Chag HaAtzmaut Sameach

↑ samantha87

Fri, May 13 2016, 1:29 pm

seeker wrote:

I need to read more into it regarding saying hallel, considering it an official Jewish special day, etc. But I am 100% in favor of marking the day and celebrating Israel's existence. Regardless of what you feel about the government and founding Zionists, there is no denying that Israel's independence was the biggest positive turning point in perhaps 1000 years or more of Jewish history. I mean, how many times has anything good on a collective national level ever happened to the Jewish people? Say what you want about the government, and it's true that the founding Zionists had an agenda to pull people away from frum life, but look at all the good that has happened since then - and I believe even at the time it was pretty clear that having Israel at all was a positive thing even if it didn't happen exactly the way you'd want.

Still, we don't say hallel on Purim because the salvation was not complete, and likewise I see plenty of room to argue that this is similar. A huge turning point and leap in the right direction, but Israel continues to be fraught with hardship and persecution while other affiliated Jews remain scattered and subject to a lot of hostility. So as I said I am not yet well read in the topic of when to say hallel or not, but I'm definitely celebrating informally and think it's a perfectly suited day to do so.

FWIW, the reasons given for not saying hallel on Purim include:

↑ Chayalle

Fri, May 13 2016, 1:36 pm

samantha87 wrote:

I never understood people like that. Did he just spend his entire time with friends and relatives so as not to have to spend any money? If he is so opposed, why visit? Hard for me to fathom, but to each their own.

Yeah I don't get it either. And don't know how they pull it off. Not my cup of tea, that's for sure.

↑ moonstone

Sat, May 14 2016, 1:38 pm

m in Israel wrote:

I feel like I am in a twilight zone. Are you saying you find it offensive for a frum Jew to want to live in Eretz Yisroel???? Our desire to return to our land is certainly not strange and antiquated -- I am not even sure what you mean by "antiquated". I'm sure you are familiar with the famous apocryphal story about Napoleon when he observed Jews morning on Tisha B'Av -- "if they can cry like that about a building that was destroyed so long ago, they will certainly eventually rebuild it." Our "antiquated" love for this land is a big part of why it is ours today. I think the reason I am so surprised at your comment is that I am truly not aware of ANY group within mainstream Judaism who believes that. Even the most anti-Zionist at least believe in theory that Eretz Yisroel has kedusha and we should be longing to return (albeit they may believe that we need to wait for Moshiach before we do so). In fact as I type I feel that I must be misunderstanding you post. Please tell me you didn't mean that you can't "wrap your head" around the idea of Jews wanting to live in EY. . .

No, it's the anti Zionist stance that bothers me.

amother

Vanilla

Tue, Dec 28 2021, 3:57 pm

PinkFridge wrote:

I hope to get through the whole thread this evening but have to stop here. Yes, I voted no change in my davening too. Music during sefira? Problem for me. But there is nothing wrong, IMO, with spending some time thinking about the great chesed, and boost to our national (and I mean us as a nation, whether or not we have access to our land) morale after the Holocaust, that this increased access to E"Y has brought us.*

Cue to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKgP6rLc6CY (can't open due to filters. Hope it's the ensemble clip from a classic Israeli film I'm hoping I linked to) Very Happy

*ETA: now that I caught up, I see this was in line with the Brisker Rav's "Divine smile."