Praise on Independence Day
They say that one should say Hallel on Independence Day because one can see how religion has developed and Torah study has grown, and there are many yeshivahs in Israel, etc. But in my opinion, religion has never been despised or abhorred in the eyes of the Jewish people, and therefore this reason is invalid. What does the Rabbi think about this? And is there any point in saying Hallel on Independence Day according to the Rabbi’s view that one should not thank God, since He does not intervene in our world?
The reason for Hallel is not the abundance of Torah and other vegetables. The reason for this is independence and sovereignty. What we do with this sovereignty is not God’s fault, but ours. It is like a person not thanking God for the food because he is gluttonous and gluttonous. He should say thank you for receiving food, and take care not to gluttony and gluttonous himself.
An example of this is Hanukkah, the name of the holiday itself is primarily a commemoration of victory and not of the miracle of the jar of oil. Furthermore, according to the Ramban, the return of the kingdom to Israel was associated with a severe prohibition (who named the priests as kings), and yet people still do it. Why? Because we acknowledge sovereignty and victory. What we have done with this sovereignty is our fault and does not exempt us from acknowledging God.
The Haredi view that one should not be grateful for the establishment of the state stems from a sense of alienation between “us” and “them.” The Zionists accepted a state and destroyed it, but that has nothing to do with us (we are perfect as usual).
Regarding the Holy One’s involvement, I have already explained here (and will expand on this in the trilogy) that the acknowledgment is about the creation of the world and its laws within which we acted and were saved (by the power of my life and the might of my hand… for He is the One who gives me the strength to do good). The feeling of a miracle (although there was not necessarily a miracle here) is only the opportunity we find to give thanks “for the miracles that are with us every day” (i.e., about nature). This is purely psychological.
I am not claiming that this was the original intention of the Hasmoneans, but this is how I see it today. The same is true of Independence Day, whose organizers must have thought it was a miracle, but in my opinion they were wrong. I join them for a different reason than I do with the Hasmoneans.
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