A note about hope
As we mark Israel's 77th birthday our hearts must still be filled with hope.
Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks there have been dark and difficult days for the Jewish people in Israel and the Diaspora, which can make marking celebrations challenging, even a day as special as Yom Ha’atzmaut.
We are still a nation grieving for those cruelly murdered and held hostage. The horror of the murder of Shiri Bibas and her beautiful children Ariel and Kfir continues to be an open wound in the heart of Am Yisrael.
We are told to be resilient, to dance again and to find the silver linings amid the grey clouds, and while we are resilient and we will dance again, we should also allow ourselves space to feel sad for these tragedies.
It can be hard to find hope in such times, but “hope is mandatory”, as Rachel Goldberg-Polin reminds us, mother of slain hostage Hersh who continues to show grace and courage in advocating for the remaining hostages.
Hope has been central to the Jewish experience for thousands of years, for that is why the anthem of Israel is “Hatikvah”.
Hearing Israel’s national anthem at rallies post-October 7 has become a moment of soul piercing connection and unity. The anthem’s moving lyrics, which were written in 1886 by Polish Jewish poet Naphtali Herz Imber, continue to remind us, what we are fighting for, and how grateful we should be for Israel’s existence after thousands of years of longing. In English a verse translates:
Our hope will not be lost,
The hope of two thousand years,
To be a free nation in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.”
A version of Hatikvah was movingly sung by Holocaust survivors at Bergen-Belsen in 1945 on the first Shabbat of their liberation, after witnessing the worst of humanity, three years before Israel’s independence. It was the hope that led my grandmother Bronia Rosenberg, a survivor of Begen-Belsen, and her husband Tuvia Mittelman, a survivor of Auschwitz, to move to Israel to build a new life, where Tuvia worked as a policeman.
It was hope that led the Jewish people – those who had lived in the land of Israel for generations, those who were survivors of the Holocaust, and those who were exiled from Arab nations, to build a vibrant democracy where Israelis could be free, with the dream of living in harmony with their neighbours.
As we mark Israel’s 77th birthday our hearts must still be filled with hope.
Hope for hostages to come home alive, hope for the war in Gaza to end in a way in which Hamas will be destroyed and Israel can find peace with its neighbours, hope that Israelis will have leaders who are wise, demonstrate integrity and rebuild social cohesion, and hope that the world will show moral clarity and act against evil and extremism.
At rallies for Israel, along with Hatikvah another song has become an unofficial anthem which is also providing us much needed hope at this challenging time, Eyal Golan’s Am Yisrael Chai, (The Jewish Nation Lives):
For the eternal people never fear,
Even though it is hard to see,
We are all together, no one is alone here,
When the wars burn
The people of Israel live,
If we do not forget to always be united,
The people of Israel live…
Around us, swords of iron,
And the dove will spread its wings,
The hope of two thousand years,
We will take to the streets and
sing again
For the eternal people fear not,
Even though it’s hard to see,
We are all together, no one is alone here,
We will take to the streets and sing.
Am Yisrael chai.
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