Jews with Views – Yom HaAtzmaut 5786
We asked five Bnei Akiva shlichim: What will you miss most about Yom HaAtzmaut in Israel this year while you are on shlichut?
BY SASHA TSCHERNIA
What I will miss most this year on Yom HaAtzmaut is the deep sense of belonging that only Israel can give you. A day like Yom HaAtzmaut, especially in the times we are living through now, strengthens something essential: the connection within the Jewish people, and within our own families.
Being in Israel on this day always brings that feeling into sharp focus. There is something powerful about celebrating the country’s independence surrounded by your loved ones and by an entire society sharing the same emotions at the same moment.
It will be interesting to experience Yom HaAtzmaut from afar this year. Celebrating while on shlichut offers a different perspective, and I’m curious to see how the day will feel outside of Israel. But if I’m honest, no matter how meaningful the experience abroad turns out to be, it’s my family I will be thinking about.
Sasha Tschernia is originally from Kibbutz Tirat Zvi, Israel, and is married to Roi. Together they are parents to Shalem. Since last August, they have been serving as shlichim on behalf of the Jewish Agency and Bnei Akiva in Zurich, Switzerland.
BY SHIVI HIMELSTEIN
What I will miss most about being in Israel on Yom HaAtzmaut is something harder to name: the feeling of living through history, even when it looks like ordinary life. Over the past two-and-a-half years, since October 7th, Israelis have been living through some of the most intense and defining moments in our country’s existence. The news cycle moves fast – another operation, another development – but underneath it all is a quiet awareness that future generations will look back on these years in awe.
I will miss being surrounded by a society that understands this instinctively. For thousands of years the Jewish people dreamed of returning to this land and defending themselves in it. Today, Israel is not only sovereign but strong enough to protect its people and shape the future of an entire region. Celebrating Yom HaAtzmaut in Israel means feeling that transformation not as distant history, but as something unfolding beneath your feet.
And I will miss the day itself – the atmosphere that is unlike anything else, where pride, gratitude, and the memory of sacrifice fill the air, and the entire country somehow smells like one enormous BBQ. Every person around you is part of the reason there is something to celebrate.
Yom HaAtzmaut in Israel is a constant reminder that the miracle of Jewish independence did not end in 1948. It is still unfolding – in our generation, right now.
Shivi Himelstein is a graduate of the Shalhevet program of the Religious Zionist Shlichut Center founded by Mizrachi and previously worked in Israel as a social worker. Since 2022, he and his wife Shira have been serving as Bnei Akiva and Mizrachi shlichim in Perth, Australia.
BY MICHAL STRAMER
As Yom HaAtzmaut approaches, our hearts fill with longing. There are two special events that have become traditions for us over the years, and we know we will miss them deeply. The first is the festive prayer on the eve of Yom HaAtzmaut at the beit midrash of Rabbi Drukman, of blessed memory. For Afek, this is a long-standing tradition – prayer, dancing, and thanksgiving. It is a prayer he has never missed, and the atmosphere there is etched in the heart.
The second is the morning after – a hike in nature with friends, and a BBQ like every Israeli. Once we even found ourselves at Superland, Israel’s popular amusement park, when it was completely empty – a once-in-a-lifetime experience that became an especially sweet memory. More than anything, Yom HaAtzmaut for us is a day of prayer, friends, and family – a day to pause, give thanks, and celebrate together.
Michal Stramer and her husband Afek are parents to two young daughters, Be’eri and Alma, and are originally from Israel. They currently serve as Bnei Akiva shlichim in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
BY ASAF LEYBOVICH
This year, what I will miss most about Yom HaAtzmaut is simply being in Israel – feeling the air, the energy, the atmosphere of an entire nation celebrating its own birthday. There is something impossible to put into words about walking outside and knowing that every person around you is marking the same moment.
I will especially miss the BBQ with family and friends. And for me, Yom HaAtzmaut has always been more personal than most: it is also my birthday. Growing up, my own joy and the joy of the State were inseparable. This year, for the first time, I will be marking both from far away.
And yet I think this distance offers something rare. Celebrating Yom HaAtzmaut as a shaliach abroad means experiencing the day from a different – and perhaps deeper – angle. Watching a proud Zionist community mark the occasion thousands of miles from home is a powerful reminder: our connection to Israel is not a matter of geography. We are not merely citizens of a state. We are one people, bound together across continents, united in celebrating the miracle and the weight of Jewish sovereignty.
Asaf Leybovich, 23 years old, is originally from Petach Tikva, Israel, and a graduate of the World Bnei Akiva Mechina. He currently serves as a Bnei Akiva shaliach in Gothenburg, Sweden.
BY SHANI LEVINE
Have you ever counted how many people you pass during the day? On a normal day I would smile and keep walking. But on Yom HaAtzmaut, something in the air is different. Suddenly I feel connected to every stranger around me – at the performances in the community at the start of the celebrations, where everyone crowds around the stage singing the same song, and the children take the stage with the same dance I once performed myself. Or simply on the street, on the way to the next show.
The person singing next to me will recommend where the best performance is and the quickest way to get there. In return, I’ll tell them about the stand with the cheapest popcorn and cotton candy. That feeling carries into the next day as well. Sitting with neighbors on a mat at the beach, someone cuts open a watermelon, I pull out Bamba, and suddenly everyone is sharing without a second thought – while the breathtaking air show passes overhead.
That sense of mutual responsibility, almost effortless, is what I will miss most. The pride, the gratitude, the small moments when strangers feel like one big family for a single day of the year. The sound of the celebrations, the smell of barbecues, the feeling that everyone around me is celebrating the same story – the same story that is mine too.
Shani Levine, 20 years old, is originally from Yad Binyamin, Israel. She currently serves as a Bnei Akiva shlicha in Dortmund, Germany.