“I have no idea how we are going to get through this,” says Marcy Oster, mother of fallen soldier Amichai.
By: Judith Segaloff – Israel Today; israeltoday.co.il’
Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism) is always somber in Israel. Unlike Memorial Day in the United States, which combines parades, gun salutes and wreath laying with joyful barbecues, waterfront picnics and sales on summer sundries, our Memorial Day is solely a Day of Remembrance.
It is a day to commemorate slain soldiers and has been extended to civilian victims of terrorism. Cemeteries, public venues and television and radio broadcasts reflect the somber tones of the day. On Monday, the newly bereaved from the Oct. 7 massacre and friends and family of soldiers killed in the Gaza war will be experiencing the raw feelings of their first Memorial Day, while most of the Israeli public is likely to be thrust back to the collective trauma that began seven months ago.
“This year’s Yom Hazikaron is unique,” explains Marc Belzberg, founder of OneFamily, an NGO that supports victims of terrorism and their families. “Virtually every single person in Israel and many Jews around the world are connected in some way to at least one person who has been tragically killed on or since October 7. We all are feeling an iota of the loss that the bereaved feel every single day.”
cont’d…