Sima Kadmon
After the memorial ceremonies, the lighting of the beacons, the nationwide siren, the fireworks, the lowering of the flags to half mast and the raising of the flags to full staff, Israelis should ask themselves the following question: Is there are any other places in the world you would like to live in?
Is there one place in the world that is not Israel where you would like to spend the rest of your lives? Look into it honestly. Not as part of a living room conversation, or as a provocative statement during an argument, or during a fleeting sense of despair or disappointment.
Precisely on this day, where the spectrum of emotions is so broad, and while you feel both sadness and joy simultaneously, as well as sorrow and gratitude, guilt and pride, think whether there is any other country that can provide you with this sense of belonging; this sense of vitality; the spectrum of contradictory emotions that exist all at the same time and have become a part of our life here. Ask this while being stuck at the traffic jams en route to military cemeteries. Ask this while you stop your car in the middle of the road and observe a moment of silence for our fallen soldiers. Ask this while you listen to Hebrew songs.
Ask yourselves where else in the world you would feel such sense of shared destiny for even one day; such sense of togetherness. Where else in the world would you allow yourselves to just be yourselves; to just be Israeli.
Indeed, not everything around here is perfect. It’s not even very good. Most of the time, even “good” is an exaggerated description. And there are so many reasons to be angry here. After all, one can really lose it while looking around and seeing all the many talented people vis-à-vis the tattered system; or the ability to do great things vis-à-vis the leadership’s failure. The corruption, or just the mere hedonism, and the violence, intolerance and racism.
Yet where else in the world can you feel all those things and say – it’s mine?
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