Rabbi Yaakov Meidan, co-Dean of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shvut, says that Independence Day should be celebrated with thanksgiving, but not with festivity and joy:
"The destruction of 30 synagogues, the throwing of the Gush Katif residents to the winds, and the smashing of the Zionist ethos of the connection between settlement and our bonds to the Land, represent a genuine threat to our continuing independence as a Jewish nation in its land. The break is so great that we cannot
simply commemorate the day as if nothing changed.
"However, cutting back on the prayers would mean that we are directing the blame towards G-d, Heaven forbid, and this is not correct. Lowering the flag to half-mast or something like that would place us in the position of those whose lives center around bitterness, as opposed to doing things; there can be no greater blow to Religious Zionism than that. Therefore, we must turn our state's birthday from a secular New Year-type to a Jewish New Year-type - a day of prayer and hard work and reckoning. Let us give up the traditional barbecue; after the prayers, let us take off our holiday clothes and put on work clothes, declaring our enlistment and working hard towards making the country better, more humanitarian and more Jewish."
Rabbi Shabtai Sabato, head of the Netivot Yosef yeshiva in Mitzpeh Yericho, agrees that the day must be one of thanksgiving, but adds,
"It cannot be that we simply go on as if nothing has happened. How can we hang Israeli flags all over the streets, even here in Yesha [Judea and Samaria], without at least an orange ribbon [orange was the color chosen to symbolize the struggle for Gush Katif - ed.] hanging from them?
"Yes, the State is the beginning of Redemption - but would this be true had they not merely expelled the Jews from Gush Katif, but also killed some of them? Are there any red lines?"
Rabbi Sabato said he would spend the day not celebrating, but rather in the yeshiva study hall, learning Torah.
Yeshivat Torat HaChaim, which was exiled from N'vei Dekalim in Gush Katif last summer and is now being rebuilt in Yad Binyamin, was the first religious-Zionist yeshiva to reassess its relationship with Independence Day. Already last year, it treated Heh Iyar - the 5th day of the month of Iyar, Independence Day - as a regular day, and shifted the celebrations of Israel's national accomplishments of this generation to Jerusalem Day, three weeks from now.
Rabbi David Dudkevitch, the rabbi of Yitzhar in the Shomron, suggests reciting half-Hallel, as opposed to the full Hallel reserved for full-fledged holidays. In partial agreement, Rabbi Gadi Ben-Zimra of Maaleh Levonah explains,
"Every believing Jew [of the] religious Zionist camp must always adjust his thoughts, especially in light of what is going on. Above all, this is a country that is totally not obligated to Torah law. Rabbi A. I. Kook said in his time that the secular Zionist statement, 'Zionism has nothing to do with religion' must be totally uprooted... We are headed for a state that is not Jewish but rather one of 'all its citizens.'"
Rabbi Yaakov Ariel of Ramat Gan says,
"When we reach that point, that will be the red line for me. But until then, we have a lot of work to do. For instance, in the coming year, 50% of Israel's children will be in state-religious or private religious schools. The religious public has a great responsibility to make sure that they remain there, and go to university and serve in the army while still retaining their faith. Religious-Zionist parents must make sure their children acquire a love for Torah. In this way, we will be able to improve the State's image inestimably.
"Right now, the State is clearly the beginning of the Redemption - and not just physically; the fact that the Nation of Israel has gathered together in the Land of Israel has tremendous spiritual importance. In addition, the Torah world in Israel today is of unprecedented greatness and size."
Rabbi Ariel notes that the dispute over Israel's final borders stems from a united concern that Israel remain a Jewish state. "The problem of secularization within the Jewish People did not begin with Zionism," he says, "but rather with the Haskalah [Enlightenment]; you can't blame the State of Israel for that. If religious Jews would have made Aliyah to Israel en-masse, the State would have looked very different."
Nadia Matar of Efrat, admittedly not a rabbi, hopes that the public commemorations of Independence Day will include reminders of the struggle against the withdrawal and expulsion from Gush Katif and Northern Shomron:
"At least in Yesha, the torch-lighting ceremonies should include a boy getting up and saying, 'I, Moshe Cohen, light this torch because I blocked roads last summer in protest of the expulsion - for the glory of the State of Israel.' After enthusiastic applause from the audience, a soldier would get up and say, 'I, David Levy, light this torch after having sat in jail for two months because I refused to take part in the expulsion of Jews from the Land of Israel. I thus protected the honor of the Israel Defense Forces - for the glory of the State of Israel.' Again, wild applause... The names of all the destroyed communities would then be read aloud, together with a joint pledge to do everything to return and rebuild them as soon as possible..."
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, head of Yeshivat Shavei Shomron in Har Brachah, explained that we must continue to say Hallel on this day:
"For many generations, we prayed to G-d and asked Him to 'save us and gather us together from among the nations, so that we may thank Your holy name and triumph in Your praise [Psalms 106]' - and now that He has done so, shall we not thank and praise Him?"
