Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut

In Israel, Remembrance Day (Yom Hazikaron) for the fallen in our 6 wars, is
immediately followed by Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut). Yom Hazikaron
was commemorated last night with a National ceremony at the Western Wall
Plaza in Jerusalem, officiated at by President Katsav. It continued today
with ceremonies at all 45 military cemeteries around the country. There were
two separate minutes of silence, one last night at 8 pm and one today at 11
am. These commemorate the 138 members of all the security forces who were
killed in the past year (May 2005-May 2006), as well as the 22,123 known to
have been killed since 1860, when the first Jews settled outside the walls of
the Old City of Jerusalem. One notable feature of the National ceremony was
that the first soldier specifically mentioned who died last year was a Druse,
and his family was present and his sister lit the National flame that burns
for Memorial Day.
In addition, for the first time there were special ceremonies for the 45
civilians killed by terrorism in the past year, as well as the 794 civilians
murdered since 2000 in the latest wave of Palestinian terrorism (this does not
include the active duty security personnel who were also killed). Of those
killed, 18% were children and 18% new immigrants. This is the price we pay
for our freedom. There was also a special ceremony by the Jewish Agency for
the 200 Jews murdered because they were Jews outside Israel in the Diaspora.
This included those killed in two explosions at synagogues in Turkey, as well
as Ilan Halimi who was tortured and murdered in Paris.
It is characteristic of Jews to remember this price and to mourn our losses,
and then to immediately at 8 pm tonite (in an hour from now) transform
ourselves in order to celebrate the precious independence of our State. There
will as usual be a national celebration that will be televised, as well as
firework celebrations in most cities. We are going out tonite with a group of
friends, as we have done for several years, to a restaurant to eat, drink and
enjoy the fireworks. We discovered by experience that it doesn't pay to be
too close, sometimes pieces of firework or sparklers thrown in the crowd
can hit you, so now we keep our distance, but remain close enough to see
the show.
This year there are two special changes, the total population of Israel passed
7 million, which with 20% Arabs, means that there are ca. 5.6 million Jews.
As such, Israel now has the largest Jewish population in the world, having
passed that of the USA last year. In the past year there were 21,000
immigrants, mostly from the former Soviet Union, France and Argentina, and the
rest by natural increase. The total population increase of 70,000 in a year is
the excess of births over deaths and immigration over emigration. We have a
lot to worry about, but also a whole lot to be thankful for. Yom Ha'atzmaut
sameach!