It hits us every time we pass a humongous flag flying from a car dealership or when we cross the George Washington Bridge and notice the flag at the onset of the crossing. Yet, when the 4th of July rolls around we are reminded and deeply moved by the excitement of this country that knows how to celebrate its freedom. It is true that this is the land of the free. Comments made today by various people on the news talked about how grateful they were to the American soldiers who were protecting us, and they then mentioned the fact that many had moved here from countries where their freedoms were controlled by the existing governments. There is no other place in the world where freedom is exerted in such an exemplary fashion. How many of us really give it much thought? We take it for granted but should we really? Where else is it like this?
We remember having the zchut of being in Alon Shvut the very first Shabbat that Yuli Edelstein and his wife and daughter had been allowed to leave Russia. For years the residents of Alon Shvut had left a chair in the front row of their Beit Knesset for Yuli. He was their man and quietly they did everything they could to try and get him released. Finally, finally the day occurred. When they brought him to their yishuv, from the very front gates they drove him around on a tractor, with everyone standing in front of their homes waving blue and white flags. He was slowly accompanied to his new home. What could he and his family have been thinking? We watched him on Shabbat roaming around the yishuv—free at last. What could he have been thinking as he sat in the front row in the chair that had been waiting for him for so many years? We remember there were several bar mitzvahs that Shabbat and much celebration. Festivities centered around the bar mitzvah boys and their families and over the elation of Yuli being there. As he walked slowly throughout the yishuv as a free man, what thoughts could have been going through his head? Amazingly, his accomplishments since then are hard to comprehend, considering all that he had gone through before he arrived in Israel.
Two countries with so many similarities. Both constantly opening their borders to refugees. Both offering freedom of speech and choice of how to live one’s life to all. Both countries offering free education. It is significant that both countries have in their armies young men who could be our sons and our fathers. These men are prepared to go and fight to perpetuate our freedoms. How often do we thank them? Do we see a soldier in Dunkin’ Donuts who is stationed at the Armory on Teaneck Road and thank him for his service? Do we offer to pay for his coffee? Has anyone thought about whether he had recently returned from Afghanistan or Iraq? We actually asked a man standing on line in uniform where he had been stationed and he told us that he had just returned from his third deployment.
Hopefully, had we been on line in Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem we would not hesitate to pay for the coffee of a chayal on line in front of us.
Two amazing countries, the significant difference being that one is the home of the Jewish people—our real home. Nevertheless, as long as we choose to live here we should continue to celebrate and raise the flag high for this amazing United States of America. We are grateful for all that you offer us and for all that you have offered our grandparents and great-grandparents when they came to these shores. We fly the red, white and blue proudly.
By Rabbi Mordechai and Nina Glick
