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Community Corner

Happy Birthday, Israel!

Adat Ari El celebrates Yom Ha'atzmaut with song, dance and felafel.

Happy Birthday, Israel! This year you are 63! 

Yom Ha’azmaut, Israel Independence Day has been celebrated in Israel since 1948, when future Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion declared the holiday on May 14 (Iyar 5 on the Hebrew calendar) eight hours before the end of the British Mandate of Palestine. As a new holiday for an ancient people, there is still no standard way to observe it.

In the state of Israel the holiday, which immediately follows Yom Hazikaron, Israel's Memorial Day for fallen soldiers, commemorations include both religious observances and the most secular of fireworks and barbeques. Everyone there has the day off.

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Here in the east valley, in a show of solidarity with the Jewish state, synagogue celebrated with food and fun. While the senior generation listened to an informal presentation by conservative, pro-Israel columnist David Suissa, youngsters in the play yard kicked the soccer ball around under a massive Israeli flag. In the courtyard, face and arm painting adorned the kids with more flags, peace doves and the Hebrew word chai, life.

Israeli dancing literally kicked off in the Farber Auditorium/Russell Hall. Music and song were provided by Na’ama Atal and Pini Cohen and their band. Cecilia Hanono led toddlers and adults through traditional folk dance moves. And dinner service comprised what one partygoer called “quintessential Israeli foods,” falafel, hummus and Israeli salad.

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It’s interesting to note that not everyone finds reason to celebrate the historic occassion, even in Israel. Members of some Jewish ultra-orthodox sects regard it as a day of mourning and atonement for the sin of establishing an Israeli homeland before the coming of the Messiah.

Israeli Arabs and their supporters around the world regard the day as al-Nakba, the catastrophe, marking the expulsion and displacement of Arabs from their homeland during their resistance to the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Yassar Arafat declared Iyar 5 Nakba Day in 1998. Since then it has been marked by marches and protests in Gaza and the West Bank, which sometimes end in clashes with the Israel Defense Forces. 

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