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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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