Thank You, Hashem, for the gift of our beloved homeland Israel.
Thank You, Hashem, for the tremendous miracles You've been performing in the past 64 years that enable us to leave and thrive despite the fact that we're surrounded by hundreds of millions of enemies.
Thank You, Hashem, for giving us a land so sweet that even the soil tastes like carobs.
Thank You, Hashem, for a country so attractive that looking at her makes one's heart skip a beat hike a young man looking at his fiancé.
Thank You, Hashem, for the atmosphere of holiness all week long, and especially on an Eretz-Yisrael Friday evening sundown, when the kedusha is so tangible you can almost cut it with a knife.
Thank You, Hashem, for bringing us here from the four corners of the earth, for we have so much to learn from one another.
Thank You, Hashem, for the sweet fruits of our holy soul, which nothing anywhere can compare to.
Thank You, Hashem, for all the holy places where it's especially conducive to call Your Name.
Sure, our country is not yet what we'd like it to be; that's no problem though, because we can pray for Moshiach, the Geula, our rebuilt Holy Temple and everything else we lack. But, that's no excuse for not thanking Hashem for giving us our own homeland after 2,000 years of being wanderers and unwelcome guests barely tolerated by our host nations.
Rav Kook once paraphrased Kaddish - yitgadal, the country will grow and thrive; veyitkadash, and then it will be sanctified. The revolution of spiritual awakening in Israel gets stronger by the day. Thanks once again, Hashem, that our growing country - despite its problems - is slowly and surely become sanctified with more and more people calling Your Name. True Israel Independence means gaining our independence from the influences of evil.
