As I write this article I am in the middle of a trip to Israel, a first for me in many ways, as it is my daughter’s first time visiting Eretz Yisrael. It has been a blessing and a privilege to be the one to bring her here just two months after we celebrated her becoming a bat mitzvah on Rosh Chodesh Adar. There was much planning and prioritizing regarding which places and experiences to select for her first trip, when we had only one week but really needed at least two.
Although Arielle’s bat mitzvah is Rosh Chodesh Adar, I waited to bring her to Israel this week for a very specific reason—to be in Israel on my favorite day in the country—Yom Yerushalayim. A day that celebrates the occasion of our reclaiming the Ir Haatika, the Old City of Jerusalem, the Kotel, and as I just learned today during our visit to the Gush, the Gush Etzion as well. Yom Yerushalayim, although it commemorates these specific milestones in our history, for me is much more than the sum of these things. It is a day that celebrates Jewish unity.
If I had to describe my feelings about this trip they would be meragesh, which I believe translates to mean “feeling excitement,” and rigshi, emotional. These words, as well as the saying Hakol Yihyeh Beseder, “all will be all right,” have carried me through the places and experiences over the last eight days touring Israel with my daughter.
This year marks the 55th year of our reclaiming the Old City in 1967, and every year on Yom Yerushalayim people from all over Israel travel to Jerusalem for the annual mitzad degalim. The parade of flags is an incredible tradition and experience to be a part of. As I trekked with my daughter up Ben Yehuda, after a quick lunch at Big Apple Pizza and fro-yo at Katzefet—memories from a very meaningful year in MMY in 2005 feel like yesterday—to join the parade on King George, I was filled with joy and anticipation. As we entered the crowds and joined in the rikudim and festivities, I pulled my daughter into a lebedik circle of young Israeli girls waving their flags and dancing.
Without warning I burst into a stream of tears. I was overwhelmed with feelings of immense gratitude to be able to bring my daughter from Los Angeles to Israel for her first time, and to share with her My Israel, my old stomping grounds. (We even visited the former MMY building in Najara Street where I studied almost 18 years ago.) But most of all, in that moment, the experience of bringing my daughter into the celebration of Yom Yerushalayim, with everyone sharing the exuberance and gratitude that is so palpable and universal, was incredibly special.
It was a climactic moment, having begun our week in Tel Aviv learning about the Palmach in 1948 and showing Arielle a beloved family photograph of my grandfather, Ben Tzion Jakobovits, in his army uniform in Israel in 1948 after he survived the camps. After learning about Palmach, the foundation of what would become Tzahal, or as we refer to it, the IDF, we continued on to Givaat Hatchmoshet, Ammunition Hill, where one of the pivotal battles in the Six-Day War was won, leading to our taking back Jerusalem.
Joining in the flag parade, dancing in the streets with our brothers and sisters from all over the country, the only word I can use to describe this experience is mitrageshet. It felt as though all of Israel had flocked to Jerusalem to participate in the parade of degalim and express gratitude to God for the gift of Jerusalem.
The parade concluded at the Kotel with dancing and music. Twenty-four hours ago, after Maariv at the Kotel, I joined hundreds of fellow Jews as we counted the 44th night of Sefirat Haomer, b’yachad. Although I had planned and looked forward to many incredible experiences over the last week in Israel, this was one that was not on the “list.” To be surrounded by so many Jews, from religious to secular and even a handful of chasidim, as we celebrated the 55th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war and our reclaiming of the Kotel and Old City was incredibly uplifting. (Dayenu!) Counting the Omer, in unison, with hundreds of our brothers and sisters in the plaza at the Kotel, just days before Shavuot, was incredibly powerful.
We are just days away from completing the Omer, days away from celebrating Shavuot. Imagine, each Aliyah L’regel the roads to Jerusalem were flooded with Jews on their trek to Yerushalayim, and on the eve of Shavuot, carrying with them on their donkeys and wagons their first fruits from their fields, for the kohanim.
The Mishna in Bikurim (3:2-6) describes how the bikurim were brought to Yerushalayim. “Those who lived close would bring figs and grapes and those who lived far would bring raisins. An ox would go ahead with a crown of gold on his head, the flute would play before them as they approached Jerusalem. All the skilled artisans would go out before them and greet them, saying, ‘Our brothers from this city and that city, we welcome you in peace’.”
When the bikurim were brought, parshat habikurim was recited, an excerpt we are all familiar with because the Baal Haggadah uses it for the Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim. It begins with “Arami Oved Avi” (Devarim 26). The question is asked: Why is this recited when giving the bikurim? Lavan tried to destroy us, and uproot Yahadut at the source, and here we are, we went down to Mitzrayim, we were redeemed, we received the Torah and now we have the Beit Hamikdash and we are bringing the bikurim, a ritual of gratitude, dedicating the first fruits to God.
When Bnei Yisrael were redeemed from Egypt we were to travel to Har Sinai to receive the Torah, continue to Eretz Yisrael and build the Beit Habechira. The Torah tells us that Bnei Yisrael arrived in Midbar Sinai three months after Yetziat Mitzrayim. The pasuk in Parshat Yitro states, Bnei Yisrael camped in Sinai, “Vayichan sham neged hahar” (Shemos 19:2). Rashi questions why does the pasuk change from plural to singular. The pasuk should say “Vayachanu”—“and they camped alongside the mountain.” Rashi explains, “k’ish echad b’lev echad”—“united like one man with one heart.”
Bayit Sheni was destroyed by the Romans because of sinat chinam. When we arrived at Har Sinai, we were a united nation; 210 years later, as a nation we had overcome the very thing that brought us down to Egypt—the hatred between the Yaakov’s children towards Yosef. Shavuot, zman matan torateinu, the third regel, is a time during which we celebrate our receiving of the Torah, as one united nation. It is a celebration of kabalat hatorah and Jewish achdut. “Vayichan sham neged hahar.”
Let us remember this year on Shavuot that Torah with achdus will bring Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash. When we unite in our shared love of Torah and God, we will bring about the final redemption and celebrate the regalim bair hakodesh.
Alanna Apfel is the founder and patient advocate at AA Insurance Advocacy, which helps therapy patients, individuals, couples and children save thousands of dollars annually on their out-of-network mental health therapy bills with their preferred therapist. In the months that AA Insurance Advocacy has been advocating on behalf of patients, clients have collected anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 a year in reimbursements, depending on the cost and frequency of therapy. For additional information, please contact [email protected].
