April 28, 2009

• Yom Hazikaron – Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day

  
  Yom Hazikaron, the Israeli Memorial Day, is different in its character and mood from the American Memorial Day. For 24 hours (from sunset to sunset) all places of public entertainment (theaters, cinemas, nightclubs, pubs, etc.) are closed. The most noticed feature of the day is the sound of siren that is heard throughout the country twice, during which the entire nation observes a two-minutes “standstill” of all traffic and daily activities. The first siren marks the beginning of Memorial Day at 8:00 P.M., and the second is at 11:00 A.M., before the public recitation of prayers in the military cemeteries. All radio and television stations broadcast programs portraying the lives and heroic deeds of fallen soldiers. Most of the broadcasting time is devoted to Israeli songs that convey the mood of the day.

  Soldiers Fall in War
  G.E.A.

      “Soldiers fall in War”…
      “Civilians perish in defense”…
      Inanities masking more!
      All people – victims in the present tense.

      Sniper fire, madman’s ire,
      Frontal attack, slipped in from the back,
      The fallen, cut down in ignominy,
      By pervaders of hate’s homily.

      Piercing sorrow, numbed by tiredness – not years:
      The right to remember, love and cherish,
      The hope for peace at war with fears,
      As we dignify the memory of those who perish.

      Yitkadal – Grieve the girl who never grew,
      Veyitkadash – Weep for the son you hardly knew,
      Shmei – Mourn the wife, mother of few,
      Rabba – Bless the memory of a father true.
      Amen.

  Prayer for the Welfare of soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces

  May He who blessed our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, bless the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces who keep guard over Israel and cities of our Lord from the border with Lebanon to the Egyptian desert and from the Mediterranean Sea to the approach to the Arava, be they on land, air or sea.

  May the Almighty deliver us our enemies who arise against us, may the Holy One, blessed be He, preserve them and save them from all sorrow and peril, from danger and ill. May He send blessing and success in all their endeavors, may He deliver to them those who hate us and crown them with salvation and victory, so that the saying may be fulfilled through them, “For the Adonai Elohim, who walks with you and to fight your enemies for you and to save you”,  Amen.
  

  • 8:45 am
  • 1 Comment