If I Forget Thee O Jerusalem

If I forget thee O Jerusalem.

A Jewish wedding. The epitome of joy. Yet we stand under the chuppah and we stop and shatter a glass. We can not be complete when the Jewish people are still in exile, while our beloved Jerusalem is not to be taken for granted. So too, the joy of last night’s heroic rescue of two hostages. The moment we have been waiting for. The story we want to see every time we open Ynet. And yet we stop. And the glass is shattered. Our joy is incomplete. Two more soldiers killed while fighting for our nation. Families whose lives will never be the same.

Adi. Alon. Louis. Fernando. Death. Life. Joy. Mourning.

Will there be a time soon when our joy will be complete? Will there be a time when we can celebrate without tears in our eyes. Will there be a time when our Yom Hazikaron and our Yom Haatzmaut will not stand shoulder to shoulder?

I can’t even imagine.