Today is the second of the two solemn days of memory and mourning that Israel has this time of year. The first was Yom Hashoah or Holocaust Rememberance Day and this is the second one, the one that remembers, honors and mourns those soldiers who were killed defending the Land of Israel, over 23,000 of them and 57 alone from last Memorial Day. On this day Israel also honors those of its citizens and visitors who were killed by terrorists - stabbed, shot, burned, slammed by rocks, blown up - in their cars, buses, homes and streets, and even in foreign lands simply because they were Jews.
This is a day marked by stories of the dead, songs of appropriate content and in the late afternoon an ever growing anticipation of the oncoming Yom Haatzmaut, Israel's Independence Day. On the first day all is shut, the streets are quiet, and indoors the tears are flowing. Cemeteries are visited, flowers are laid at the grave site and all shops and restaurants are closed. Then suddenly in a matter of hours the mood changes and we celebrate that for which people have died and are still dying - our homeland, our own land once again, the land of our forefathers and the home for our eternal future.
Today Israel is under siege with the everpresent anti Semitism growing and rearing its ugly head once more in the open. Ukrainian Jews are contemplating having to leave their country, French Jews, Swedish Jews, and others are purchasing homes and apartments in Israel. Today we have an Israel and never again will there be another Shoah to be commemorated but there will always, unfortunately be a day of mourning for the ever present and ever growing list of sacrifices made in the name of defense and survival of the homeland.
So today and tomorrow keep these thoughts in mind and remember them when you read the papers and hear of more sacrificial lambs. Netzach Yisroel Lo Yishaker - the eternal life , the eternal guardian of the nation of Israelites does not lie and we will be here forever, strong and determined, proud of our heritage and our contributions to mankind.
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