Important update about this Sunday’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration

Dear East Valley Jewish Community,

We are writing to share some difficult news: our communitywide Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration, scheduled for this Sunday, April 19, 2026, has been canceled.

This was not a decision we made lightly. For weeks, the team at the East Valley JCC poured countless hours into planning, coordinating and building what we believed would be a truly joyful celebration of Israel’s independence. We secured kosher food from the beloved Fata Morgana food truck. We booked a DJ, arranged characters for the children, face painting, balloon making, arts & crafts and set up a bounce house. We wanted this event to feel like a real celebration—one worthy of the holiday and worthy of this community.

Yom Ha’atzmaut is not just another date on the calendar.

For nearly 2,000 years, the Jewish people lived without a homeland—scattered, persecuted and dependent on the tolerance of host nations that too often withdrew their support. Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrates not only the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, but the hard-won ability to live with dignity and freedom. We all know that antisemitism is rising—on campuses, in public discourse, on social media and in the streets of cities we once thought safe.

Jewish identity is being contested, delegitimized and attacked. In this environment, gathering to celebrate Israel’s existence is not merely a cultural gesture. It is an act of affirmation. It is a declaration that we are here, that we are proud, and that the miracle of Jewish sovereignty will be celebrated—not quietly, not apologetically, but joyfully and publicly.

That is the celebration we wanted to give you. That is what was canceled.

In the end, registration was too low to move forward responsibly, and so we made the difficult call to cancel. The deposits, the planning hours, the staff investment—much of that is simply gone. That is the cost of cancellation, and we absorb it.

We are taking this as an opportunity to ask ourselves hard questions. How can we communicate better? What barriers exist? How do we make it easier and more meaningful for you to participate in future programs? These are our questions to wrestle with, and we take them seriously.

We also invite you to sit with a question of your own. If you saw this event and thought about coming—what got in the way? And if attending simply wasn’t on your radar—is there something you’d be willing to share with us?

We ask because this community is worth building, and building it requires all of us. In a time when the world is making clear that Jewish presence matters, our presence to one another matters just as much.

The EVJCC is only as strong as the community that chooses to engage with it. We believe in this community deeply, and we hope you do, too. And the next time an opportunity comes to gather, celebrate and strengthen this community, we hope you’ll choose to show up.

Yom Ha’Atzmaut Sameach. Am Yisrael Chai.

With hope for what we can build together,
Rabbi Michael & the EVJCC Team