Ever since October 7, Jews throughout the world and practically in every simcha we attend we hear the inspirational lyrics of “Am Yisrael Chai” by Eyal Golan being blasted and sung in unison from the crowd. It has become our anthem of achdus and emunah.
For me personally, when I hear “Am Yisrael,” it brings a feeling of assurance, like I am part of one big family. No matter where a Jew travels in this vast world, you know you are not alone; you have a family, a minyan, kosher food, and people to meet and speak to you. Like the composer says: “Because the eternal people never fear, even when it’s hard to see, we’re all together, no one here is alone.”
When one Jew hurts, we all spring into action to help. We suffer together and we rejoice together. We daven Shimoneh Esrei every day and ask Hashem to heal the sick of Am Yisrael. It doesn’t matter if we don’t personally know the person we are praying for because as the Talmud teaches us that all Jews are responsible for one another. We need to care for both Am Yisrael (the collective) and Reb Yisrael (the individual). Being part of such a great collective encourages us to be better.
