The ceremonies are taking place in 43 military cemeteries throughout the country.
The central ceremony is taking place at Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem, with the participation of bereaved families, President Moshe Katzav, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin, Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak, ministers, MK, and others. A ceremony took place at the Western Wall plaza last night.
Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz is taking part at the ceremony in Kiryat Sha'ul Military Cemetery in Tel Aviv.
At 4 PM, a public memorial will be held for the victims of the pre-State underground and those who were hanged by the British. It will take place at the old Acre Prison in the north, where a museum for the period is located.
At 8 PM, a torch-lighting ceremony at Mt. Herzl will both end Memorial Day and kick off Independence Day celebrations.
It was the late Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren who made the decision to institute Israel's Memorial Day immediately before Independence Day. He explained Memorial Day's significance as follows:
"We view the warriors who fall in battle as those who sprout forth life. The life of a nation grew out of this blood... This day must be more than mourning: We must remember, we must grieve, but it must be a day of ... majesty and vision."
Speaking last night at a memorial in Jerusalem, Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin said that the building of Zion might comfort the bereaved. "For 2,000 years," he said, "ever since we were exiled from our Land, Jews are comforted during times of mourning and loss, by the hope of the building of Zion and Jerusalem. [Consolers say to mourners, 'May G-d comfort you amongst the other mourners for Zion and Jerusalem' - ed.] ... The building of Zion and Jerusalem was always something dreamlike and far-off, inconceivable and beyond imagination...
"Yet today, our generation, the generation of revival, has merited to realize, with its own hands, this 2,000-year-old dream. We have merited that which our fathers never did: We have merited freedom, we have merited sovereignty, we have merited independence, we have merited the building of Zion and Jerusalem - and we have merited 'the beginning of the sprouting of our Redemption.'
"But our redemption has been acquired at the price of much blood - the blood of your sons, dear families. Every year, we stand silent before you, trying to ease your pain, trying to comfort.
"But really, how can you be comforted? How can we comfort a mother whose son has been cut off from her, whose world has become darkened, who physically feels the terrible pain of a cut-off limb that refuses to heal?... The answer is, 'In Jerusalem may you be comforted!' Look around you and see the consolation! 'Lift up your eyes and look around and see, they have all gathered and come to you.' (Isaiah 60)
"Look at Jerusalem, our holy city, the great capital of the State of Israel, that will celebrate tomorrow 57 years of its independence! See the elderly men and women in its streets, with cane in hand as a sign of their many years! See the streets filled with children playing! Look at the six million Jews - what a terrible number, and what a wondrous number! - living here, free in their nation! It is all in your merit, in the merit of the education you gave your children, and in the merit of the courage and self-sacrifice that you imbued within them... Perhaps this has an iota of comfort. We can only salute you and thank you. 'May death be swallowed up forever, and may Hashem wipe the tears off of every face.' (Isaiah 25)
The central ceremony is taking place at Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem, with the participation of bereaved families, President Moshe Katzav, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin, Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak, ministers, MK, and others. A ceremony took place at the Western Wall plaza last night.
Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz is taking part at the ceremony in Kiryat Sha'ul Military Cemetery in Tel Aviv.
At 4 PM, a public memorial will be held for the victims of the pre-State underground and those who were hanged by the British. It will take place at the old Acre Prison in the north, where a museum for the period is located.
At 8 PM, a torch-lighting ceremony at Mt. Herzl will both end Memorial Day and kick off Independence Day celebrations.
It was the late Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren who made the decision to institute Israel's Memorial Day immediately before Independence Day. He explained Memorial Day's significance as follows:
"We view the warriors who fall in battle as those who sprout forth life. The life of a nation grew out of this blood... This day must be more than mourning: We must remember, we must grieve, but it must be a day of ... majesty and vision."
Speaking last night at a memorial in Jerusalem, Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin said that the building of Zion might comfort the bereaved. "For 2,000 years," he said, "ever since we were exiled from our Land, Jews are comforted during times of mourning and loss, by the hope of the building of Zion and Jerusalem. [Consolers say to mourners, 'May G-d comfort you amongst the other mourners for Zion and Jerusalem' - ed.] ... The building of Zion and Jerusalem was always something dreamlike and far-off, inconceivable and beyond imagination...
"Yet today, our generation, the generation of revival, has merited to realize, with its own hands, this 2,000-year-old dream. We have merited that which our fathers never did: We have merited freedom, we have merited sovereignty, we have merited independence, we have merited the building of Zion and Jerusalem - and we have merited 'the beginning of the sprouting of our Redemption.'
"But our redemption has been acquired at the price of much blood - the blood of your sons, dear families. Every year, we stand silent before you, trying to ease your pain, trying to comfort.
"But really, how can you be comforted? How can we comfort a mother whose son has been cut off from her, whose world has become darkened, who physically feels the terrible pain of a cut-off limb that refuses to heal?... The answer is, 'In Jerusalem may you be comforted!' Look around you and see the consolation! 'Lift up your eyes and look around and see, they have all gathered and come to you.' (Isaiah 60)
"Look at Jerusalem, our holy city, the great capital of the State of Israel, that will celebrate tomorrow 57 years of its independence! See the elderly men and women in its streets, with cane in hand as a sign of their many years! See the streets filled with children playing! Look at the six million Jews - what a terrible number, and what a wondrous number! - living here, free in their nation! It is all in your merit, in the merit of the education you gave your children, and in the merit of the courage and self-sacrifice that you imbued within them... Perhaps this has an iota of comfort. We can only salute you and thank you. 'May death be swallowed up forever, and may Hashem wipe the tears off of every face.' (Isaiah 25)