On Yom Haatzmaut, Israel Independence Day, we Conservative Jews recite a special Al hanisim (“For the miracles”) prayer, thanking Hashem for His miraculous intervention in history that allowed for the recreation of the Jewish state. The other Al hanisim prayers we recite, on Purim and Chanukah, underscore the same point. But from a theological point of view, these prayers are easier to accept because we can set the claim of divine intervention into a milieu of uncertainty, “the misty origins of the past.” Sure, we say, we would expect the rabbis of old, and Judah Maccabee, and Mordechai and Esther, to see the world through theological eyes. But us? Not so much.
The Al hanisim for Yom Haatzmaut pulls that rug out from under us. It asserts in classic and no uncertain terms, that it is G-d who once again used His “mighty hand and outstretched arm” to work a miracle.
Our siddur in fact revels in the description of G-d as “Ad-n hanifla’ot” “Lord of Wonders.” But not only when it comes to big historical events. One of my neighbors plants a beautiful garden every year, predominantly irises of all different shapes and colors. One by one they blossom. It is like watching fireworks in slow motion, an endless cascade of color lasting for months. Ruth-Ann z”l and I used to look at the garden virtually every day, and the thought that filled our mind, above all else, was “m’lo chol haaretz kvodo” “the whole earth is full of G-d’s glory.”
What a privilege it was to witness this! And even more, what a privilege it was to witness this with the woman I loved! Miracles upon miracles.
Disenchantment, a term developed by the German sociologist Max Weber (the same guy who wrote the by now iconic text The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism), was used to describe a world where the religious and spiritual were neglected to the point of disappearance, to be replaced by the rational and scientific. But Judaism’s world was never disenchanted, not least because of the magic of Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. But beyond that, if we just open our eyes to the beauty of a sea of yellow bearded irises, we will again join the siddur in recognizing that we are not capable of thanking G-d for even “one ten-thousandth of the lasting love, that is Your precious blessing, dearest G-d, granted to our ancestors and to us.”