Question: How is
it possible to establish a new holiday on Yom Ha-Atzmaut?
Answer: Rabbi
Moshe Sofer of Pressburg ruled that there is a Torah obligation to establish a
holiday for every deliverance of the Nation of Israel (Shut Chatam Sofer Orach
Chaim #191). And yet perhaps there is a question of "Bal Tosif" (a
prohibition against adding commandments), as the Ramban wrote that Yerovam ben Navat
transgressed this prohibition by creating a holiday. The Chatam Sofer responds:
a transgression only occurs when we create a holiday on the same level as a
Torah holiday, i.e. with a prohibition against work and similar things. Otherwise, there is no prohibition of
"Bal Tosif." The proof is
Purim and Chanukah.
There are those
who ask: Why wasn’t Yom Ha-Atzmaut established when Yehoshua conquered the Land
of Israel or when Ezra and Nechemiah returned to the Land? The "Yom
Ha-Atzamaut" after Yehoshua's conquest is Pesach. This holiday does not only celebrate the
Exodus from Egypt, but also our arrival in the Land, which is the whole point
of the Exodus. This is explained by the
four phrases of the Redemption (Shemot 6:6-8): "And I will remove, and I
will save, and I will redeem, and I will take," which is followed by the
fifth phrase: "And I will bring you [to the Land of Israel]." Regarding
the return to the Land by Ezra and Nechemiah, the answer is simple: They did not
celebrate Yom Ha-Atzmaut because they did not have independence. They only achieved independence on Chanukah. Their
"Yom Ha-Atzmaut" is Chanukah.
An additional
question arises: Isn't it stated in the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah (18b) that after
"Megillat Ta’anit was abolished" one cannot add any holidays? Megillat Ta’anit is a work of the Men of the
Great Assembly that preceded the Mishnah (and it is mentioned in Mishnah
Ta’anit 2:8). It enumerates approximately forty holidays which were established
during the Second Temple Period, some for military victories and others for
spiritual victories. All of these
holidays, except for Purim and Chanukah, were abolished after the destruction
of the Second Temple, so who are we to add new ones (Rosh Hashanah ibid.)? Furthermore,
since we are in a general spirit of sadness and mourning over the destruction of
the Temple, and it is forbidden for us to fill our mouths with laughter
(Berachot 31a), how then can we rejoice on new holidays? Purim and Chanukah
were permitted only because they contained commandments, and it is impossible
to abolish commandments (Rosh Hashanah ibid.).
There are Rabbis, however, who argue persuasively that holidays continued
to be established even after the destruction of the Temple. Rabbi Moshe Sofer
of Pressburg held a middle position: The prohibition applies only to establishing
a holiday for the entire Jewish People, but an individual may establish a
holiday for himself or an entire community. In fact, the Rambam established a
holiday for himself on the day he arrived in the Land of Israel (brought at the
end of Sefer Charedim of Rabbi Eleazar Azkari), and so too many communities established
a holiday for themselves commemorating the day of their deliverance. There are
approximately two hundred special "Purims," such as "Purim Borghel"
celebrated by the Jews of Tripoli (29th of Tevet, for being saved in 5554 from
destruction during occupation by Borghel Pasha of Turkey), "Frankfurt
Purim" (20th of Adar, for the readmitting of expelled Jews being to the town
in 5376, and the execution of the Chief Jew-baiter, Fettmilch), "Lepanto
(Greece) Purim" (11th of Tevet, for Jews saved from destruction during the
Turkish War in 5460), "Tiveria Purim" (7th of Elul, for Jews saved
from danger of war in 5503), etc. etc.
The Chatam Sofer,
on the other hand, permitted establishing a holiday for the entire Jewish
People, with the condition that the deliverance was from death to life. His
proof is from the words of our Sages: Purim should certainly be a holiday based
on Pesach, since Pesach was a deliverance from slavery to freedom. Should we
not celebrate a holiday all the more so for Purim which was a deliverance from
death to life (Megillah 14a)? He claims that in exile there is no possibility of
being delivered merely from slavery to freedom, since in exile we are slaves to
the nations of the world. Any
deliverance, therefore, could only be from death to life. We may thus establish a new holiday. In
truth, on Yom Ha-Atzmaut in the Land of Israel there was a double-deliverance:
from slavery to freedom, from the British authority to Jewish authority, and
from death to life, from all of the Arab Nations who tried to destroy us at the
time of the War of Independence.
There are those
who claim that before the War of Independence we were not really slaves and there
was therefore no deliverance to freedom. This is incorrect - we were slaves in
the full meaning of the word, since the Talmud explains that we do not recite
Hallel on Purim, since it is written in Hallel "Praise, servants of
Hashem" and even after the miracle of Purim we were not servants of
Hashem, but still servants of Achashverosh (Megillah ibid.). Before the establishment of the State, we
were slaves to the British authorities.
And now – through Hashem's kindness – we are a free Nation in our Land.
