Celebrate Israel (with Food)

Ever since October 7, we Jews, around the world, are finding ourselves in a quandary of opposites. Every Shabbat, every holiday, every birthday, anniversary, or other joyful celebration is offset by our continued grief over those killed on that day, our hostages and soldiers killed since, and of course, our desperate anguish over those still being held.

We might feel like this uncomfortable paradox is unique to this moment. But when we look to our history and tradition, we find this delicate and terrible predicament is repeated over and over again. 

While preparing for Pesach, I found a beautiful piece by Lara Rodin, a rabbinic student at JTS (Jewish Theological Seminary), that speaks to these moments. She wrote, “The Jewish people are no strangers to brokenness. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai and saw the Hebrews worshipping a Golden Calf, he was so angry that he shattered the tablets of the Ten Commandments. At Jewish weddings, in the height of our communal joy, we smash a glass to remember that brokenness and sorrow are as much part of our reality as wholeness and happiness.” 

But rather than ignore it, Rodin finds, “We carry our brokenness with us. Moses carried the shattered tablets in the Ark, alongside a new and whole set, throughout our travel through the desert. Many married couples create mezuzot or other art with the shards from their broken glass . . . Our broken matzo becomes the afikomen . . . We carry our brokenness with us to remind us that the world needs our help to put broken pieces back together.” 

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue in New York puts it this way. “From Shoah to Tekumah—from destruction to rebirth—is more than a historical arc; it is the spiritual condition of the Jewish soul. . . We are not one or the other—but both. This is the double helix of the Jewish story: sorrow and strength, memory and hope, exile and homecoming.”

No other time of year makes this point more powerfully than right now – the seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot. When the Hebrews were redeemed from Egypt, they began counting 49 days until they would receive the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Now known as the counting of the Omer, this season also has an agricultural connection. It marks the time from the beginning of the barley harvest in Israel to the first harvest of the wheat crop.

Historically, this season has been marked with tragedy, destruction, and pogroms. Midrash says that both the first and second Temples were destroyed at this time of year. Rabbi Akiva and nine other notable rabbis were martyred by the Romans during this season. After the onset of Christianity, the insidious blood libel, which accuses Jews of using blood from Christian children to make matzo, triggered many massacres and pogroms around this time. 

So, the Omer period is a time of mourning. It is traditional to refrain from large celebrations such as weddings and observant communities do not cut their hair during this time. Until Lag b’Omer, the 33rd day of the Omer, when mourning is lifted for one day. Or at least that was traditional until the advent of the “modern” Jewish holidays of Yom ha’Zikaron and Yom ha’Atzmaut – Israeli Memorial Day and Day of Independence.

These back-to-back “remembering days” epitomize how we “hold our brokenness.” Yom ha’Zikaron is a solemn day to remember Israel’s fallen soldiers – all of them, from 1948 until today. People visit cemeteries, hold memorial services, and the entire country participates in a simultaneous two minutes of silence, so profound that traffic stops and people get out of their cars to stand together. At sunset, which marks the beginning of a new day on the Jewish calendar, flags are raised from half mast to the top of their poles, and the country begins to celebrate the birth of the modern Israeli state. As King David wrote in Psalm 30:12, “You, Hashem, turned my mourning into dancing . . .”

 Yom ha’Zikaron begins at sundown this Tuesday, April 29 and is followed immediately by Yom ha’Atzmaut from Wednesday evening through Thursday. Try to make time to enjoy some delicious Israeli dishes – a full barbecue if you can.

Here are two recipes for the grill – Israeli Kabobs and Chicken Skewers. Serve them with a variety of fresh salads, hummous, tehina, olives, and the best pita bread you can find. Links to the salads are here – Classic Israeli Salad, Babaganoush (Eggplant Salad), and a Colorful Pepper Salad.

Israeli Kabobs

You can substitute ground lamb, turkey, or chicken for all or some of the beef. If using ground turkey or chicken, add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the mix.

Israeli Chicken Skewers

Cutting chicken into ribbons makes bite-sized portions that cook quickly without drying out. Za’atar is the name of both the Israeli herb, which grows wild all over the north, and the dry herb mix made from it.