Celebrate Good Times

 
As flags whipped in the wind and music blared from the grandstand at impossible decibels, throngs of Israelis took to the streets to stand together on the 60th anniversary and celebrate.
Despite the scandals threatening to topple the government, plummeting temperatures and gale force winds, not much can stop an Israeli celebration. If Israelis have learned anything in 60 years as a nation it is this: how to celebrate, even in the face of adversity.
 
Israelis celebrate with fierce intentionality. It is a full body, mind and soul experience with no shade of gray. They don’t merely wave flags but they know from their history, and at times personally, the cost of waving that flag. You could see the determination on their faces as they danced the hora and sang along with patriotic songs from the early days of the Jewish state. Everyone seemed to know every song played. And mind you, this was midnight and there were no signs of waning.
 
Israelis also must party as a community. They have a national need to be in a crowd. Even after the mere 24 hours or so when the Sabbath is over, traffic jams and waits at restaurants begin the week on Saturday night, not the next day. Imagine a festival of 60 years!
I now chalk it up to a genetic instinct. There is a survivor gene in the DNA of the Jewish people and it multiplies when there is a gathering of Jews, particularly in the State of Israel. Inherent is a generational gratitude for surviving, and not merely that, but for overcoming.
This gene dates back at least to the rebuilding of the walls around Jerusalem: “The joy of the people of Jerusalem could be heard far away” (Nehemiah 12:43).
Celebrating is actually a scriptural command. The Lord set apart times to party. “You shall celebrate it as a feast unto the Lord” is an oft-repeated scripture in the Old Testament.
 
Many visitors came to Israel to celebrate with the Jewish state. It was a political and spiritual convergence, with leaders of nations as well as Christian leaders from around the world, all coming here for various purposes as you saw throughout this magazine.
   
Israel’s own 60th anniversary festivities took place according to the Jewish calendar while the international celebration was a week later in accordance with the Western calendar. Perhaps this goes to show why the world isn’t yet on the same page with Israel. Their timing is off.
Israelis are used to that, and it doesn’t dampen their own celebration. They celebrate alone but with gusto nonetheless.