(Memorial Day) יום הזכרון

The past week has been packed with holidays, both solemn and festive. Last Thursday was יום השואה (Holocaust Remembrance Day), followed this Wednesday by יום הזכרון (Israel's Memorial Day) and this Thursday by יום העצמאות (Israel's Independence Day). This Independence Day was an especially big deal because it marks the sixtieth anniversary of Israel's founding in 1948 -- but more about that in my next post.

Here, as in the United States, Memorial Day honors the men and women who have died in military service to the country. In Israel, that includes members of pre-state military organizations (like the Haganah and Irgun) and civilians murdered by terrorism. This year, Israel commemorated 22,437 lives lost in the line of duty (65 of them in the past year) and 1,634 civilian terror victims.

In accordance with the Jewish calendar, the day began Tuesday evening. At 8:00 p.m., sirens sounded throughout the country for one minute. As on יום השואה (Holocaust Remembrance Day), people stopped whatever they were doing during that minute to stand in silence in honor of the dead. I was walking home from the laundromat when the siren sounded, and I put down my load of laundry and stood silently on the sidewalk, head bowed, along with other people on the street. There was an official ceremony afterwards in Rabin Square; A. and I did not attend, but we watched it on television. The next morning at 11:00, sirens again sounded for two minutes; I stood on the balcony of our apartment, below which traffic came to a stop and drivers stood beside their cars. Throughout the day, from Tuesday evening till nightfall on Wednesday, the mood was somber.

For most people in this tiny little republic, where nearly everyone knows someone (a friend, a sibling, a child, a spouse, or a parent) who was killed in the line of duty, Memorial Day has a deeply personal meaning. In that respect, it seems to me, it's different from the United States, with its far larger population and its all-volunteer army, where nowadays many people have no direct connection to military service or sacrifice.