I’ve written before about the powerful and emotional 48
hours in Israel from the start of Memorial Day until the end of Independence
Day. This year I was even luckier
to experience the days, and the transition, in the army. For Memorial Day I attended two
ceremonies, one on our Foreign Relations base near Tel Aviv and one on my
base. During both ceremonies it
was very meaningful for me to be standing in my uniform while listening to the
prayers or stories of past wars or fallen heroes. There are few things more powerful than the one minute long sirens that sound at sundown when Memorial Day begins and at 10am the next morning. The whole country stops to remember and reflect no matter where they are; driving on the highway, on a bus, at work, eating, or anywhere else, in unison everyone stops and stands for a moment of silence while the sound of the siren is heard throughout every part of the country.
Memorial Day in Israel is
much more…close, than in the US, at least for me. More than a few of the guys
in my high school graduated and went on to armed services in the US military of
some sort, a neighbor, friends of my sister, the number of people I know is not
few, including my grandfather who spent his entire career in the US Navy, but I
was, and am not close enough with any of these people to understand their
experience and to feel the impact, unfortunately. In Israel military service is mandatory, and therefore many
people have been involved in (too) many wars, which have been fought over the
land here, even if you only count starting at the Independence War in
1948. To say that everyone had a
story, a family member, a friend, or a friend of the family that has fallen in
battle or been affected by terror attacks is unfortunately not an
understatement. Knowing this, you can only imagine the type of emotions that
arise on Israeli Memorial Day.
As I mentioned, Memorial Day begins at sundown and ends at sundown the next
day, leading directly into Independence Day. 64 years and counting! Israel had
come so incredibly far in 64 years, but one cannot ignore how far the country
still has to go. There is room for improvement in many aspects of life here
including but not limited to bureaucracy, the education system, the religious
vs democratic conundrum, and extremely low job salaries. One cannot forget all
of the achievement though; the second best military in the world, including an
incredible air force, the highest number of start-ups per capita world-wide,
world renowned inventions in agriculture and high-tech, as well as many more.
And have you seen the size of this place on a map? You might have missed it,
it’s about the size of New Jersey, a little narrower and longer, population
something around 7 million. What a country to be proud of!
I chose to spend this Independence Day in the army, even
though I could have gone home for the celebrations. It was more meaningful to
me this year to skip the crazy partying and celebrate with my friends and
commanders on base. We had an amazing barbeque, played games, and took a time
out to reflect on what being Israeli and/or Zionistic means to us. I enjoyed that
this time the focus wasn’t on what being Jewish means to us but instead
Israeli, remembering that not all Israeli’s are Jewish, and appreciating that.
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