Yom Haatzmaut with Sivan Rahav-Meir

This past Yom Haatzmaut, May 1, on a day of celebration and national unity, the Beren Campus was honored to welcome Sivan Rahav-Meir, a media personality, lecturer and spiritual influencer, into their beit midrash to elevate the day with words of Torah and inspiration. Born a secular Israeli in Ramat Hasharon, Rahav-Meir embraced a religious lifestyle as a teenager and has since dedicated her life to teaching Torah and empowering Jews worldwide on national media. Rahav-Meir’s religious platforms include her weekly podcast “Sivan Says” and her daily inspirational message broadcast, “Daily Thought,” which is translated into 17 languages.

Not only is Rahav-Meir an inspirational Torah lecturer, but she is also a charismatic global media personality. Rahav-Meir initiated her news career at age six by interviewing famous individuals such as Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and the Power Rangers for a kids’ news magazine. In 2017, the Globes newspaper voted Rahav-Meir the most popular female media personality in Israel. Additionally, Rahav-Meir was named one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world by The Jerusalem Post.

“I want to be a journalist professionally, and I think she’s such a great role model and a person to learn from and look up to, so I’m really happy that the school finally brought her,” Chloe Baker (SCW ‘26) told The Commentator.

Dean Shoshana Schechter, associate dean of Torah and spiritual life, explained that in addition to the yearly tekes ma’avar and chagiga held on the night between Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut, they organize “a yom iyun so we could have a learning program just for the women on the Beren Campus … There’s no class because you want to make it a meaningful Yom Haatzmaut.”

Eloquent, entertaining and empowering, Sivan Rahav-Meir is definitely not a speaker you want to miss.

It is clear from her friendly personality that Rahav-Meir is a true proponent of ahavat Torah and ahavat Yisrael. “She’s a connector … She teaches Torah to all types of people in Israel from all walks of life — from people with zero background to lots of background and everything in between, and that’s what we have here,” shared Dean Schechter. “My goal is that everybody is in an environment where they can maximize their religious and spiritual growth … and that’s going to look different for different people, so we try to bring in people that really appeal to all different types of students … Sivan is someone that I feel such a diverse population can really connect to.”

By retelling personal stories, Rahav-Meir communicated powerful messages about self-love as a religious obligation, Religious Zionism in the wake of Oct. 7 and national unity on a day of national independence.

She shared a personal anecdote of an encounter with an Israeli teen who asked to take a selfie with her and then bashfully held the phone so that only a sliver of her face would be visible. Rahav-Meir encouraged the Stern women before her to be visible, that especially on independence day “we are asking the next generation to be independent … to be a proud Jew. To be connected to halacha, to Torah, to kedushah — it means that I am proud, that I am not ashamed. It’s me.” 

Rahav-Meir continued by discussing a conversation she shared with Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of former hostage Hersh z”l, after hearing thousands of Jews chant “Bring Them Home Now” at the Washington, D.C. rally in November 2023. They reflected that this desperate cry is not only about the kidnapped hostages in Gaza, but also about the scattered Jews across the world who yearn to return to our national homeland.

Charli Ernstein (SCW ‘27) was touched by this idea “about bringing Am Yisrael home … to Eretz Yisrael … yes, we should bring them [the hostages] home, and we should also bring ourselves home.”

Finally, Rahav-Meir concluded with a mashal [allegory] from Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z”l about three carvers, each possessing a unique attitude towards their work; when asked what he is doing, the first responded that he is simply carving a rock, the second that he is earning a salary and the third that he is building a palace. Instead of adopting the first two workers’ mindsets, the current Jewish generation has the opportunity to embrace the third worker’s perspective that we are actively and joyfully building a beautiful palace — a palace of Torah and mitzvot, connection and acceptance, unity and redemption. As Rahav-Meir told the audience: “The Israeli story, the Zionist story, the halachic story, the Jewish story should be empowering … we are building a palace.”

True to the spirit of the day, the programming was profoundly meaningful and appreciated by those who attended.

“I would say I really enjoyed it and … I think in the future more people need to take advantage of these opportunities especially when it’s not … during a school day,” Baker told The Commentator. “I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that people rush home and don’t actually take advantage of all these things that we have on campus.”

While we celebrate Medinat Yisrael’s establishment and exponential growth since 1948, millions of Jews watch from afar. The gaping distance is palpable and painful, and yet the day brims with warmth and gratitude. We sing and rejoice not just to commemorate the past 77 years, but to celebrate the future years of geulah in which we all will one day return home.

Photo Caption: Sivan Rahav-Meir speaking to Stern students on Yom Haatzmaut

Photo Credit: Rabbi Azi Fine