Ma’ayanot was alive with ruach inside and out on Yom Ha’atzmaut, as students and faculty learned and rejoiced together in honor of Israel’s 71st birthday. Teachers and students recited Hallel together, sang, danced and enjoyed Israeli food as they celebrated the miracle of the Jewish State. Students chose from a range of “Israel Talk” sessions that included a text-based shiur, a panel debate about aliyah, personal narratives of life in Israel and a jam session of Israeli music. Finally, Leah Herzog, longtime Ma’ayanot Tanach teacher, spoke powerfully to the whole school about her plans to make aliyah this summer in fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

Eleventh-grader Racheli Berger described how the programs helped demonstrate the relationship between Yom Ha’atzmaut and Yom Hazikaron, and that in Israel, sacrifice and dreams are equally necessary. “The soldier was in the IDF only four months ago. It was fresh in her mind, and you could see it in the way she was presenting. She also gave a religious girl’s perspective. It was amazing and made the whole idea of the IDF feel real. Hearing Mrs. Herzog made it all come together, that the risks of Israel and the IDF and the dream of Israel are really all the same thing. I came out saying that I could really imagine myself becoming part of it all.”