Over the years I’ve marched in at least 50 Celebrate Israel parades.

I marched in elementary school, high school, and college. I kept on marching when I graduated to parenthood. I marched with my kids’ day schools. And since they always attended different schools, I’d march up Fifth Avenue with one school, rush back to the start, and then begin marching up again with the other.

In fact, I have a drawer in our apartment — much to my wife’s dismay — dedicated to colorful t-shirts of all sizes from parades of yore.

UJA has long been a significant funder of the parade, organized by our partner the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. So now, I march the route multiple times each year, including with New York dignitaries and government of Israel officials. Then, quickly donning a UJA t-shirt, I catch a ride on our UJA float, followed by more than 800 people from the UJA delegation. 

Most important — for all those 50-plus years of parades — whether it’s glorious weather (as expected this Sunday!), pouring rain, or sweltering heat, I always have the same feeling of intense pride and gratitude as we turn from the staging area and begin marching up Fifth Avenue. What an extraordinary privilege to be able to publicly celebrate Israel with tens of thousands of people on the most iconic street in the world.

Yes, many in our community are concerned about the current political situation in Israel. But we can hold our differing viewpoints, we can even put them on respectful display, and we can still come out to celebrate what Israel means to us. With the world watching, whatever our views, please join us this Sunday, June 4, on Fifth Avenue. (Registration to march with UJA is open till 10:00 pm Saturday.) 

No doubt, we all have our reason for marching — with 40,000 people expected, there are 40,000 reasons. This year, we captured some of the voices in our community sharing what brings them out to the parade. You can hear from them here.

As for me... my newest reason for marching is just nine days old. And three months old. And almost two years old. Because for the first time, I hope to be joined by my beautiful granddaughters, wearing the very smallest UJA onesies and t-shirts. Two are New Yorkers and one is Israeli, and they can bask in wonder at the city streets filled with Israeli flags, music, and laughter — all in celebration of this land that connects them to one another.

So that’s why I march. How about you?   

Shabbat shalom