Yom HaZikaron in Jerusalem
While Memorial Day holidays for fallen soldiers
and casualties of war are as necessary for countries as a national flag
and a national beer, in much of the world, those dead soldiers are an
abstraction, their sacrifices and their conflicts long consigned to
history - which is why in the United States, say, the majority of the
population associates Memorial Day with mall sales and barbecues rather
than rows of white crosses standing silent vigil above the beaches of
Normandy.
Israelis, however, do not have the luxury of that level of removal, for Israel
was born by war and has been plagued by war ever since, and in many ways, the
war that was the country's founding spasm has never truly ended, only
varied in intensity over the decades. This ceaseless conflict, coupled
with compulsory military service and a small population, means that no
Israeli is ever separated by more than a degree or two from a casualty,
whether a fallen soldier or victim of terror. Thus, Israel's Memorial Day
(Yom HaZikaron) answers a pervasive societal need to account for and remember the dead,
and as such, is marked by a pervasive national grief that might
surprise a visitor from a country where Memorial Day is mostly just a
day off.
Much like Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Day) the week before, Yom HaZikaron is marked by
ceremonies and sirens. At 20:00 on the 4th of Iyar, a one-minute siren
rings across the country, and both pedestrian and vehicle traffic come
to a stop. An official ceremony at the Western Wall brings together
politicians, soldiers, war veterans and family members of fallen
soldiers and victims of terrorist actions, and the flag is lowered to
half-mast.
At 11:00 the next morning, the siren rings again, this time for two
minutes. Emotionally charged ceremonies continue at Israel's military
cemeteries and community centers, in particular Jerusalem's Mount Herzl Cemetery, where
families of fallen solders gather to mourn their losses.
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