Modern Masters: Yom Haatzmaut - Celebration and Contemplation | Rabbi Sam Shor | April 16th 2026

Morning everybody. It's so which means that in just a few days we will celebrate and commemorate the awesome day of Yamat. And of course Yamat celebrates the miracle of Kina, the establishment of the state of Israel. And what I want to do today is maybe something a little bit different. We've discussed numerous times in this in this forum the significance of of Yamatas and some of the hakic and hashkafic issues in commemorating a day of celebration within the days of spirm. Today I I want to focus maybe our energies and our attention in a slightly different direction. And rather than just talk about the awesome nature of Yamasud and the and the celebratory nature of Yamas, I want to see Yamas not only as a day of great celebration, but as a time to re to reflect and to contemplate the purpose, the meaning and the responsibility that goes along with independence. Okay. So just as before we get to our the material on on our sheets, I want to begin with a short little idea from the safeair called shalom. The birkhal are collection of teachings from shalomlagus later the son of the who wrote a monumental commentary on the zor. So the shalom is one of the sons of Ashlag and in this he says the following important idea he says that we'll get to in a moment have asked on the well-known verse and it'll be when you come into the land that the Lord your God has given to you as an inheritance that you shall dwell within there and settle settle there. What could you ask on this puk? Why do we need the words? Okay. The the the land that Hashem your God has given to you that don't we know that the Jewish people have conquered this land in battle and therefore they should be entitled to it. They won. We've won battle after battle over this land. And the answer is what? It's a truth. The Pik reminds us that a person needs to know in their heart what the truth that it's not through our own might and our own strength that we've merited to come to live in this land, but rather it's a gift from And Hashem has instructed us and reminded us that this is the land that he has given to us to inherit. And it's not just through the might and the strength of our own hands and our own actions. So this is our introduction. Now we can take a deep dive together. We're going to begin to process and reflect together on both the miracle of the return to Tion as well as what I'll call the purpose of our return return to Tion. And we're going to begin, we're going to learn today from a number of modern masters. That's the name of this course, right? Modern masters. And one of the modern masters we're going to learn from, we're going to learn a few pieces from from Rabbi Rabbi Haken Palace, also known as the Kalban. The Kalaban was a great a great Makubal uh who died I think seven or eight years ago and he's actually buried in the cemetery in San Hedria. Um when we do the when we do the the el um kadik tour that I lead every year we'll go one of the graves that we visit is is his cav the kaban was for many many years much of his life what we call a hidden saddic. He was one of the 36 hidden sadikim of the generation. Um, and he was unusual in that he did not present himself as a typical guda or mystic. He was clean shaven. He wore a little cap. He he was very very incognito for much of his life. He was called the kalbam because he worked till the age of his retirement in a dairy factory in Givatim. And so he was called the kabam the milkman. Um, that's his nickname that he gets. Um and it's very interesting when Ela became the chief rabbi of the state of Israel. People began to come to forot and for advice and often would send them to the to get receive a someone was in need of Yeshua of a salvation of any sort theory was very much of the and it's throughahu that the kaban becomes more well known particularly in the years after his retirement from the cheese factory and he um and he be And in those years of retirement, the last say 15 to 20 years of his life, there's a small col that's formed around him and he develops a big following and his farmer known as talle. So this is a short we're going to look at a few different pieces from a a short pieces from a longer article in the of the Okay. And the title of this of this essay is also the purpose of the life purpose of the Jewish people in their land. Okay. >> What page are you on? >> We're on page number one. Okay. There's only two pages. So we're starting on page one. Okay. So the thean these are the words he says okay financial finance and security financial stability and security and so and so these are tools but not the goal or the purpose and now listen to his words and by the way it's it's a beautiful essay that we're going to learn a few different pieces from throughout our time together he says from this introduction of that they're tools and not our purpose. We understand a very deep and fundamental idea that helps us to clarify the mission and the purpose of okay we're not like any other nation and and language that their life's meaning and purpose is only for themselves. to fulfill and provide for themselves and to and all their physical wants and desires only. I'm Hashem. We are a holy people, the people of Hashem. And our entire national identity and purpose is what? to be a priestly people nation and a holy people when we cons God forbid consider ourselves to be exactly the same as any other nation and only that. Okay. Then we might think that right the entire purpose of our living here in this land is to be independent and to live just in peace and tranquility. And this by the way is an idea and our leaders of the state of Israel. They're constantly talking about these ideas of peace and security. And you'd think the way they speak about it, it's practically is that they're saying what that the only we