Your Daily Phil: Fires, but no fireworks, as Israel marks Yom HaAtzmaut
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on how Israelis are marking Yom HaAtzmaut amid war and wildfires. We preview the Maccabiah Games, which begin this summer, and cover a bipartisan letter from lawmakers to the Wikimedia Foundation about alleged bias in its online encyclopedia. We feature an opinion piece by Rabbi Aviva Richman reflecting on the Hallel liturgy this Yom HaAtzmaut. Also in this newsletter: Ruby Chen, Jacob M. Miller and Diane Yentel.
What We’re Watching
Today is Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. More below on how the country is marking the day.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH EJP’S JUDAH ARI GROSS
Instead of fireworks for Yom HaAtzmaut, Israelis have been facing massive wildfires — potentially the largest that have ever hit the country — that swept through the hills outside of Jerusalem yesterday. (Though fireworks have anyway been growing increasingly passé in light of growing awareness of the effects they have on those with post-traumatic stress disorder.)
Hundreds of Israeli firefighters, aided by a growing number of firefighting planes being flown in from allied countries, are still struggling to contain the blazes, even as the high winds and dry heat that enabled the conflagrations have subsided. Nearly 5,000 acres of land have been burned so far, according to Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, which owns most of the forests in the affected area.
Though firefighters seem to have succeeded in preventing the wildfires from spreading to Jerusalem or any other major cities, smaller communities along the corridor between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv were evacuated on Wednesday, with residents sent to hotels in the capital. Today, they were allowed to return home, though they were warned that the fires may resurge.
In light of the evacuations, many of the civil groups that had helped displaced people in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks — including youth groups, protest movements, local WhatsApp groups — again sprang up offering their services to those in need. Though in most cases, they weren’t necessary.
While the wildfires were concentrated in the hills outside of Jerusalem, their effects were felt nationwide: The official Yom HaAtzmaut torch-lighting ceremony was called off, and a recording of the dress rehearsal was aired instead; many of the street parties organized by cities and towns across the country were canceled or postponed as the firefighting teams that are needed to ensure they are safe were otherwise occupied; though Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services permitted backyard and balcony barbecues, they were forbidden in parks and open areas.
The 126 firefighting teams operating in the area of the wildfires appear to be making headway in containing the blaze, and the cities and towns across the country that canceled street parties last night have rescheduled them for tonight.
But the wildfires are only one part of what sets this Yom HaAtzmaut apart: Chiefly, Israel is still at war, and 59 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza. This latter issue has prompted many in Israel — particularly released hostages and the families of the captives — to call for the country to forgo its usual celebrations. “I cannot celebrate my independence because I have brothers and sisters who are still being held hostage and my heart is still there with them,” released hostage Yarden Bibas wrote in a post on social media earlier this week. “I will not be able to heal or rest until they return. Please let the words ‘to be a free people in our land’ come true for everyone,” he said, referring to a line from Israel’s national anthem, Hatikvah.
In a blow to the hostage families, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared today that returning the hostages is a “very important goal” of the ongoing war, but not the primary one. “The supreme aim is victory over our enemies,” he said, speaking at the annual Bible Contest in Jerusalem.
In the days preceding the national holidays, thousands of reservists have also received orders for another round of service.
This year’s Yom HaAtzmaut is also different in less significant ways. The traditional flyby that the Israeli Air Force performs on Yom HaAtzmaut was also called off because of the war.
Though an annual ceremony hosted by the president honoring 120 outstanding soldiers was held as usual at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem despite the fires, the event was notably different than in the past. Earlier this year, the Israel Defense Forces adopted a new protocol barring soldiers’ names and photos from being released publicly in response to the growing number of lawsuits being filed against IDF soldiers abroad. As a result, the 120 outstanding soldiers were all seen at the event from behind or with their faces blurred. It’s a minor difference from the normal tradition, but an unmistakable one nonetheless, a visual indicator of the country’s diplomatic struggles.
There is still what to celebrate, of course. For all its current struggles, the State of Israel still exists, bringing with it a hope for a better future.
But as Israelis mark the 77th anniversary of the country’s founding, most seem to hope that the next one will look more like those of the past — without fires, without war, without hostages.
