Yom Ha’Zikaron

1.

Before the lights go on and the party begins, we are here to remember.

Not only to remember – but to salute to those who have made it possible for us. Possible for us to come home after 2000 years.

2000 years of wandering. We have finally returned to the land that is legally ours: To Israel.

“Eretz Yisrael niknet be’yeisurim” – We never thought it would be easy. But we have succeeded.

“I am in the west but my heart calls to the East”, said Rabbi Yehuda Halevi. Even though we are so far away, we feel the pain and commemorate you every day.

2. (Song in background)

In another week I'll be 23. On me, on us, the young men of Israel, rests the duty of keeping our country safe. This is a heavy responsibility, which matures us early... I do not regret what I have done and what I'm about to do. I'm convinced that what I am doing is right. I believe in myself, in my country and in my future. (Yoni Netanyahu - 1969, on his decision to return to enlist in the IDF)

Power point + music begins.

3. Eitan Mordechai Neuman – Zichrono Livracha

Only 20 years old.

Grew up in Ramot – Yerushalaim.

Was a devoted Madrich in Bnei Akiva, and served in an elite division of the Giva’ati Brigade.

4. Ari Weiss – Zichrono Livracha
By Ze'ev Bielski, the mayor of Ra'anana

On Tuesday, with pain in our hearts and tears in our eyes, we accompanied your son, grandson, and brother Ari on his final journey, 10 years after you made aliya from Dallas in the US.

I, who was born here, never had the opportunity to make that choice. It was always obvious to me that this is my country and my homeland. You made aliya out of choice.

Just two weeks ago, Ari's smiling face shone out of the pages of The Jerusalem Post. At his side were his mother Susie, younger brother Yedidya, and youngest sister Ayelet. I read the article with admiration. I read about Ari, who filled his pockets with a halla and candies and a mahzor for the Rosh Hashana stakeout in Nablus. I read about Susie, who found a way to sweeten his unit's stay on the front line. In an operation that took several hours, she managed to enlist the help of several businesses in Ra'anana to provide Ari and his fellow soldiers with generous quantities of food and drink.

The ways of Hashem are hidden, but I feel stronger when I witness the faith that strengthens you and your family. Susie and Stewart, I stand before you and your wonderful family with my head bowed. Your son Ari fell for Kiddush Hashem. The war against our enemies is not over. Unfortunately, our neighbors have not yet recognized that we have come here to build a home for us and future generations.
We, the descendants of Holocaust survivors, try to hold on to this small piece of land, the only land we have, the Land of Israel. And you, dear family, have given the most precious gift of all for the sake of the people of Israel.

May Ari's name be a blessing.

5. Yehada Shoham - Zichrono Livracha

My Cousin Yehuda,
Another sleepless night. Sleep has not come easily over the last 8 months, but over the last week it has been non existent. See, this week my 5 month old cousin, Yehuda Chaim Shoham h"yd, was murdered by Palestinian terrorists.

The burial of a 5 month old baby to such young parents is heart wrenching, even more so when he's your cousin. As the tiny body was placed in the grave and Benny recited the Kaddish, we all said our teary good-byes. We prayed that this would be the last death in our fight for the land of Israel.

The house that Bat-Sheva had grown up in was now her house of mourning. As I recited the passuk upon leaving the home, I was in awe. I had come to comfort them, they had just lost there one and only son, but the opposite was true. They continued to show tremendous courage and faith in Hashem. They strengthened my love for our land and our people, never doubting for a second that we are right and that G-d will prevail.

The courageous message that I got from Benny and Bat-Sheva was loud and clear, we mustn't let this death be for nothing. Yehuda was just a baby, without sin or enemy, yet he was killed for one reason only, he was a Jew on his way home in Eretz Yisrael. Each and every one of us must act to assure that we are doing our utmost for the people of Israel and the land of Israel. We must return to Israel from the Four Corners of the earth, and we must settle the land. We must return to G-d, for it is only Hashem that can help us through this terrible hour. Help us help ourselves, as we hope to make this the last tragedy to befall Am Yisrael.

Ari Harow

6. Ilan Ramon - Zichrono Livracha

He was all of us
And he knew he was all of us.
He felt it to the bone.

As Colonel Ramon pierced the firmament of planet earth
reaching yet higher, past his home, upward to enter the endless heavens
he held his mother's hand,
and his father's
and his grandparents'.
All their memories and memorabilia, their suffering and their victory.

He held my hand, too, and the hand of every one of us that ever was
and he held all the millennia of our people as living objects in his capsule

Not sefardi, not ashkenazi
Not secular, not ultra-orthodox
Not north, not south, not West Bank, not Diaspora
Not Ramon

A Jew.

And in that final moment of a space pilot's glory
as the Unfathomable One stretched forth his arm in embrace
as the stars made room for him in the heavens

In that ultimate moment of supreme oneness,
in awe, through his lips the Eternal Jew uttered,
שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד

And the vast emptiness beyond
echoed an awesome voice,
"Who is like Your people, Israel! A nation of oneness upon the earth."

There is hope, for we are one.
There is hope for all our planet earth.

Power point presentation continues with a moving slideshow.

7. Please rise for “El Maleh Rachamim” and Yizkor.

8. Ani Maamin.