For the first time I shaved on Yom Ha’atzmaut

This year, for the first time in my life… I shaved on Yom Ha’atzmaut.

For many, that sentence will mean very little. For others, it will land exactly where it should.

We are in a period of mourning. A time where observant Jews refrain from shaving. And yet, there are opinions, serious, grounded, respected, that allow it on Yom Ha’atzmaut. A day of joy. A day of gratitude. A day that, depending on how you see the world, changes everything.

And still… for decades, I couldn’t do it.

Not because I don’t love Israel. Quite the opposite.
I have been a proud Zionist for as long as I can remember. Youth movements. Advocacy. Trips. Conversations. Arguments. Defending her when it was easy, and when it really wasn’t.

And now, the privilege of living here.

And yet, every single year, when it came down to that small, almost symbolic act… I held back.

Because maybe the mourning should weigh more. Maybe restraint is more “authentic.” Maybe holding onto the past felt safer than fully embracing the present.

But this year, after years, actually decades, of that quiet internal tug-of-war… something shifted.

I shaved.

And it was not about the razor.

It was about finally aligning action with belief.

Because the truth is this: Israel is a blessing.

A blessing to the Jewish people. A blessing to a region that desperately needs light. A blessing, yes, I’ll say it, to the world.

And if that sounds dramatic, so be it.

Look at Jewish history. Look at world history. Against every odd, every prediction, every expectation…

The State of Israel exists.

Call it what you want. I call it a modern-day miracle.

But here’s the part that’s been sitting with me:

If I, someone who lives this, who believes this, who has carried this identity proudly for decades, if it took me over 30 years to take something as small as a razor and say, “Yes, today I fully celebrate”… then what exactly are we expecting from others?

How do we expect someone filled with bias, hate, with years of misinformation, with hostility and noise and slogans… to suddenly “get it” from a post? From a video? From a speech?

How do we expect them to “get it” within a week? Within a year? Within a lifetime?

How can we expect them to “get it” while they associate with human rights organisations who see the humanity in everyone, except Israelis and a whole lot of Jews.

How do we expect them to “get it” when their leftist, liberal campuses and mindsets teach them about the value of liberty, freedom and dignity for everyone, except for those pesky Zionists.

How do we expect clarity in a world drowning in distortion?

And even more uncomfortable…

How do we expect those within our own people, our fellow Jewish brothers and sisters, fellow members of the Jewish community and worldwide Jewish family, who distance themselves. Jews who would not know the first thing about the debate on whether to shave or not on Yom Ha’atzmaut, or what this time period is about in Jewish religious and cultural life.

Jews who know everything, and, at the same time, nothing.

Jews who say “as a Jew…” and “not in my name”, Jews who disconnect Judaism from Israel, who step away from their Jewish identity, who think “everyone is the same” while their Muslim, Hindu and Christian colleagues, friends, lovers and those around them rightfully, proudly and unapologetically embrace their own religions, cultures and histories.

How do we expect them to feel something they have spent years unlearning?

So no… it’s not so simple.

People aren’t simple.

Identity is not simple. Belief is not simple. Truth, especially today, is not simple.

But at the same time…

It is.

Because beneath all the noise, all the debate, all the confusion… there is a reality that does not need permission to exist.

Israel is here.

Alive. Vibrant. Imperfect. Relentless.

A blessing.

And this year, for the first time, I did not just believe that quietly.

I shaved.

עם ישראל חי ????????