Israel comes to standstill over fallen sons and daughters
JERUSALEM – At 8 p.m. on Sunday night, sirens sounded across the length and breadth of Israel as the country came to a one-minute standstill in remembrance of the nation's more than 25,000 soldiers who have died protecting it since independence was declared 76 years ago.
Some 600 names swelled that list since Oct. 7, 2023, as Israel struggles to overcome both an implacable enemy in Hamas and the reproach and scorn of much of the supposedly civilized world for its conduct during what Israel calls the "Swords of Iron War."
For a country whose national holiday rhythms are usually dictated by the Jewish calendar – marking the festivals of Passover, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot (Tabernacles) and so on – Israel's Memorial Day, known as Yom Hazikaron, comes as close as many secular people get to a religious experience. Already from the late afternoon, stores begin to close and flags fly at half-staff in preparation for the evening's somber ceremonies, which take place up and down the country, in every town and city.
At 11 a.m. the following day, a two-minute siren blares, and everyone stops what they are doing: Pedestrians come to a standstill and lower their heads, people stop their cars in the middle of the freeways and highways and get out and similarly bow their heads in quiet contemplation.
For many thousands, tears roll down cheeks as the persistent price for the need to fight for Israel's freedom is brought home, as an entire nation acknowledges the debt it owes – and the gratitude it must show. For such a noisy country, it is one of the few times that Israel falls completely silent.
And yet, there is an entirely different feel to this year's Memorial Day.
Not since the Declaration of Independence has the Israel Defense Force been involved in war against its enemies at the time when Memorial Day falls. Likewise, not since the 1948 war has the present and future of the country seemed so precarious. That statement does not feel hyperbolic to Israelis. With enemies surrounding the country, as well as nefarious elements within its borders, and the seeming withdrawal of the hand of allyship with its heretofore staunchest ally – the United States – Israelis have reason to feel pessimistic.
At the national memorial ceremony held in the plaza abutting the Western Wall, Israel's President Isaac Herzog gave a clear, emotional speech, full of pathos.
"We have no peace and we have no silence," he began.
"This year's siren is not the same as in previous ones. The siren that sounded at 6:29 a.m. on Simchat Torah on October 7th, and that heralded this ongoing tragedy, continues to sound from that day to this. The sound is one of national mourning."
The president added that he was standing among the ruins of the holy temple, with metaphorically ripped clothes – a symbol of Jewish mourning.
"That tearing is also synonymous with what has happened to the Jewish people since last Memorial Day," he said, also stating that he stood "in this holy place" in solidarity with the families of the hostages. "During these national days, we will not forget for a second the power of the positive commandment to repatriate captives. The entire nation is with you. We must find inner fortitude and choose life; to not rest until they are all returned home."
Herzog spoke movingly about the story of two reservists – Yonatan Steinberg and Col. Roei Levi – killed in the current fighting, and for whom the defense of their country, despite having completed their mandatory service, was a burning imperative. They took their weapons from their homes to the kibbutzim in the south, and fought for their own lives and those of their countrymen and women … until their ammunition ran out. Levi, who was born in the United States, was wounded during 2014's Protective Edge War. He was rehabilitated and recovered, only to lose his life fighting against the same enemy 10 years later. Their graves lie next to each other on Mt. Herzl – Israel's version of Arlington National Cemetery – two of the more than 130 graves that have been added there since Oct. 7.
In other years when the country is not at war, the transition from Memorial Day to Independence Day is always an emotional one: from sorrow to joy, from gratitude to celebration, from understanding the price of what independence meant – and continues to mean – to beholding the value the country places upon it.
This year it is different, however.
Many people have wondered openly whether it is appropriate to celebrate, given what has befallen the Jewish people over the last seven months. To paraphrase Britain's war-time leader Winston Churchill: While there is no sense that this is the beginning of the end, 76 years into its reconstituted existence, this may be the end of Israel's beginning. And, all here await to see what kind of country will emerge.
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