Israel Independence Day
Yom HaAtzmaut celebrates the rebirth of the Israel as an independent state. It affirms the miracle of political sovereignty while acknowledging its moral complexity. Independence is not an endpoint but an ongoing test: how power is exercised, how justice is pursued, and how memory is honored. Emerging directly from the mourning of Yom HaZikaron, Yom HaAtzmaut insists that freedom cannot be separated from responsibility. The joy of statehood is therefore inseparable from vigilance, calling for gratitude without triumphalism and hope without forgetting.
5 Iyyar 5786
Begins at Sundown on Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Ends at Nightfall on Wednesday, April 22, 2026
In Jewish Thought and Philosophy and Yom Ha’atzmaut by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Israel is summoned to remind the world of God’s existence, not only concerning religion but also as a historical reality. There is no security for Israel unless it is secure in its own destiny.
In Israel, Yom Ha’atzmaut and Yom HaZikaron by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Words on my Grandsons Enlisting in the Israeli Defense Forces. The joy and honor of joining Israel's army relate to 4,000 years of Jewish history, morals, and ethics, and the universal good.
In Israel, Parashat Bereshit, Parashat Bo and Yom Ha’atzmaut by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
The fact that Jews survived centuries of exile, outlived all their enemies, and made it back to the Land of Israel is unprecedented and a vexing conundrum for historians and sociologists.
No marriage has lasted so long, been so deep in its commitment and so overwhelming in its love as the one between the Jews and their homeland.
Thoughts on Yom HaAzmaut, 2008
In Israel and Yom Ha’atzmaut by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
What is at the core of the current crisis of leadership in Israel is a fundamental misreading of the nature and destiny of the Jewish people and the total lack of Jewish pride among our leaders.