Yom Hazikaron 5766 (i)
Yom Hazikaron is placed very very appropriately in the Jewish calendar: during the Omer – between Pesach and Shavuot, where the process of growing, building one day upon the next is highlighted.
Yom Hazikaron is on the day right before Yom Ha’atzmaut.
The American version of Memorial Day is punctuated by picnics, outings and mattress sales. For most of us - and we are extremely fortunate that this is so - the American version of Memorial Day is not a sad or somber day. We go about our business - happy to have a long weekend off from school and from work. It's not a sad day because - and again, we are very fortunate that this is so - most of us do not know someone who gave his or her life in the armed services. Most of us do not even know a family that lost a loved one in an American war.
It is perhaps for this reason that the American version of Memorial Day is separated from Independence Day by more than a month.
Israel - Israelis – Jews - do not have that luxury. First Yom Hazikaron, then Yom Haatzmaut. The festivity is predicated on retrospection: First we remember, reflect… then we celebrate, rejoice. Whatever we do, we remember that our lives are being spared because of the blood spilled before us.
Just before Yom Haatzmaut, we remember that though we rejoice and delight in the rebuilding of our country – our homeland – was built with the blood of our friends: sons and daughters who will never see their parents, the fathers and mothers who will never see their children.
Today, we grieve for our communal loss; we recognize what it took and what it takes to build our home; we appreciate the contributions that were made and that are continually made by the men and women of Tzahal.
And we think about the sacrifice that thousands – millions - have made for Eretz Yisrael. And we think about what sacrifice each of us can make in our daily lives to dedicate our lives to the ideals and ideas that these soldiers lived and died for.
And we think: for what would we be willing to die? For what do we live?
In many ways, it is just as important to live as a Jew, as it is to die as a Jew.
May Hashem comfort the families of the thousands of young men who died al kiddush Hashem. Min Hashamayim t’nachamu.
Yom Hazikaron is on the day right before Yom Ha’atzmaut.
The American version of Memorial Day is punctuated by picnics, outings and mattress sales. For most of us - and we are extremely fortunate that this is so - the American version of Memorial Day is not a sad or somber day. We go about our business - happy to have a long weekend off from school and from work. It's not a sad day because - and again, we are very fortunate that this is so - most of us do not know someone who gave his or her life in the armed services. Most of us do not even know a family that lost a loved one in an American war.
It is perhaps for this reason that the American version of Memorial Day is separated from Independence Day by more than a month.
Israel - Israelis – Jews - do not have that luxury. First Yom Hazikaron, then Yom Haatzmaut. The festivity is predicated on retrospection: First we remember, reflect… then we celebrate, rejoice. Whatever we do, we remember that our lives are being spared because of the blood spilled before us.
Just before Yom Haatzmaut, we remember that though we rejoice and delight in the rebuilding of our country – our homeland – was built with the blood of our friends: sons and daughters who will never see their parents, the fathers and mothers who will never see their children.
Today, we grieve for our communal loss; we recognize what it took and what it takes to build our home; we appreciate the contributions that were made and that are continually made by the men and women of Tzahal.
And we think about the sacrifice that thousands – millions - have made for Eretz Yisrael. And we think about what sacrifice each of us can make in our daily lives to dedicate our lives to the ideals and ideas that these soldiers lived and died for.
And we think: for what would we be willing to die? For what do we live?
In many ways, it is just as important to live as a Jew, as it is to die as a Jew.
May Hashem comfort the families of the thousands of young men who died al kiddush Hashem. Min Hashamayim t’nachamu.
posted by T.Y.I.I. at
Monday, May 01, 2006
3 Comments:
Shloimetas: Your post was very heartfelt! It is true what you say about the life of a Jew. We break the glass before we can truly have our simcha at the wedding. We go through the teshuvah process before we can be forgiven. We have the three weeks and the nine days before we can have Shabbat Nachamu. We have Taanit Esther before we can have Purim. We have a brit milah before we can rejoice in becoming part of the Jewish people. We have tough weeks, before Shabbat, and finally we have all of the tests of this world before the ultimate goodness of Olam Haemet. We have Tzar Gidul Banim before bringing out children to the chupah and yes we have all too many losses in order to have Arzeinu Hakedosha. But the good part is that I think as an "Am" we can truly appreciate Ha-shem's goodness on a very special level (because of all that we have been through together) when we take the time to do it. Enjoy Yom Haatzmaut ...you and your family certainly have earned that right!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the comment. The switch from Remembrance Day to Independence Day is so fast. I most certainly agree with what you wrote. And then.... it was really, really fast. Our school went to one of the military cemeteries outside Yerushalayim. To prepare them, we went to a powerful website (http://www.izkor.gov.il/) and printed the stories of soldiers that died in various wars that were buried there and that studied in our school or lived near it. They found the graves and looked at their ages.... It was so moving. And then, before we knew it, we were singing and dancing and saying Tehillim all at night. It was really fast and hard for me to make the transition.
It really is a hard transition. I remember many years ago when a first cousin of mine was tragically killed in a car accident. The levaya was on chol hamoed Sukkot. I forced myself to go to shul on Simchat Torah. That time I couldn't make the transition. Hard as I tried, I had to leave shul and go home. I felt that staying there in such a grieved state could end up upsetting others.
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