Thank you, Hashem!

For me, one of the most poignant events of Israel Memorial Day has been attending the memorial ceremony at my children’s and grandchildren’s religious kindergartens, grade schools and high schools, during which the students tell stories about brave Israeli soldiers who have fallen defending our cherished Homeland, the greatest sacrifice and sanctification of G-d that a Jew can make.

How proud it makes me feel to watch the youngsters act out the famous battle of Givat HaTachmoshet, one of the decisive battles of the Six Day War. After the long memorial siren that is sounded all over the country, the children parade with Israeli flags around the auditorium in tune to rousing Israeli melodies of patriotism and valor.

“Thank you, G-d,” I say quietly while I watch. “Thank you for making me realize that George Washington isn’t the founder of my country and that my children have never heard about Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. Thank You G-d for bringing me to the Land of the Jews and teaching me the true meaning of Torah, which isn’t just performing individual precepts like kashrut and Shabbos, but also helping to build the Holy Jewish Nation in its Holy Land, to serve in Tzahal and play a part in the exalted mitzvah of conquering the Land and defending it against enemies who rise against it.

Thank You for giving me healthy, wonderful children and grandchildren who are all growing up as Jews through and through, celebrating Israel’s Memorial and Independence Days, and not someone else’s, children who will grow up to become soldiers of Israel and defend Your inheritance of the Jews, and not do everything they can to dodge army service like young Jews do in other countries.”

Only an oleh who lives in Israel can appreciate the incredible difference between religious kids who grow up in Israel and their Diaspora counterparts. Kids in Israel are a different species of child, a totally different breed. Sure they like candy and Coke and playing basketball like all children, but their heads are in a completely different place. Even those who are not as close to the Torah as we would like, they are all ready to fight and die for their fellow Jews and to defend Hashem’s chosen Land.

The wars they learn about are Jewish wars.

Their war heroes are Israeli.

Their flag is the Star of David – not the Stars and Stripes of someone else’s country.

Their songs of patriotism are Israeli.

They celebrate Israel’s independence and not the Fourth of July or Bastille Day.

The history they learn is the history of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and King David, Rabbi Akiva, the Maccabees, and the heroes of the Jewish Underground who fought against all odds to chase the British out from our Homeland so that Jews could live proudly in a country of our own.

Instead of growing up being American kids who are Jewish, they are Children of Israel, just as we are called in the Bible.

As Israeli jets roar over Jerusalem practicing for the air show on Yom Ha'Atzmaut, I thank G-d that my that kids and JEWISH grandchildren are where they belong – in the Land that G-d gave them and where He wants them to be. As Israeli helicopters streak by outside my wndow, I thank G-d for opening my eyes to the fact that being Jewish means being absorbed in Jewish history, and celebrating JEWISH independence, and living in the Jewish Land and performing the mitzvot in the place they were meant to be performed.

Thank you G-d for having opened my ears and helping me to actualize the goal of our prayers in bringing me home to live a life of Torah in the Land you gave to my forefathers, as we pray every day, three times a day, in the Amidah prayer, “Sound the great shofar of our freedom; lift up the banner to bring our exiles together, and gather us from the four corners of the earth.”