Yom Hazikaron, the Israeli Memorial Day, Begins Tomorrow at Sundown

Yom Hazikaron, Israel's Remembrance Day for its fallen soldiers and terrorist victims, will be observed this Wednesday, April 22. I want to talk about it today, because the observance begins tomorrow at sundown. Remembrance Day is an intensely somber, personal day of loss for all Israelis, who mourn fallen sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, neighbors and friends. Israel is a tiny country of 7 million people - about the size of Switzerland. The 6,000 soldiers Israel lost in the 1948 War of Independence was 1% of the total population, equivalent to the United States losing 1.4 million soldiers in the same year. In Israel’s short history, 23,169 soldiers have been killed in active military duty. Sixty-six of them fell last summer in Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s effort to stop the rockets fired by Hamas from Gaza. ~~~~~ Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon began the observance on Sunday by lighting a computer virtual candle in honor of Israel's fallen soldiers and civilian victims of hostile action. Ya'alon wrote : "On Remembrance Day the Israeli nation, as one big family, bows its head and unites with the memories of all of the fallen of Israel's wars, as a moral obligation to those who in their death commanded us to live. So that we may be worthy of them." The memorial computer application, created by the Defense Ministry, makes it possible for every visitor to its website to light a candle, to dedicate a personal message and to share it with others. Israel will mark Remembrance Day this year by honoring 116 recently fallen soldiers and civilians who lost their lives in the past year. Of the 116 who lost their lives, 66 soldiers and five civilians were killed during Operation Protective Edge last summer. Two soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah missile attack in January. In addition, 35 IDF disabled veterans who succumbed to their wounds have been recognized as IDF fallen soldiers this year. There are some 553 soldiers, including Staff-Sergeant Oron Shaul who was killed in Gaza last summer, whose place of burial remains unknown. The Defense Ministry said that since 1948, there is a total of 9,753 bereaved families, 4,958 widows, and 2,049 orphans aged under 30. ~~~~ Ahead of Remembrance Day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted a Sunday meeting at his Jerusalem offices with IDF orphans, five of whom lost their fathers during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge. It was the third meeting organized with Prime Minister Netanyahu by the IDF Orphans Organization. Netanyahu and the children, aged eight to 16, talked about the tragedy of losing a close relative in war. "How do you feel when you send soldiers to the battlefield?" one boy asked. "I feel that I’m on the front lines with the soldiers and the commanders, and not like a prime minister sitting in an office," Netanyahu answered. "How did you feel when your brother [Yon Netanyahu] was killed in Entebbe?" asked Heut, whose father, Sargeant-Major Bayhesain Kshaun, was killed in Protective Edge. The prime minister said : "We were very close and it was very hard for me. I didn’t know how I would live. It turned out that life is like a river, which flows and leads you into new places. It will happen to you, too!" ~~~~~ Here are some details to help us better understand the Yom Hazikaron memorial day. It began unofficially with the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, and was enacted into law in 1963, the day preceding Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day). It is observed as a Memorial Day for soldiers who lost their lives in battle or while otherwise defending Israel. Yom Hazikaron is one of four new holidays that have been added to the Jewish national calendar since the creation of Israel. The other three are : Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Heroes and Martyrs' Day), Yom Ha'atzmaut (Independence Day), and Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day). Perhaps because most of the Israeli population has relatives or close friends who have died defending Israel, Yom Hazikaron is widely observed throughout all sectors of Israel, with the exception of most Arabs, lasting throughout the entire day. Places of entertainment are closed by law, and shops, restaurants and cafes are closed. Television and radio broadcast programs about Israeli wars and other programs that convey the somber mood of the day. The most widely recognized commemoration during Hazikaron, as on Yom HaShoah, is the sounding of an air raid siren for two minutes in the morning and evening, when all activity - including traffic on the highways - ceases. The first siren marks the beginning of Yom Hazikaron and the second is sounded prior to the public recitation of prayers in military cemeteries. Many public ceremonies are held throughout Israel, with special readings and poems recited. There is a national ceremony at the military cemetery on Mt. Herzl, where many of Israel's leaders and military are buried. There is a special memorial prayer and "El Maleh Rachamim" memorial prayer for members of the Israeli Defense Forces who died in the line of duty, which is read at many of the Yom Hazikaron ceremonies. In keeping with the Jewish tradition of recognizing joy in times of sadness and sadness in times of joy, Hazikaron's somber end heralds the beginning of the joyous and festive Yom Ha'atzmaut - Israel's Independence Day. ~~~~~ Dear readers, it is customary in the West to set aside a day to honor the country's war dead. Most Americans and Europeans, as most Israelis, have family members or friends who died in military service. It is a day to remember the great debt we owe to these heros who have selflessly given their lives to protect us. For Israel, as for America and France and Britain, the memories and pain are fresh because young men and women die every year as they serve in the military. But, Israel feels the additional anguish of being surrounded by enemies whose stated purpose is her destruction - "annihilation" as Iran and Hezbollah and Hamas put it. It is a great honor for me to know a group of these fearless Israeli soldiers. One of them was captured, beaten and shot last April. He managed to escape and was rescued by Israeli forces. He suffered for many months before dying -- a young man of 35 who had all of life ahead of him. But, he lives, not just on Yom Hazikaron, but every day, every hour, in the hearts of those who were privileged to know and love him. ~~~~~ "I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Memorial Day. I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it. We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did." ___US President Benjamin Harrison.