"The destruction of 30 synagogues, the throwing of the Gush Katif residents to the winds, and the smashing of the Zionist ethos of the connection between settlement and our bonds to the Land, represent a genuine threat to our continuing independence as a Jewish nation in its land. The break is so great that we cannot
simply commemorate the day as if nothing changed.
"However, cutting back on the prayers would mean that we are directing the blame towards G-d, Heaven forbid, and this is not correct. Lowering the flag to half-mast or something like that would place us in the position of those whose lives center around bitterness, as opposed to doing things; there can be no greater blow to Religious Zionism than that. Therefore, we must turn our state's birthday from a secular New Year-type to a Jewish New Year-type - a day of prayer and hard work and reckoning. Let us give up the traditional barbecue; after the prayers, let us take off our holiday clothes and put on work clothes, declaring our enlistment and working hard towards making the country better, more humanitarian and more Jewish."
Rabbi Shabtai Sabato, head of the Netivot Yosef yeshiva in Mitzpeh Yericho, agrees that the day must be one of thanksgiving, but adds,
"It cannot be that we simply go on as if nothing has happened. How can we hang Israeli flags all over the streets, even here in Yesha [Judea and Samaria], without at least an orange ribbon [orange was the color chosen to symbolize the struggle for Gush Katif - ed.] hanging from them?
"Yes, the State is the beginning of Redemption - but would this be true had they not merely expelled the Jews from Gush Katif, but also killed some of them? Are there any red lines?"
Rabbi Sabato said he would spend the day not celebrating, but rather in the yeshiva study hall, learning Torah.
Yeshivat Torat HaChaim, which was exiled from N'vei Dekalim in Gush Katif last summer and is now being rebuilt in Yad Binyamin, was the first religious-Zionist yeshiva to reassess its relationship with Independence Day. Already last year, it treated Heh Iyar - the 5th day of the month of Iyar, Independence Day - as a regular day, and shifted the celebrations of Israel's national accomplishments of this generation to Jerusalem Day, three weeks from now.
Rabbi David Dudkevitch, the rabbi of Yitzhar in the Shomron, suggests reciting half-Hallel, as opposed to the full Hallel reserved for full-fledged holidays. In partial agreement, Rabbi Gadi Ben-Zimra of Maaleh Levonah explains,
"Every believing Jew [of the] religious Zionist camp must always adjust his thoughts, especially in light of what is going on. Above all, this is a country that is totally not obligated to Torah law. Rabbi A. I. Kook said in his time that the secular Zionist statement, 'Zionism has nothing to do with religion' must be totally uprooted... We are headed for a state that is not Jewish but rather one of 'all its citizens.'"
Rabbi Yaakov Ariel of Ramat Gan says,
"When we reach that point, that will be the red line for me. But until then, we have a lot of work to do. For instance, in the coming year, 50% of Israel's children will be in state-religious or private religious schools. The religious public has a great responsibility to make sure that they remain there, and go to university and serve in the army while still retaining their faith. Religious-Zionist parents must make sure their children acquire a love for Torah. In this way, we will be able to improve the State's image inestimably.
"Right now, the State is clearly the beginning of the Redemption - and not just physically; the fact that the Nation of Israel has gathered together in the Land of Israel has tremendous spiritual importance. In addition, the Torah world in Israel today is of unprecedented greatness and size."
Rabbi Ariel notes that the dispute over Israel's final borders stems from a united concern that Israel remain a Jewish state. "The problem of secularization within the Jewish People did not begin with Zionism," he says, "but rather with the Haskalah [Enlightenment]; you can't blame the State of Israel for that. If religious Jews would have made Aliyah to Israel en-masse, the State would have looked very different."
Nadia Matar of Efrat, admittedly not a rabbi, hopes that the public commemorations of Independence Day will include reminders of the struggle against the withdrawal and expulsion from Gush Katif and Northern Shomron:
"At least in Yesha, the torch-lighting ceremonies should include a boy getting up and saying, 'I, Moshe Cohen, light this torch because I blocked roads last summer in protest of the expulsion - for the glory of the State of Israel.' After enthusiastic applause from the audience, a soldier would get up and say, 'I, David Levy, light this torch after having sat in jail for two months because I refused to take part in the expulsion of Jews from the Land of Israel. I thus protected the honor of the Israel Defense Forces - for the glory of the State of Israel.' Again, wild applause... The names of all the destroyed communities would then be read aloud, together with a joint pledge to do everything to return and rebuild them as soon as possible..."
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, head of Yeshivat Shavei Shomron in Har Brachah, explained that we must continue to say Hallel on this day:
"For many generations, we prayed to G-d and asked Him to 'save us and gather us together from among the nations, so that we may thank Your holy name and triumph in Your praise [Psalms 106]' - and now that He has done so, shall we not thank and praise Him?"