Melissa Marcus (Youth Council Chairman), Josh Todes (Bnei Akiva), Sofi Zway (Netzer) and Mikaela Kagan (Habonim) at Yom Hazikaron.
Yom Hazikaron is always a deeply moving and meaningful time in Israel and the Jewish world, when we commemorate and honour Israel’s brave fallen soldiers of war.
It is a time of reflection and gratitude as we pay tribute to those who serve steadfastly in the IDF in order to preserve the safety and security for all Israeli citizens.
This year’s memorial service took place at the Albow Centre and was run by the South African Zionist Federation and the SAZF Youth Council. Guests were greeted by a visual walkway made up of biographies of soldiers who have fallen in battle, accompanied by audio visual projector displays showcasing documentaries on individuals KIA (killed in action).
Proceedings were coordinated by the head of the Youth Council, Melissa Marcus, and included deeply moving personal accounts of battle-hardened IDF soldiers Shavit Rissin, an Israeli; and Michael Snape, a South African. Their harrowing stories exemplified the values of brotherhood, unity and nationhood. These are all needed to preserve Jewish life in a never-ending struggle for security, both internally and externally, in the state of Israel.
Michael Snape discussed his experience of Yom Hazikaron in Israel. “I went to the official ceremony at the Kotel, and after that just walked around the city to gather my thoughts. I recalled the ceremonies that I had attended in South Africa, where a small group of people, a fraction of the community, would have been there. But in Israel this is the national day of mourning. How can life just carry on when you buried someone special to you?” he asked.
Continuing, Michael described how no shop or institution was open on Yom Hazikaron in Israel. “Not one shop, of any kind. The streets were deserted, eerily so. There was none of gaiety usually found in Jerusalem, but rather a pall of sadness that had descended upon the city. It was then that I realised that every Israeli has lost someone, or knows someone who has lost a loved one, in one of Israel’s wars. A son, a father, a brother, or a best friend. There was pain behind people’s eyes, but there was also a feeling of a shared burden and the collective suffering of a country united,” he said.
