Yeshivat Frisch celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut last Thursday with a special davening, a joyful chagiga, a delicious outdoor barbecue and amazing historical vignettes by its talented faculty!
The vignettes focused on scenes from Israel’s early history. One juxtaposed the American and Soviet ambassadors to the United Nations about to vote in favor of the 1947 Partition Plan, followed by a moving video of Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora celebrating the successful vote. Another contrasted the helplessness of Russian Jewry following the 1881 Russian pogroms with the miraculous rescue at Entebbe. A third focused on volunteers from around the world who helped Israel win the 1948 War of Independence and the last portrayed the stories of the earliest immigrants to the fledgling state of Israel, including child Holocaust survivor, and would-be future chief rabbi, Yisrael Meir Lau.
The theme of this year’s celebrations was “Kol Dodi Dofek,” the title of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s classic work of religious Zionism. In 1956, Rav Soloveitchik wrote that these words, from Shir Hashirim, serve as a metaphor for the establishment of the State of Israel—the miraculous event of Hashem showing His face to Am Yisrael after the darkest period of our history, and after 2,000 years of exile.
The day prior, Frisch commemorated Yom Hazikaron with a tekes including videos and songs reflecting on the sacrifices of our brothers and sisters in the Israeli Defense Forces. Lone soldier Michael Goldman gave a powerful speech about his experience in the 2014 Gaza conflict. This was followed by the lighting of eight yahrzeit candles for fallen soldiers. The program was sponsored by Morah Dafna in loving memory of her son Itai Zilberschmid Z”L.
