Yom Ha’Atzmaut 2025

Every year, Yom Ha’Atzmaut is important and impactful. Or at least it should be.

This year, I’m finding Yom Ha’Atzmaut 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 the urgent need to teach our children why Israel is our homeland, the only homeland of the Jews. I feel an urgency that our children must understand we are connected to the Land of Israel through the Torah. Israel is mentioned thousands of times in the Torah. We have an ancient, biblical connection to the Land.

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 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 the archeological evidence found in Israel to support Jewish history in the Land come from, if we didn’t have temples or kingdoms in Israel?

It’s time for the world to stand with the Jewish people. We originated in the Land of Israel. After returning to the Land, after wandering in the desert for 40 years, we began our kingdoms in Israel. First we were expelled from the Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians, next we were expelled from Judaea by the Babylonians, and they destroyed the First Temple. After our next return, we had hundreds of years until the Romans expelled us when they destroyed the Second Temple. We always 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, Israel is still our home, whether we live in the modern state of Israel or in the Diaspora. We are reminded of our connection to the Land of Israel each week when we read the Torah. It is indisputable.

Our children need to know that we are not colonizers, and we are not threatening the existence of the Palestinian people. We are trying to live our lives 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 mutualhelp 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 advancementof the entire Middle East.”

After multiple wars for our existence, Israel has peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. It is 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 7. Israelis were brutally murdered in cold blood, raped, tortured, burned alive and kidnapped. The majority of the world claims that Israel is fighting an offensive war against Gazans, but in reality, Israel is in a continual defensive war against Hamas.

We all need to be proud and stand with Israel throughout this terrible period in our history. We need to celebrate Israeli independence and teach our children the truth about Israel. There is no moral equivalence between what Hamas does in Gaza and in their attacks on Israel and what Israel is forced to do to protect her people.

Let us all celebrate with joy and pride our 77th year of 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 in support of our Homeland.

Stephanie Z. Bonder of West Caldwell, MA. Ed. is a Jewish educator who teaches throughout the MetroWest community and the National Hadassah network. She is continuing her educational journey by pursuing a masters in Jewish education from the Melton Hebrew University School

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