MUSCULAR JUDAISM
This year’s Maccabiah Games to launch on 7/10 — a nod to the 10/7 attacks, which they will commemorate
On Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas terrorists infiltrated Kibbutz Kissufim on the Gaza border, Maj. Evyatar Zytuni rushed into battle along with his unit. During the battle, a bullet sliced through the main artery of his right leg. Fourteen days later, he awoke from a coma and learned that terrorists had murdered six of his soldiers. It’s been a long road since, including multiple surgeries, but last December, Zytuni, aided by a cane, lit the torch for this summer’s Maccabiah Games, dedicating the moment to his fallen peers. The torch is currently blazing across the globe, making its way back to Israel for the opening ceremony of Maccabiah Games in July, the first since the Oct. 7 attacks. The lighting was part of a collaboration between the IDF Disabled Veterans Organization and the Maccabi World Union, and is one of the many ways this year’s games will differ from any before, reports Jay Deitcher for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Recovery program: Everything at the games will be grounded in Oct. 7, Marshall Einhorn, CEO of Maccabi USA, the American arm of the movement, told eJP. Competitors will tour Israel and visit massacre sites, volunteering along the way. A race will cycle through the hard-hit Gaza border area, and competitions and arts programs will be held in the name of 15 members of Maccabi HaTzair — the organization’s youth movement — who were murdered during the assault. Throughout the weeklong games, the Maccabi World Union will transform the Tel Aviv Expo into “Maccabiah City,” an all-ages festival featuring parties, conferences, seminars and sports, which is expected to draw some 250,000 attendees in total. “At this time, the philanthropy and the Jewish world is aimed at what’s urgent and what’s pressing,” Amir Gissin, CEO of Maccabi World Union, told eJP. “The Maccabiah offers something else, it offers the hope and the beginning for all of us in Israel and the Jewish world to start climbing out of the black hole we were in and despair. We see the Maccabiah as part of the recovery.”
LOOK IT UP
Lawmakers press Wikipedia to clarify and enforce editorial oversight to prevent anti-Israel bias
A bipartisan group of 23 members of Congress sent a letter on Thursday to the foundation that oversees Wikipedia, expressing concern about antisemitism and anti-Israel bias on the platform and seeking answers about how the influential online encyclopedia will work to combat prejudice and abuse by editors. The letter, authored by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Don Bacon (R-NE), comes after the Anti-Defamation League published a report in March detailing allegations of Wikipedia editors conspiring to impose an anti-Israel bias across the site, reports Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
What they’re asking for: “It is clear that more needs to be done to ensure Wikipedia remains free of bias, antisemitism and pro-terrorist content,” the signatories wrote to Maryana Isakander, CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, the San Francisco-based nonprofit that oversees Wikipedia’s operations. The letter asks Wikimedia to explain its oversight processes “to prevent biased or coordinated manipulation of content,” and to identify whether it takes specific measures to prevent antisemitic bias among its editors. The legislators also ask Wikimedia to take steps to prevent foreign interference “on behalf of adversaries of the United States,” such as Hamas and Iran, and to take steps to increase transparency. The edit history of all pages on Wikipedia is technically public, but the labyrinthine process is nearly impossible to understand for those without deep editing experience.
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
YOM HAATZMAUT 5785
Gratitude in grieving
“I have always loved reciting Hallel, but when I had my first child I suddenly felt the words more deeply, on a visceral level,” writes Rabbi Aviva Richman, a rosh yeshiva of the Hadar Institute, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Singing these psalms in the NICU soon after my baby was born, I thought of Hannah’s vow when she so desperately wanted a child; and then, when her healthy child was born, she recited a song of praise strikingly similar to the beginning of our Hallel.”
New resonance: “On the eve of Rosh Hodesh Adar, at the funeral of Hersh Goldberg-Polin on Sept. 2, a mother publicly mourned her child, livestreamed for the entire world to see… Forcing myself to say Hallel through tears the next day, lines that had never made sense were suddenly oversaturated with a new, haunting meaning…Public recitation of Hallel was instituted on Yom HaAtzmaut because of an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the gift of the possibility for Jewish self-determination and dignity. With potent awareness of so many innocent lives lost, our declaration of gratitude for Israel is intertwined with crying out from the heaviness of terrible deaths. Our declaration of gratitude must also be an expression of responsibility and commitment to an Israel that uplifts the preciousness and dignity of every single human life.”
Read the full piece here.
