Thousands of Israelis flocked to military cemeteries on Wednesday to honor Memorial Day, in commemoration of fallen IDF soldiers and terror victims.
Arutz Sheva spoke with bereaved parents at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem to understand their perspectives on the national day of mourning.
"The whole country has made a decision, a class decision, that the country pays homage to those brave, brave soldiers and people who have given and given and given for the good of the Jewish people, for the good of the State of Israel - and the whole nation lowers its head in identification with this bravery and this willingness and desire to give - even to death," Rabbi Aryeh Weiss, father of fallen IDF soldier Shmuel Akiva Weiss, stated.
"For me it's very very strengthening," he added. "It doesn't come to take away the pain, there's nothing that can take away the pain [. . .] but what it does is, it helps me also connect to those historical sides of what's happening here and now and that my son was an active participant."
"You feel like people share in your grief," Leah Hefetz, whose son Joshua (Shuki) Hefetz fell while serving in the IDF, stated. "But the thing is, what we go through after this day, the suffering through the years, is very difficult."
Bereaved parent Joni Liwerant, whose son Uriel Peretz Liwerant fell while serving in the IDF, noted that, "for us, Remembrance Day is every day."
"There's always something that reminds us of our loved one," she said, adding that Memorial Day is more of a national expression of mourning than a personal experience.