The Jewish Agency for Israel on Monday, 5 Iyar, Memorial Day, will hold a ceremony for Jews murdered in attacks around the world. The event will take place at 9:00AM in the plaza of the Jewish Agency headquarters building (48 King George Street) in Jerusalem:
This year’s ceremony will center on victims of terror attacks in Belgium; the Ambassador of Belgium will be in attendance; approximately 200 Jews have been murdered in anti-Semitic attacks abroad since Israel’s establishment in 1948
The annual Yom HaZikaron ceremony memorializing Jews murdered in anti-Semitic attacks around the world, along with fallen Israeli servicemen and women and Israeli victims of terror, will take place this Monday at 09:00 in the plaza of the Jewish Agency headquarters building in Jerusalem.
This year’s ceremony will center on the victims of terror attacks that have taken place in Belgium over the years, including Professor Joseph Wybran, a world-renowned immunologist and leader of the Belgian Jewish community murdered in 1989, and Mira and Emmanuel Riva, the Israeli couple killed in the terror attack at the Jewish Museum of Brussels in 2014. Wybran’s widow and her son will participate in the ceremony, as will Mira and Emmanuel Riva’s daughters, Mira’s siblings, and Emmanuel’s twin brother.
The ceremony is being hosted by The Jewish Agency for Israel in partnership with the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), Keren Hayesod-UIA, The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), and Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA (JFC-UIA).
The ceremony will be attended by Chairman of the Executive of The Jewish Agency Natan Sharansky, Ambassador of Belgium to Israel Olivier Belle, Chairman of the World Zionist Organization Avraham Duvdevani, Chairman of the KKL-JNF Board of Directors Danny Atar, JFNA Senior Vice President for Global Operations and Director General of the JFNA Israel Office Rebecca Caspi, Director General of the JFC-UIA Israel Office Yossi Tanuri, CEO and Director General of The Jewish Agency for Israel Alan Hoffmann, and representatives of the Belgian immigrant community in Israel.
According to Jewish Agency data, some 200 Jews have been murdered in anti-Semitic attacks around the world since Israel’s establishment in 1948. Their names appear on a memorial that will be placed in the plaza for the duration of the ceremony.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
This “back door” acknowledging of non-halachic commemorations of those who lost their lives will ultimately not work. (I’m just waiting to see how YWN will “celebrate” the upcoming Israeli Independence Day tonight/tomorrow.) Instead of following the Jewish practice of commemorating the departed on their yahrzeit, Israeli “Memorial Day” — following non-Jewish custom, attempts to transfer the yahrzeit date of the fallen to one day of “national honoring and remembrance.” While I suppose it doesn’t harm the neshamos of the deceased to say Tehillim and perhaps a “Kel Molei” for them on a different day than their yahrzeit, it surely is not the “elevation of their souls” (“iluyi nishmasam”) that is accomplished on a yahrzeit.
I make the same comment for your extensive reporting of the so-called “Chareidi Memorial” ceremony that was held in the Beis HaChaim in Bnei Brak on Sunday.
No Chareidi rav follows or supports these practices and no Chareidi publication in E.Y. gives any substantial reports about this non-halachic commemoration. I am not saying I do not acknowledge the sacrifices made by the fallen. I’m just saying that frum Jews should advocate maintaining Jewish customs that are in line with halacha and our traditions.
YWN will not succeed in re-making the Chareidi tzibbur here in E.Y. The outcome instead will be alienating itself even more from mainstream Chareidi life and hashkafa. This would really be unfortunate. YWN is able to change that. Just like you changed the layout of the website.