live in order that what there shouldn't be any wars. Are these our only aspirations that there shouldn't be wars? This can't be our complete goal. It says comparable to what to if we ask someone why why are you alive? What's your purpose? What are you hoping to accomplish in your life? I'm alive in order that I shouldn't be dead. Does a person live? And there's a purpose of being alive only that what they shouldn't die. This is the purpose of one's life. Security and and and financial stability are not the purpose of life. They're tools. They're important steps that allow us to accomplish what we need to accomplish, but they're not the end all be. Of course, it's important that we should have financial success and stability. We include when we say we have that we we include this in our in our so of course it's important but is that the goal and the end all and be all certainly security is also very important all these things though are only tools that help us fulfill our purpose. The reason why we came why we were brought to this world to be a holy people to reveal the light of God to the world. We want to live in security and tranquility in order that we should live up to our me our mission to transmit the light of God to the entire world. So the mission of am is in this beautiful opening paragraph from thean is very very clear. Our mission is to bring kadusha to the entire world. And we're going to come back to this idea uh in just a few moments. But the kaban this beautiful paragraph kind of sets kind of sets the stage for our discussion together these next few moments. So now we're going to learn from another very uh very powerful short piece from another uh modern master who's actually going to quote two other modern masters in this piece. So we're going to learn from Rabbi Abramshaw and his beautiful safer called Alivu. Rabbi Vamshaw of course is the son of Rabbi Gdalia known as the who was the illustrious Roshish Shiva of Yeshiva Tarvadas in in Brooklyn New York and his farmer are called Oridal Yahu and Rab Rab is actually going to quote his father in part of this piece but first he's going to quote an earlier source the source of Ges of Gesenu okay known as the bin was a was a the nephew the half nephew of the pietat the rebi we've learned together in this Torah many many times the Torah of the pasat the rebi the rebi the wars ghetto and rabies gajes passed away he was murdered in avitz by the nazisam and so his farmer very sadly not as well known as they should be but shaw quotes the bin the bin is here so let's just learn this is text number two on our sheets teach us okay in the times lead days leading up to Msiah the in the world will what become increased will the world will f be filled with arrogance okay as I mentioned earlier the this is the gisk explains What is what is it? What is it meant by this gamar in the gamarra is alluding to what? the arrogance, okay, that the other nations of the world will have towards the Jewish people in the days leading up to Mashiachu says the the gar as understood by the bina is the rabbi of gisk the arrogance of the other nations of the world towards the Jewish people will become stronger and clearer and now listen to where he goes with this okay that in the time of the gula If for whatever reason the Jewish people alone to their merit alone are not deserving that the enemies of the Jewish people will be eliminated. So in the times of redemption what's going to happen then the arrogance of those enemies towards the Jewish people will incur will increase. And because they express such arrogance and such such such such hatred and arrogance, it'll become clear to everyone else in the world what why they need to be eliminated from the world. and the words of the great early master and that's what's going to bring the gula when the nations of the world based on the gamar in that the bay quotes and the kadeshi quotes when the nations of the world in the leadup to mashia when the nations of the world express their utter arrogance in the face of the Jewish people and they continue to ignore this the role that amra is meant to play in the world. Okay, big adul. Then what happens? Then what happens? Then we're getting close to the Messiah. Okay, they it will become clear to the entire world that these those that have that arrogance need to be eliminated from the world. And it's very interesting. You think about this, there are those today, you know, Israel, never mind our the holy mission that we spoke about, but even even in terms of just the the the the financial role, the the the impact on a global level in terms of in terms of Israeli ingenuity and innovation and and technology, okay? And there are nations that refuse to do business with the Jewish people out of their because out of their utter hatred and their for the Jewish people even though it's holding them back even though it's holding them back. So we see this playing out before us. It's very interesting because he's now going to quote his his father of Gdash and he's going to say just that that we see this playing out literally on the world stage. Listen listen to what he says here in the second paragraph. Shi may I heard from my father our master our teacher may be bestowed upon us who said once in one of his okay the reason why the United Nations was formed specifically in this in our generation this generation Because when the time comes for all the nations of the world to be judged before meaning when that era of Mashiach comes okay then the world is going to be assessed okay by by each one of the nations will claim okay that what oh we we we don't hate the Jewish people okay we have no connection to the hatred of the Jewish people. Okay. Okay. All the four corners of the world spread all over the world in the far the far ends of the world. They never even saw a Jew with their own eyes. And that's why Hashem orchestrated. Listen