From Downtrodden to Dignity | Bechukotai/Yom Yerushalayim 5784

The greatest Jewish month of the modern era is undoubtedly Iyar - with two incredible days: The 5th of Iyar, the return of a sovereign Jewish state for the first time in almost 2,000 years in 1948, and the 28th of Iyar, the reunification of Jerusalem.
What these days have done for the Jewish people, for our psyche, is a sense of self-worth, pride, belief in ourselves, vindication after so much suffering for the Jewish people.
So many people made Aliyah in the wake of the Six-Day War in 1967, something changed in world and Jewish history. Famously, Natan Sharansky wrote that when he was in the Russian gulag and heard that the Jewish people returned against all odds to Yerushalayim in six days, he believed he could also transform his own life and the leadership of Soviet Jewry to do the impossible against all odds.
The key word in all of this appears only once in the Torah at the pinnacle of the blessings in Bechukotai - “kommemiyut.” Rashi says this means uprightness, a sense of freedom, a belief in ourselves. The Netziv says this is the opposite of the yoke of an animal, which is downtrodden. Out of the depths of despair, we are now able to come forth with confidence and dignity.
As we celebrate Yom Yerushalayim, we celebrate the miracles of 1967, and that today we life in a time of self-dignity, self-belief, pride in being Jewish, which should ultimately bring hope for the Jewish people and all of humanity.

[@manyalevine1017]

My parents made aliya because of 1967. My father as a teen was supposed to go to Bnai Akiva machane but a war broke out and the weren't sure if they will be able to go...not only did they have Bnai Akiva machana that summer but the got to go the Hevron and the kotel...there my father said thank u to hashem and promised he will BH come back as soon as he can. It took a few year of medical school and he came back with a wife a 3 daughters . The sons who came next where already Tzabars 💙🤍💙