Page 9 - HaMizrachi 1 Chicago Edition
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Rabbanit Rachelle Fraenkel
           Memorial



           Day




                  our  years ago,  my  son Naftali           עובש לש שרפהב              the collection of facts, a volume on a shelf.
                  was murdered by Palestinian                                           Memory  is  an  experience,  an  identity  –
           F terrorists. 1                             ,הָנ ָשׁ ל ָכּ םי ִכוּמ ְ ס ןוֹר ָכּ ִז י ֵמְי יֵנ ְ שׁ  constantly alive, forming, and being formed.
                                                               יִלָל ְ כּ ַה בוּׁשּ ִח ַה ת ַבוֹטְל
           Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day             הָני ִד ְ מ ם ִע וּנָל הָלוֹע ה ָמּ ַכּ  When we are commanded to remember
           for Fallen Soldiers and Terror Victims)              .יִל ְ בּ וּנָל הָלוֹע ה ָמּ ַכְו  the Exodus from Egypt, we do so
           was initiated in recognition of terror being                                 through dozens of practical mitzvot
           an integral part of the ongoing war against                    ךילרא רוצ     (commandments) – actions or thoughts
           Israel’s very existence.                A Week Apart                         that shape our memory, which in turn
                                                                                        creates our consciousness, which then
           Nevertheless, my own Yom HaZikaron has   Two adjacent memorial days,         reshapes our actions, and builds our society.
           hardly changed since the murder.        Lest there ever be any doubt:
                                                   What we sacrifice when we have a state,   Our memory is a living memory.
           Sure, life has changed. Every day of it… but
           Yom HaZikaron has hardly changed at all.   And what we sacrifice without.    A memory that builds life.
                                                   Tzur Ehrlich
           It did not suddenly become mine. Because   (Translation: Yiftach Ofek)       And when we gather to honor the names
           it always was mine. I always knew Yom                                        and faces we have known, it is not a
           HaZikaron was mine; ours, the closest                                        macabre memorial or an addiction to pain.
           thing to a sacred day a secular calendar can   You don’t have to lose a loved one to feel   Our collective mission is to assure that life
           produce.                              that this date is part of your personal and   in Israel will be better. In their merit, the
                                                 family calendar. We are a small society, and   memory of their love will be embedded
           Why? Because my parents made Aliyah   everyone knows a fallen soldier, a terror   in our caring for others; their passions will
           before I was born, and I had the privilege of   victim or a bereaved family.   live through our sincere but also loving and
           growing up in Israel.                                                        respectful disputes.
                                                 Everyone knows it could have been them
           This day of remembrance was never     or their loved ones…                   Their sacrifice brings us closer together.
           meant to be a tribute to or a time for the                                   Their memory shapes our life.
           bereaved families. We never felt it was   Year after year, a diverse and oft-divided
           commemorating someone else’s loss.    Israeli society stands in solidarity around   Jews everywhere connect to the pulse
                                                 the shared memory of the price we pay for   of the  State of Israel  through the news,
           In Israel, Memorial Day is the time we   the right to exist.                 through  prayers,  through the Jewish
         "                                       will always cherish and celebrate life rather   beforehand, we stand together, united
                                                                                        calendar. We all join to celebrate the
           congregate around the loss we all experience.
                                                                                        miracle of independence, but just moments
                                                 Yet our culture is not one of martyrdom. We
                                                                                        in awe and reflection, remembering the
                                                 than death. And when we remember, we
                                                 remember in totality, in depth, and in context
                                                                                        price, the promise… and how precious the
           Yet our culture is not
                                                                                        mission is that still lies ahead.
                                                 – a few days after Yom HaShoah (Holocaust
           a culture of martyrs.
           We will always prefer,
                                                 the joy of independence. Read Tzur Ehrlich’s
                                                                                        1
                                                                                        Naftali Fraenkel was kidnapped and murdered together
                                                 poem  on  this page, which  expresses  this
           cherish, and                          Remembrance Day); a few moments before   _____________________________
                                                                                        with Gilad Shear and Eyal Yifrach.
                                                 juxtaposition so poignantly.
           celebrate life                                                               Rabbanit Rachelle Fraenkel is
           rather than death                     Educator Avraham Infeld says, “Jews have   a Torah  educator at Nishmat
                                                 no history. They have a memory.” History is   and Matan
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