to Gaday Schwar's powerful words. That's why why orchestrate the formation of the of the United Nations in order that there should be one forum, okay, where all the nations of the world will come and speak what's truly in their hearts and and how they truly feel about the Jewish people. And it'll become clear to all the we have established that what that this gen the descendants of have hatred towards the descendants of the and it'll become clear to all okay that what that there's no nation in the world that doesn't have some some animosity on some level towards the Jewish people that doesn't really there's no nation in the world doesn't doesn't hesitate okay on some level to fully love and support the Jewish people may they all come to serve their designated purpose says now now close this piece in our times where it's become clearly revealed the sin the hatred that the children of of Edom and of of Ishmael of Rome and Ishmael the okay the descendants of Ishmael okay the the the the which we say today are the are the are the Arab countries that through their great their greatb their great arrogance Right? Their relevance will become will become completely eliminated. Okay? They're going to be sidelined by history. will remove the raw from the world and will merit speedily soon like the days of when we went forth from our reu and we will see wonders and miracles in the leadup to Msiah says in this powerful powerful piece the other nations will increase and it'll become obvious to all and the UN he says is in the name of his father is a manifestation of this very concept being played out on the world stage which I think is absolutely fascinating. Okay, now we're going to turn our sheets over. We're going to turn our sheets over and we're going to return to the words of the Okay, this is again we're getting the next two pieces are from the we heard from in the in the introduction. Okay. And the continues text where it says three. What is the essence of our lives? And what are we really meant to focus on? Can it really be that our entire purpose is to be an independent people in our landl to be the masters of our own destiny? Low. No, this is a desecration of the true identity of the Jewish people. It's an insult to the spirit of God that is upon us. He says, the Jewish people, okay, contain within it that we are the name of God. Okay. Yash. Israel comes from when Yakovu, his name is changed to Israel because he wrestles with God. Okay. With man and God. Yes. Is okay. The name of God is within us. Okay. And we are considered by God to be extremely important. We are the children of the nation of a living God. We were not created. We did not come into existence solely for a phys to be physical beings. Okay, this is a great dedic desecration and descent of our spiritual capacity. We have lofty goals, lofty things we're meant to accomplish. Okay. The Jewish people have tra travailed for thousands of years to accomplish eternal missions. These these miss this eternal mission that we have our eternal purpose is much greater than what than simple financial accomplishments security and creating a new Middle East. Listen the language language we that that we're hear that we're hearing from the should all three of those expressions and misra those expressions should seem familiar to all of us. Okay. Okay. And they can't be the end all and be all of what the Jewish people are meant to accomplish here in Israel. All those ideas, those concepts are like children's toys. Okay? In comparison to the lofty peaks of the true goals of our people, we were created to fix the world, to complete the world. Okay. We were created to elevate everything that's in existence to wondrous heights. Okay. Lofty elevate elevated holiness. Okay. To to to reveal the splendor of divinity. Okay. to to live in the pleasantness of holiness and purity. The Jewish people came into existence, came into this world in order to transform this world and everything that exists within the laws of nature, the limits of n nature in this in this world and elevate them to realms that are beyond their current limits and boundaries. We our journey is of such high importance. until what? All of that is that is bad in the world. All the that is evil that exists will no longer exist. That's our role to blot be a conduit to blot out evil. And listen to his words. There'll no longer when we get to that era of Mashiach. There'll no longer be death and not no suffering s no pain and sadness in the true vision for where we're meant to be where we're meant to lead the world. There'll no longer be a need for hospitals. There'll no longer be a need for cemeteries. They'll no longer be mourers and not murderers and not thieves are not because they'll all be in prison or because there'll be a strong and powerful police force, but rather the nature and the and the and the worldview of humanity will be transformed and cleansed. The physicality will be elevated. Life will be will be will be enlightened by the sacred light and will be through which comes to the development and revelation of the strength of divine purity. What a beautiful vision for what we're meant to accomplish with our return to Erit Israel. And by the way, this doesn't minimize and he's going to talk in this in the next paragraph. He's going to make the balance. It doesn't minimize or neglect all that that's happened up till now. And that we and that we shouldn't and he's not going to and he's going to be very clear that he's not saying we shouldn't celebrate and embrace what what what's happened up till now. But just what we have to see that as a a first step the the vision is not complete. So now now let's learn that part paragraph four where we see this how thean actually elaborates on what I just said. Okay dur since in the period of the establishment of the state of Israel. He says the many Gdul Israel once this state of