Take it from someone who knows: 77 years can be a pivotal age. An age of achieving self-knowledge, for better or worse. An age where vitality coexists with vulnerability, where strength understands its own limitations. An age for savoring success while not taking it too seriously, for confronting and accepting generational change.
Seventy-seven is also an age where time seems fluid. Events merge into one another. The good follows the bad, which follows the good. Tragedy strikes and then blessings arise. Worry transforms into wonderment. Sunset resembles sunrise.
So it is with our beloved homeland as she turns 77.
As with every year, we are celebrating Independence Day right after Memorial Day and a week after Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day. But this year, those two days of mourning seemed indistinguishable, bookends of the same canon.
Freed Gaza hostages took part in the March of the Living, gaining a similar status to Holocaust survivors 70 years their senior.
On the train tracks to Auschwitz, stickers showing the fallen of Oct. 7 were placed reverentially.
And a question mark hangs over this Independence Day, because it comes amid what has been called the War of Tekuma, or resurrection.
Since the fighting continues, it follows that our resurrection has yet to be completed. We have not yet defeated Hamas nor recovered all of our brethren from captivity. Whether we shall have to attack Iran's nuclear project - and do so alone - is worryingly unclear. And too many Israelis have fallen back into the sin of domestic political strife which left us vulnerable to the disaster in the first place.
So are we truly independent?
Are we entitled to celebrate?
Yes - though, much like a responsible 77-year-old, we might go easy on the beef and the beer, and we might be grateful that - as with last year - there won't be fireworks.
We may prefer an early night after a bright, quiet day in the company of family and friends.
Because family and friends, continuity and amity, are what make our country special. That is what we celebrate. And yes, that is the secret of our independence.
We heard it in the statements of so many Holocaust survivors: their pride in the families of that they built, and which in turn built this country.
That was their revenge against Hitler's genocide: choosing life.
And we feel it in the pits of our stomachs, in the beat that our heart skips when see posters of the hostages and the fallen. That is the pain of peoplehood, of responsibility for one another, of independence.
It is because we are an independent nation that we expect no one else to rescue or mourn our own. We look to ourselves.
Not for nothing does Jewish tradition suspend a shiva mourning week for a Shabbat or religious festival. Not for nothing have we seen soldiers in uniform taking a few hours off from the war in order to wed.
Joyful moments are miracles. They are not to be wasted or missed. They are what connect us to what really counts: home, tradition, the soul, community.
And so too must it be with Independence Day. It is incumbent upon us to celebrate, while not losing sight of what has passed - especially over the last 1.5 years - and what may soon follow.
Like mountain-climbers on a steep and treacherous path, we should stop and breathe and take in the beautiful view - before pressing ahead to the pinnacle.
Yes, we have had it hard. Even those of us who were spared the horror of losing someone to Hamas still felt it deeply - in the stress of IDF reserve duty, in the burden of volunteering, in the frustration and exhaustion of advocating for the hostages.
But still, with our country at 77, we are blessed.
Countless Jews in history could only imagine what we have achieved and benefit from here in Israel. Suffering persecution and exile, they would have laughed bitterly, and then sobbed with envy, at hearing our complaints about our national problems.
We, in turn, must recognize this, with gratitude and humility.
So mazaltov on another birthday, our beloved homeland! May there be many more, for all eternity. We thank you and smile for you. And we are here for you, always.
Dr. Miriam Adelson is the publisher of Israel Hayom.
