Sunday, the 7th of the Hebrew month of Adar, marks the date of death of Moses (Moshe Rabbeinu), whose burial place was purposely left unknown (Deut. 34:6) – and is Israel’s official Memorial Day for Soldiers Whose Burial Place is Unknown.
The date was set by the IDF’s Chief Rabbinate. Every year on this date, at a designated spot in Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery, a ceremony is held commemorating the more than 190 fallen fighters whose names are engraved upon a memorial wall. Of these, 120 were killed in the War of Independence in 1948-9.
At today’s ceremony were President Shimon Peres, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, and others.
Today is also the day on which members of the Chevra Kadisha burial societies throughout Israel customarily fast. This, as a sign of mourning for all those who have died but were not properly buried or whose graves are unknown, and as atonement for any offense they might possibly have caused to the dead. “Kvod HaMet,” respect for the dead, is a value of utmost importance in Judaism.
In honor of the date, a large-scale prayer service will be held at midnight tonight at the gravesite of Moses’ understudy and leader of the Jewish People, Joshua bin Nun. Buses will gather outside the Kifl Al-Hares village, just outside Ariel in the Shomron, and the army will protect the worshipers until 3 a.m.
Among the soldiers whose burial place is unknown are the 23 "Yordei HaSirah," Palmach fighters who disappeared in 1941 while on a military mission to Lebanon, as well as the 69 submariners aboard the Dakar, which sunk in 1968.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman were born on this date, in 1895 and 1942, respectively. Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Goldvicht, Dean of Israel’s first Hesder yeshiva, Kerem B’Yavneh, died on this date in 1995, and Israel’s first government was presented to the Knesset by David Ben-Gurion on this date in 1949.