Yom Ha'atzmaut Wrap Up

In the wake of Yom Ha'atzmaut, I want to address some of the questions that came up here in school:

• In this year's YU Yom Ha'atzmaut To Go, there was an informative article by Rabbi Eli Ozarowski entitled "Establishing Yom Haatzamut as a Yom Tov".  In it, he summarizes what he considers to be the four different religious approaches to the state of Israel (Rav Kook, the Rav, the mainstream right wing, and the Satmar Rebbi), and their implications.  He addressed what we are celebrating, when we should celebrate it (in footnotes, he explains the controversy over the correct day to celebrate, and the oddity of a chag that is celebrated more often on the wrong day than the right one), and why some are so reluctant to celebrate.  If you're going to read one article to educate you on the aleph-bet of the halachik and hashkafik issues surrounding the day, this is it.
• Last year, Rabbi Josh Flug wrote about whether to say Hallel on Yom Ha'atzmaut, as well as the question of a brachah.
• Back when Israel was a teenager, Rabbi Lamm discussed the issue that we all still grapple with today - if Israel is as important as we say it is, what are we doing here?  His answer is still relevant (I wonder which of his children he was grooming to go?).  The only thing I would add, is something I think I heard from Rabbi Twersky, which is that while we all might have good reasons for staying, or bad reasons that seem good enough, our duty is to not decide once and then move on.  We should be periodically reevaluating our position in life (family, career etc.) to see if those impediments are still standing in our way.