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 Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady
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 Categories: |
Conflicts over Sovereignty and Dispossession, Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System, Yom ha-Atsma'ut (5 Iyyar), Flag Day (June 14), Independence Day (July 4th), Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)
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eco-conscious, Gratitude, על הנסים al hanissim, acquisition, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Indigenous Peoples, נודה לך Nodeh L'kha, primordial scream, stewardship, shomrah ul'ovdah, colonization, conquest, settlement, refugees, immigration, sanctuary, subjugation, hegemony, Needing Translation (into Hebrew), מודים Modim
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Opportunities to express gratitude on civic days of patriotic thanksgiving demand acknowledgement of an almost unfathomably deep history of trauma — not only the suffering and striving of my immigrant ancestors, but the sacrifice of all those who endured suffering dealt by their struggle to survive, and often failure to survive, the oppressions dealt by colonization, conquest, hegemony, natural disaster. Only the Earth (from which we, earthlings were born, Bnei Adam from Adamah) has witnessed the constancy of the violent deprivations we inflict upon each other. The privilege I’ve inherited from these sacrifices has come at a cost, and it must be honestly acknowledged, especially on civic days of thanksgiving, independence, and freedom. I insert this prayer after Al Hanissim in the Amidah and in the Birkat Hamazon on national days of independence and thanksgiving. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Yehonatan Chipman
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Yom ha-Atsma'ut (5 Iyyar), Liturgical traditions
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מדינת ישראל Medinat Yisrael, thankfulness, Religious Zionism, מודים Modim
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Every year on Yom ha-Atzmaut I feel a certain sense of frustration about its liturgy, and the failure of Religious Zionism to shape the holiday into one that would make a clear and definite religious statement. The “festive” prayer for Yom ha-Atzmaut is a hotchpotch of Yom Kippur, Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat Mevarkhim, and Pesaḥ. One gets a sense that there is an avoidance of hard issues. Even such a simple thing as saying Hallel with a blessing is not yet self-evident, but a subject of constant debate. Every year, there seem to be more leading rabbis, who adopt crypto-Ḥaredi stances, issuing pronunciamentos as to why one must not enter into the doubt of saying a brakha levatala, an unnecessary blessing, in this case. (As I was typing these words, I was interrupted by a phone call from a friend with this very question!) Bimhila mikvodam (no affront to the honor due them intended), but what on earth do they think the Talmud is talking about when it says that “On every occasion that Israel are in distress and then delivered, they are to recite the Hallel” (Pesaḥim 116a), if not the likes of Yom ha-Atzmaut? . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Eugene Kohn, the Ben Yehuda Project (transcription) and Ḥayyim Naḥman Bialik
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| Categories: |
Yom ha-Atsma'ut (5 Iyyar)
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19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Prayers as poems, Early Religious Zionist, Labor Zionism, physical labor, תחזקנה Teḥezaqnah, national anthems
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Before HaTikvah was chosen, Ḥayyim Naḥman Bialik’s “People’s Blessing” (בִּרְכַּת עָם, also known by its incipit תֶחֱזַֽקְנָה Teḥezaqnah) was once considered for the State of Israel’s national anthem. Bialik was 21 years old when he composed the work in 1894. It later was chosen as the anthem of the Labor Zionist movement. We hereby present the first ever complete English translation of this poem. . . . |
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