Can a Memorial Day be happy? Isn’t the essence of the concept to reflect, to introspect, to national-spect? I find that with national-specting comes a bit of shame, a dash of pride and a whole lotta tears either way.
To some, Israeli and American Memorial Days might be categorized as fraternal twins, if related at all. [...]
This morning I donated blood at Hadassah hospital in Ein Kerem. The nurses who worked my veins were both Arab. I was curious to stay until the siren to see how the blood bank unit, including the nurses, would react but it was going to happen too late.
Instead I was driving along Herzog. It was [...]
A small community Yom HaZicaron tekes is unlike the others I’ve been to in Israel. There is something about it. Maybe it sounds strange, but it’s almost like the smallness makes it more intense. At the kotel or Rabin square, you know why you are there… Or you feel the obvious magnitude of the occasion.
Hundreds [...]
This is the time of year when the State of Israel has a chance to really look deep into the heart of herself and understand what condition she’s in. It’s the post-Pessach triangle of introspection: yesterday was Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and next week are Yom HaZicaron (Memorial Day) and Yom Haatzmaut (Independence Day).
When [...]