The Israeli High Holidays

Sure, there is Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that, for Jews all over the world, mark the high points in the Jewish calendar and bring together communities to reflect, look back and to begin to look forward into the future that lies ahead and hopes for what that time will look like. Here, in Israel, there is another period of holidays, secular national holidays, that bring together the nation of Israel to do the same things when it comes to the country...to reflect, to look back and to begin to look forward into the future.

Right after the conclusion of Pesach, a series of 3 holidays take place in Israel that, in my opinion, define this country and give a glimpse to the outsider as to what this nation is really about: יום השוא יום הזיקרון ויום האצמאות Memorial Day for the Holocaust and heros, Memorial Day for fallen soliders and those who have died in terrorits attacks and Israeli Independence Day. Memorial Day for Holocaust and heroes marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and honors those who perished under the Nazi regime. The Israeli government consciously chose a day in Jewish history in which Jews put their lives on the line and stood up against the anti-semitism, genocide and evil that was being directed against them. Without backing down, these heros stood up and said that whatever the Nazis had in store for them, they would not go quietly and that they would rather die than give up their Jewish livelihood.

A week after the country stops to remember those who have perished in the past outside of Eretz Yisrael, the country stops again to remember those who have fallen and shed blood in order to help guaruntee that Israel will exist as a Jewish homeland and safehaven for Jews everywhere. The sun goes down at the Kotel. The mechita that usually divides men and women praying has been taken down and replaced with chairs in which those who have lost family members this year...in Lebanon, in other attempts to defend Israel, sit together, side by side and call to memory those who sacrificed their lives for their country. Dalia Itzik, a woman, acting president of Israel stands up, the Kotel as the backdrop and before the honor guard, distinguished guests, families and friends who have made the ultimate sacrifice in recent months and the collection of visitors...those here for a week and those here for a year who have come to see this moment, stand together as she addresses the crowd.

It's 8 p.m. and just like the week before for Holocaust Memorial Day the airraid sirens ring again...a surround sound of reminder that so much blood has been shed and so many spirits of those who have died are intertwined in the sky with this chilling sound. I have two thoughts. The first is that when I was here at age 16, the soldiers who defend this country seemed as if to be my peers and yet still, those two years of difference in age seemed to make them appear much older than me. Now, at the age os 27, realizing that those same soldiers are close to a decade younger than me, I am reminded just how young these people are when they are given their gun and trained to be a part of a legacy that requires a lot of dreaming, imagination and, inevitably, that some of their idealistic lives will be lost in order to be ensure that a collective dream does not become a nightmare...that Israel will exist and one day know peace.

The other thought that floods my mind is how much more real this memorial day feels than any last Monday in May that usually brings about BBQ's and the opening of the neighborhood pool. Perhaps it the lack of personal relationshis to the many men and women who defend the country I come from; or maybe feeling that the majority of blood shed in order to 'defend' the U.S. is shed on foriegn soil; and maybe its just the sheer smallness of this country, being no larger than the state of New Jersey and having been through so many wars since its inception nearly 60 years ago. Whatever the reasons, I am haunted by the spirits of those young men and women...those boys and girls...who were brought into this world knowing that they would have to stand up t defend the right for Israel to exist. It's security is not a given and its strides towards peace are much more difficult to take. Blood shed saturates the soil I stand on..it is not on another continent, in another region of the world, in someone else's backyard. The reasons, the fragility, the urgency to stand up and defend one's nationalism and to understand just how finite life and national security can be seems to be realized on such a different scale here, standing at the Kotel, feet from the acting president, on ground that represents thousands of years of my people's history...and I realize just how cush my existance until now really is.

The morning comes and our class has a private service at school, led by our professors who have built their lives here and are visibily upset as they help us to see through their eyes, through their pain, what it is like to have lost family, friends, colleagues, students in a framework in which they will never apologize for their sacrifices but will also never cease to question if a day will come when all those sacrifices will lead to moments in peace that really quantify each death as having been worth it or if the years ahead will continue to build on bloodshed and ongoing conflict as a result of realizing a dream of a return to Zion. Judaism is about the process, not the conclusion, but I think a conclusion and answers to these many young deaths would be welcomed one day in the future.

We continue on to a school in Jerusalem that was founded prior to the establishing of Israel. 138 students who have attended this school have dies in battle defending Israel. Over 50% of them lost their lives in the war for independence, the road to reclaiming Jerusalem, the 6 day war, this past summer in Lebanon and even 3 students who have lost their lives having been on the wrong bus at the wrong time a few years back. The families of these students, the friends, those now serving in the army come back to be a part of the ceremony that honors their names. The airraid sirens sound once more. It's clearly a homecoming of sorts, but rather than routing for the football team to win and seeing who is crowned king and queen, the mood is solemn and the names read are not those who are finalists in a shallow popularity contest, but those who showed their ultimate school and national spirit...those who really gave their all...so much so that all that they have left is a name to be read as students who attend the school today bring forward a wreath of flowers that honors them year after year. I sit there looking at the assembly of teenagers and wonder how their thoughts differ from mine. I'm a visitor. I am older than those in their uniforms and I wonder what those who still have their army service in front of them think as they look into the horizon knowing that as years go on that list of names will grow and they will be a part of the fabric of honor that this community comes together each year to recall.

The service ends and the rest of the day is a weird pendulum of the day of mourning which, at sunset, will lead right into the celebration of Idependence Day. The emotional shift for an outsider is awkward and, I'd imagine, the shift for those touched most closely by loss of a family or friend all the more so. As the sun goes down, the somber spirit begins to evaporate and people start to take to the streets to celebrate. Fireworks soar into the air, the main streets are shut down, concert stages are erected and the crowd becomes something between a festival and circus. Dancing and drinking in the streets...not quite mardi gras, but something close. The music blares well into the night and the fireworks continue beyond my ability to stay awake. Everywhere...inside, outside...a party. People dancing on the roovesof the lottery kiosks, cotton candy, candy apples, popcorn. Balloons, blow up Jewish star paraphanalia, glow sticks, crazy light toys. Its confusing to the mind, but a welcome confusion. Israel is about quick change...fast pace...no wasting of time...and these two holidays back to back are probably the best proof to that.

So, today is Independence Day and I can smell the BBQs already underway that I am about to go out and join. Its warm and sunny and there are friends from home visiting for different reasons and its a beautiful end to an emotional roller coaster of the past few weeks. Ofcourse, like any good amusement park, the end of the emotional rollercoaster ride leads into the academic rollercoaster of finishing school and all the work and exams that comes with that. It's sad that my season pass to this place is coming to its expiration. Good thing I know there will be opportunities to purchase passes in other seasons to come, but for now, I'm just trying to enjoy the fireworks that come with the ending of this one.