With a one-minute siren at 8:00 pm, Israel's Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims began tonight. The first ceremony was at the Western Wall.Flowers and a small flag with black ribbon were placed on the graves of all the fallen soldiers by the Defense Ministry. Tomorrow there will be many ceremonies at the many military cemeteries.
It is the saddest of days, when we all feel a need to come together, to support one another in the loss of our 22,684 dead.
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A sad day, indeed...
ReplyDeleteThe number is so high and it is sad that the world doesn't care as much as it should. We lost thousands at 9/11 and someway the politicians of the opposite party want to diminish the event and not even recognize the loss of so many lives as if each life was not significant. I worry about our human state.
ReplyDeleteVery sad. Your post is a significant tribute, Dina.
ReplyDeleteSad, but good to be united in sadness to remember those who gave all they had for Israel's freedom.
ReplyDeleteWhy the flowers?
I thought it was customary to place small rocks on Jewish Graves. Is this custom changing?
What impressed me during my visits in Israel was the way the sadness and remembrance of Yom Hazikaron faded with the daylight, changing quickly in the joy and the happiness for Yom Hazmaut.
ReplyDeleteI remember a late afternoon concert near City Hall where the first part was sombre and sad and the second, after dusk, absolutely joyous and mad.
Thank you Cloudia. Aloha.
ReplyDeleteJew Wishes, yes, as a nation we have so many sad days.
L.D. Burgus, really? That's sad.
Israel dedicated a nice memorial to the Sept. 11 victims just a few months ago.
Pietro, thank you for saying that.
Adira, that is a good question. I just realize now that the Establishment who placed the flowers is going against Jewish tradition. I guess the families who come to the graves want to see something softer than stones.
Not everything that is outside the tradition is bad.
The ultra-Orthodox would not do flowers, I think just because it looks too Christian.
VP, wow, so you were right in the middle of the sudden switch.
Dina, I just came over from Leif's blog: congratulations on the coming birth of your granddaughter. You will have so much fun with her! Better to start out with good news, but now a comment on your post today. I am so sorry that the turmoil in your country, which I have visited and loved, seems to be ongoing and without a clear view of peace for the future. Far too many lives lost, and I will light a candle in their honour right now. Peace!
ReplyDeleteKate, thank you! A candle--that is very touching.
ReplyDeleteMy sympathy and prayers for all their loved ones, and for Israel.
ReplyDeleteWhen will it all stop? :'(
Taken in the context of the small size of the Jewish population on the earth (barely 2%), the number of fallen (22,000+) is proportionately huge. We need to think of it in this context to keep their sacrifice in the appropriate perspective.
ReplyDeleteWe have a jewish cemetery in East Los Angeles. All the great movie moguls are buried there. Same kind of graves ((sitting a bit above ground). Jews don't bury they're dead there anymore and it tends to be empty. I would occasionally find a stone placed on top. Hard times in the 90's. Hooligans were spraying anti-semite stuff on them. I hear much less about such antics these days.
ReplyDeleteWonderful tribute, Dina!
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