Worthy Reads
Divided We Fall: In Haaretz, Ruby Chen, whose son Itay was killed on Oct. 7 and his body taken to Gaza, makes a plea for unity in an effort to bring the remaining 59 hostages home in the coming weeks. “I would like to ask us all to remember one word this week: unity. The Jewish people have prospered and survived for over 5,000 years on the principle of taking care of one another and not leaving anyone behind. This unity has been missing in Israel for the last few years. We must take a stand and demand the Israeli government prioritize this unity, the backbone of the Jewish faith. Prioritize the release of all the hostages and set a clear goal: That the very last hostage is home before the end of May. Work backwards knowing there is a difficult price to pay for the release of the last hostage, but that this is what is required to allow Israel to begin to heal and rebuild. We need a deal immediately, to release all of the 59 remaining hostages.” [Haaretz]
It’s the Morality, Stupid: In The Harvard Crimson, Jacob M. Miller, the former president of Harvard’s Hillel, argues that the school’s recent antisemitism report misses the point. “Across over 300 pages, the authors treat the much-sensationalized issue of antisemitism with the scholarly nuance it deserves. But the report misses a much more fundamental point — the whole debate about antisemitism within Harvard’s pro-Palestine movement fixates on how exactly to define it. This excessive focus on semantics is symptomatic of a larger problem with our politics: We reflexively condemn reprehensible ideologies only insofar as they are racist or hateful — rather than because they’re plain wrong… There is a reason Harvard created twin task forces on antisemitism and Islamophobia — not a ‘Task Force on Callous Statements Disregarding Human Life,’ or a ‘Task Force on Violent Protest Chants,’ or a ‘Task Force on Stupid Political Ideologies That Could Open Up Millions of People to Religious Persecution.’ It’s because we as a society have agreed identity-based discrimination is morally wrong, but have struggled to reach a consensus that any other way of thinking is unethical… Antisemitic or not, the pro-Palestine movement’s vision for Israel would be a travesty for Jews. It’s high time we abandon the talking points about double standards and defend the principle of a Jewish state on its own terms.” [HarvardCrimson]
Word on the Street
To celebrate Israel’s Independence Day, the Helmsley Charitable Trust published the full English text of the country’s Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel in today’s New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times…
Jewish community leaders from Maryland sent an open letter opposing an upcoming conference by the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace, which is scheduled to take place in Baltimore next week…
The British Jewish LGBTQ group KeshetUK announced that it will not participate in the upcoming Pride in London parade, accusing organizers of failing to provide adequate security for Jewish participants…
The Times of Israel interviews Israeli professor Yinon Ben Neriah about his belief that the Trump administration’s cuts to medical research in the United States may be a boon for Israel as the country looks to stem the “brain drain” that has seen top scientists emigrating to the U.S. and other locales…
The Chronicle of Philanthropy examines how President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office have affected the nonprofit world…
The outlet also interviews Diane Yentel, CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, about her organization’s work over the past 100 days…
GivingTuesday is launching an “accelerator” in June that is meant to create community giving and volunteering campaigns, with the goal of using them to decrease polarization…
The Wall Street Journal looks at the relationship between the global Jewish community and the Catholic Church in the wake of the death of Pope Francis…
Andrew Karpen, the founder and CEO of Bleecker Street Media, died at 59…
Rabbi Richard B. Simon, the longtime leader of Temple Har Zion in Mt. Holly, N.J., died on April 18 at 70…
Pic of the Day
Students from the Epstein Hillel School in Marblehead, Mass., mark Yom HaZikaron in their school yesterday.
Birthdays
Photographer known for incorporating Jewish culture into her work, she is the digital media editor at the Jewish Women’s Archive, Hannah Altman…
Retired national director of the Anti-Defamation League, now national director emeritus, Abraham Henry Foxman … Assistant professor at Yeshiva University and editor emeritus of Tradition, an Orthodox theological journal, Rabbi Shalom Carmy… Deborah Chin… Boston-area actor, David Alan Ross… Brigadier-general (res.) and former chief medical officer in the Israel Defense Forces, he was also a member of the Knesset for 10 years, Aryeh Eldad… Of counsel at Washington-based Sandler Reiff where he specializes in redistricting law, Jeffrey M. Wice… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-CO) from 2007 until 2023, Edwin George “Ed” Perlmutter… Israeli entrepreneur and software engineer, founder and CEO of Conduit, Israel’s first billion-dollar internet company, Ronen Shilo… Austrian-Israeli singer-songwriter, Timna Brauer… Real estate entrepreneur based in Southern California, Eli Tene… Member of the board of governors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester, Rina F. Chessin… Member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT, David R. Karger… Israeli judoka, she is a member of the International Olympic Committee and the head of the merchandise division of Paramount Israel, Yael Arad… Majority leader of the Washington state Senate until this past January, he is a co-owner of minor league baseball’s Spokane Indians, Andrew Swire “Andy” Billig… Senior attorney in the Newark office of Eckert Seamans, Laura E. Fein… Staff writer at The Atlantic, Jonathan Chait… Radio personality and voice-over artist, Gina Grad… Former professional tennis player with 23 USTA Pro Circuit singles titles, now a tennis coach, Michael Craig Russell… Attorney and co-founder of I Am a Voter, a nonpartisan civic engagement organization, Mandana Rivka Dayani… Washington-based political reporter, Ben C. Jacobs… Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative producer at NBC News, Jonathan Gerberg… Member of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, Marina Tauber… Operations manager at GrowthSpace, Jenny Feuer… Principal at Forward Global, Omri Rahmil… Hudson Bay Capital’s Sam Zieve-Cohen…
