Yom HaAtzmaut 2025 – Pride, Reflection and Urgency

Every year, Yom HaAtzmaut is important and impactful. Or at least it should be. This year, I’m finding Yom HaAtzmaut to be extremely emotional. Everyday, Jew-haters around the world are calling for the extermination of the only Jewish state in the world. To me, that means there is even more significance to celebrating and honoring the re-establishment of Jewish self-determination and governance in the Land of Israel.

I feel a deep urgency to teach our children why Israel is our homeland, the only homeland of the Jews. Our connection to the Land of Israel is not modern or political, rather it is ancient, biblical, eternal. Israel is mentioned thousands of times in the Torah. We are tied to Israel through our faith, history, and identity.

We just celebrated Passover. The holiday in which we remember our exodus from Egypt to reach the Land of Israel. If we weren’t connected to the Land, Jews wouldn’t be observing Passover for thousands of years. The ignorance of the young was never more obvious than when the students involved in Jewish Voice for Peace held an anti-Zionist seder. The entire Haggadah retells the Exodus from Egypt. Where were we going if we weren’t going to the Land of Israel? Unbelievable.

We need to stress to the world that we have an ancient history in the Land of Israel that is undeniable and cannot be erased. Mahmoud Abbas just claimed that the Jewish Temples were not located in Israel but rather in Yemen. Where does he get these outrageous claims? Where does all of the archeological evidence found in Israel come from if not from the Jewish people who have lived in the Land for millennia. Archeological finds are proof that the Jews came from Judaea.

It’s time for the world to stand with the Jewish people. We originated in the Land of Israel. After wandering in the desert for 40 years, we built our kingdoms in Israel. After hundreds of years, we were expelled from the Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians. Next we were expelled from Judaea by the Babylonians who destroyed the First Temple, We returned again and we had hundreds of years until the Romans expelled us when they destroyed the Second Temple. We continually struggled to return to the Land after every dispersal. Plus, some Jews always remained in the Land after each expulsion. Israel was our home.

Today, whether we live in the modern State of Israel or in the Diaspora, Israel remains our homeland. Every week as we read from the Torah, we are reminded of this eternal bond. It is indisputable.

Our children need to know that we are not colonizers, and we are not oppressors. We are a people striving to live in peace with our neighbors. From the Israeli Declaration of Independence which states:

“WE EXTEND our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.”

Despite multiple wars for our existence, Israel has peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. It is much more beneficial for our neighbors to live with Israel in peace than the alternative.

Just look at what has happened after Hamas’s blood thirsty attack on the sovereign nation of Israel on October 7th. After Israelis were brutally murdered in cold blood, raped, tortured, burned alive and kidnapped, the Gaza Strip has been turned into a destroyed warzone.

While much of the world has falsely claimed that Israel was the aggressor, attacking innocent civilians, the reality is that Israel has been in a continual defensive war against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, all terrorist organizations, with Iran, their terrorist sponsor.

Let us all celebrate with joy and pride our 77th year of modern self-determination in the one and only Jewish state in the entire world. Israel is our miracle, and we should continue to stand “loud and proud” for Israel – our homeland, our heart, and our future.