Memorial Day

Every year, a week after Holocaust Day (Yom Ha’Shoa) and exactly one day before Independence Day (Yom Atzmaut), Israel commemorates the memory of those who fell in its wars, special operations and terror attacks. This is Memorial Day (Yom Ha’Zikaron) and it started today with a ceremony held at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, Judaism’s holiest place.

Yom Ha’Zikaron is widely observed throughout all sectors of Israel. Unlike in America, in which Memorial Day is often used as an excuse for another sale, Israeli shops, restaurants, movie theaters, etc. are shut down. The radio and television stations play programs about Israel's wars, interviews with the families and show programming that convey the somber mood of the day. Perhaps the most widely recognized commemoration, as on Yom Ha’Shoah, an air raid siren is played twice during Yom Ha’Zikaron. All activity, including traffic, immediately ceases. People get out of their cars, even in the middle of otherwise busy highways, and stand in respect for the sacrifice of those who died defending Israel. The first siren marks the beginning of Memorial Day and the second is sounded immediately prior to the public recitation of prayers in military cemeteries. Ending at sundown, the somber, reflective mood of Yom Ha’Zikaron gives way to the celebration of Yom Atzmaut, a transition which emphasizes the lasting tie between the sacrifice of the country’s fallen and the continued existence of a vibrant and dynamic State of Israel.

This year, Israel remembers the 22, 437, dead since 1860 – those who died in the Arab pogroms of 1936 and 1939, the War of Independence (1948), Operation Kadesh (Sinai occupation, 1956), 6 Day War (1967), War of Attrition (against Egypt-USSR-PLO, 1967-1970), Yom Kippur War (1973), Lebanon War (1982), Second Lebanon War (2005), the many special operations and commando actions (known and secret) against Arab states and the terror organizations all over the world and the victims of terror in Israel and throughout the world.

Ha’Shem Inkom et damam.