Israel was was declared and established there were many great leader religious leaders that what that called out they were they were they were not happy with the limited the limited understanding the shallowess of those who were building the state and they were focused only on building a physical state. The Tors and they turned away from Torah and the tradition of the Jewish people that those leaders cried out, okay, and ruled shalom that this is not the way that we're meant to to do this. That's not what we're meant to build here. The Jewish people are the people of God and it's prohibited for us. He's quoting what happened when the state of Israel was was declared. It would therefore be prohibited for us to establish our lives here only as as a on a physical basis. Now listen to what he said. He doesn't stop there. He says thank God the fact that we have a physical state is something very very important and thank God it's been built and established. Okay. So the state serves as what? As our as as our national body. And if the Torah if holiness in the Torah is our soul, it's the soul of the Jewish people. Okay. the the the sacred work of these are the levels of holiness. These are the depths of our lives. Listen to the beautiful words. And the time has come for us to what? to throw this the spirit the nama the great nasha back into this state this great body that's been built here he doesn't denigrate the state he says the state is something great we have to but what the time has come to what to reinject that state once again with what okay okay we have to reingject the national entity the national body of the Jewish people the state of Israel with the collective soul of the Jewish people, okay? To enlighten it with holiness and to lift up the hearts of the Jewish people to cling to God and to all the sacred natural goals that were meant to fulfill. This is what we need to do as we prepare for this day of about and just as we did in previous generations when we celebrated going out from its rhyme and we celebrated receiving the Torah and in previous generations when we commemorated something an awesome moment in time okay it's not just that moment in time that we're commemorating it each of these great accomplishments is meant to teach us what and remind us that we have a national trajectory okay and destiny that we're meant to fulfill okay and up each of these great accomplishments along the way are important steps and steps to be embraced and celebrated, but they're not the end all and be all. Okay. So, having said that, we're now going to learn uh a couple of pieces from from the short pieces from the Ohalakov. The Ohal Yakov we've learned to um from together numerous times in this forum. He of course is the Rebi of Hassiatan. He was a great kasidic master who came on aliyah from Poland in 1938 just ahead of the Nazi onslaught you okay and he comes to he comes to Eric Israel he settles in downtown Tel Aviv where he lives the last 19 years of his life and what's amazing about his his beautiful safer ohakov is that not only is it very very supportive and encouraging of the ant enter enterprise to build the state of Israel um but it gives us a glimpse of what's actually going on on the ground often gives us a glimpse of what's actually happening on the ground unfolding on the ground during those 19 years. You're talking about some of the most tomutualist years of Jewish history. You talk about the Shawah, you're talking about the the battle both both in in terms of warfare as well as diplomatically to establish and and secure the state of Israel. And of course the early the early years of the state of Israel, you know, we all walk around with technology in our pockets, traveling offices in our pockets. During the early years of the state of Israel, we we were talking about a time when when many people were still living in 10 cities. And so the Rebi gives us a glimpse into this period. >> Yeah. >> His Rabbi Yakov Freeman. Okay. Of Hayatan. Okay. The Ohal. I say it's called Ohale Yakov. And this is text number five and six on our sheet. So we're going to start with text number five. Now this this this piece are snippets from a much longer SIA that the Rebi gave literally one week after the Medina was announced. Okay. So this is this piece text number five is is part of what the Reb's reaction if you will to the establishment of the state of Israel, the declaration of the state of Israel. Listen to what he says. as we also have to remember at this moment when we've merited to to the establishment of the state of Israel we have to remember what what are the conditions for the sustainment of the state of Israel if shalom okay unity and inner inner peace amongst amongst us don't we remember he says that the disagreement women and strife was what caused the destruction of the basdash and betush. Okay. It's not just enough that we get along and we're nice to each other, but what we have to fill this land and this country with holiness and purity is like the palace of the king. And therefore, the palace of the king needs to be clean, okay, from any hint or speck of dirt. Okay. And therefore at this moment of the establishment of the state of Israel, we need to recall and and hold hold on to all the conditions of its existence. Okay? Not only do we need to organize and make sure we have fiscal stability and that we have an army and that we have international relations. These are not the only conditions to the existence of our state. We have and he quotes the famous Rashi and the words amora speak and say okay Rashi tells us that that that Hashem was speaking at that moment to both the gdole and so what does that mean? So lefia told us in accordance with according to the greatidic master the tal of the bashto y of palonia the told us of yoseim okay when the when when rashi tells us that that that hashem is speaking equally to the great