their blood redeemed our land and our inheritance. May their memories forever be a blessing. To you, our heroic soldiers before whom I stand, I say hizku v’Imtzu – may you be blessed with strength and courage. Through you and your heroism, the whole House of Israel will be strengthened. Continue marching ahead with bravery and courage, with hope and with faith.”
77 years later, we celebrate Israel’s independence amidst a long war for our safety and security. Who guarantees our safety, security, freedom and continued independence today? None other than this generation’s Maccabees, today’s IDF soldiers.
In one of her recent columns, my dear friend, Jewish Journal-columnist Tabby Refael, asked some of us to share thoughts on what gives us hope in post-October 7th Israel. On this 77th Yom Ha’atzmaut, my words to Tabby still stand:
“Before Oct. 7, the so-called ‘Tik-Tok Generation’ of Israelis were tagged as self-absorbed and lacking in patriotic Zionism. Dead wrong! On Oct. 7th, I witnessed with my own eyes how thousands of Israel’s ‘Tik-Tok Generation’ — my son Ilan, his wife Kayla, their friends — put down their phones and picked up their weapons, rushed to the south as first responders, took the defense of our country into their own young hands, carrying a whole nation on their young broad shoulders. Women and men of all sectors and backgrounds put their material comforts, social media and university studies on hold, boldly marched into war, fighting valiantly with a unity and passion that had my generation bowing to them in humility and gratitude.”
The IDF heroes of Rabbi Uziel’s generation, and those of today, remind me of the beautiful words that were etched in flames near the Kotel as I was sworn into the IDF in 1984: “Only those who know how to defend their freedom are worthy of it.”
To those who evade and avoid IDF service, well…
Thank you IDF heroes, Kol Hakavod. You are the state.
Chag Atzmaut Sameach.
Rabbi Daniel Bouskila is the international director of the Sephardic Educational Center.
