Today is Yom Ha’atzma’ut, Israel’s Independence Day. Ellie and I will soon leave for Israel. This will be our first trip since shortly before The Lockdown, when the world seemed to stand still for a few moments.

Nearly nothing in our world now feels still, calm. People are yelling at one another (much easier than seeking solutions and making compromises) to the point that most seem to have stopped listening.

We are going to listen, to see, to join hearts with our people — family, friends and strangers. We will hug relatives; someone asked me to pass a hug on to a random person. Hmmm … a surprise “This is from Ben!” might not be well received. Then again….

I will be meeting the tour organizer with whom I worked on our canceled synagogue trip, aiming to reschedule for 2025, not so far away any more, really.

We look forward to our time in our homeland, we look forward to sharing our experiences with you. We encourage you to book a trip or plan to come with us next year.

The attached video is an adaptation of my benediction at our community Yom Hashoah program last week. It is adapted for the transition from yom hazikaron to yom ha’atzmaut, from Israel’s Memorial Day to Independence Day.