ones and the small ones it's not talking only about those who are of a of an advanced ageim and those who are younger you more youthful, but rather what it's speaking is is referring to what? Those who are great in their faith and those who are maybe not as strong in their faith. The re the the the requirement of those who have strong faith is what? To have influence on those whose faith may be weaker than theirs. And so how do you do that? So how do we do that? Does it mean that we preach and we talk down to to anyone? No. Listen to what the Rebi says. How do you do that? How is the way for us to have the most influence? By being in our mitzvos of what? Even those with whom we disagree. And you think about what's going on today, the movements that are going on today, things that are happening to to to do to do things for our kayim. You have so many barbecues that are being organized by you have I you see pictures of of Jews from Ben bringing pots of chalant, okay, on Thursday night to to the kaleim to to show the kaleim that they love them even though their worlds are completely different. Okay, this is exactly what the rebi is talking about. You want to have influence. You want to influence the and and and and bring the state to where we're meant to be and and to and to begin to to to put us back on course. It starts with what? Being strict with Okay. So, that's the first piece. We'll take questions at the end. Now, we're going to learn a piece that some of us have learned together again in the past, but I think it just is such a a beautiful piece. This is text number six. And this is actually um part of a amar a teaching of the rebiatan from Kaneka of 1948. Okay, just a few months after the establishment of the state of Israel. Now listen to what he says. Text number six on our sheets. Wish one another not solely on but when he says okay. So, so he says this practice has its source in the many many words and he quotes a few of them a few of them. Okay. And he said what what and what he says until like which is represents what that the the gamar of the of the of the of the sealing of the decree is not in it's not even on he says in the name of many works says the rebatan it's on okay and when we wish one another meaning of 1948 that we should be merit a good a good complete uh sealing of the decree heav this actually is what with a dual a dual intent what's the dual intent listen to his words now we get a parenthetic note that his son okay the next rebi inserted in and tells us the context of of of of of how the Rebi explained this. Okay. Okay. There are people that came to visit his father, meaning the Rebi in his other residence. He had a residence in downtown Tel Aviv as well as a Benabra. Okay. I guess for Khanaka he went to Ben. And they wanted specifically to ask the Rebi, the Rebiat, and what his thoughts were on the establishment of the state of Israel. Now listen to how the Rebi answered. He answered, it's the beginning of the redemption. Okay? We include that that language in the Shamina that we say every single Shabbat that was composed by the chief rabbi. But the heridic master used that language to describe the establishment state again makes him unique. And now the end of the parathetic note that that's true that the that we've merited to see the the beginning of the gula. If it's true indeed that through Hashem's kindness and help, we've merited to see the beginning of the redemption. But this is only in the physical realm. But we need what? We need the complete the complete ceiling and goodness. Okay. will come speedily in our days and that is the f the spiritual redemption the complete redemption that is the coming of msiach I just want to close with two last ideas that are not under we're going to hear first from a rashita of course is the chief rabbi ameritus of of the yeshu betel of betel he's also the rashisha of teranim in the iatika and one of the most prolific authors and teachers in the religious Zionist world, the Tal Mu of Yehud and Raavir. Just a short sentence or two from Raviadu. We give thanks for all of the great kindnesses that have been bestowed upon us. Okay? And that Hashem has given us a state with this. But with this we acknowledge what that there are still things that there's still moments of darkness. Okay. The light and dark and dark are being used and mixed together. Our sacred work is what? To increase the light. And in the end the light will overcome all the darkness. To close with the words of our masterenu who was the first individual to coin the vision of what we would call the modern entity of a Jewish of a Jewish state being built here in Israel. He's the first one that co coined the phrase midinat Israel to call this country Israel. Okay. Even though of course Rafuk died in 1935 and did not merit to see the the establishment of his dream of the state of Israel. Raf Cook and Arpaw towar just we'll end with this famous famous quote from Rafuk that really sums up everything we've talked about together this morning. The truly righteous individuals, they don't complain on about the wickedness. They add just justice. They don't complain about the heresy. They simply add an increase faith. They don't complain about the ignorance. Rather they add wisdom. They don't complain about the darkness. Rather they add light. My friends is indeed a time for great celebration for but also a time for deep reflection. My braha for all of us as we prepare for the awesome day of Yamat the day that we're going to celebrate with all our heart and soul. We also should see this day as a day for deep deep reflection. A day to take to heart these all these powerful teachings that we learned together this morning and that we should be blessed to live up to our mission to merit to become who we are truly meant to be to be an orim to lift up the entire world and to greet Mashiau in the days ahead. Have achamar.