Yom HaZikaron | Imamother

Log in / Sign Up

List of Forums + New Post Recipe Box Usergroups Following My Posts Bookmarks

Private Messages Rules New User Guide FAQ Advertise Contact Us

Forum -> Yom Tov / Holidays -> Other special days

Yom HaZikaron

View latest: 24h 48h 72h

grace413 ↓

Sun, Apr 30 2017, 10:39 am

Here in Israel we have just started Yom Hazikaron, the Day of Remembrance for Fallen Soldiers and People Killed by Terrorists.

Something over 24,000 soldiers, citizens, foreign workers and tourists have been killed. The first documented terrorist victim was killed in 1851.

There is no entertainment broadcast on TV today. One station broadcasts the names and dates of death of soldiers and civilians. It's chilling to see how often entire families were killed together. It's also noteworthy that there are many Arabs included among the victims - terrorists don't even care if they kill their own kin. The other stations broadcast short stories of victims and their families.

So I'm going to use this platform to tell you the story of my best friend, Genia Kanelbaum Berman who was killed in the bus bombing on June 11, 2003.

Genia's parents were Holocaust survivors who left Poland for Israel in 1963 when Genia was 10. I met her in 1973 at Hebrew University. She married another American student and they had 5 children, 4 girls and a boy. Their ages ranged from 25 to 15 when she was killed.

Genia was an artist and a teacher. She taught English as a second language, mostly in schools attended by teens who were not terribly interested in learning. She worked tirelessly to give them the gift of English.

She was a devoted mother. She was the best friend anybody could wish for. She was relentlessly optimistic, always happy and enthusiastic. She was the center of our chevre, we congregated at her home. I learned so much from her. She was kind and loving and generous.

I still miss her terribly.

Yehi Zichrah Baruch.

Studious

Sun, Apr 30 2017, 11:05 am

Thanks for sharing. So sad.

rzab

Sun, Apr 30 2017, 11:10 am

Thank you for sharing.
יהי זכרה ברוך!

Marion

Sun, Apr 30 2017, 11:47 am

grace413 wrote:

Was that the #14 bus? I remember being freaked out because I missed that bus on my way home...because the driver saw me running, made eye contact, and left the stop anyway.

greenfire

Sun, Apr 30 2017, 11:55 am

grace413 ~ thank you for making us aware of reality - many lives are lost due to harshness

I am sorry for your loss ... may no soul ever be forgotten !!!

Marion ~ wow that must have been scary.

↑ grace413 ↓

Sun, Apr 30 2017, 12:18 pm

Marion wrote:

Was that the #14 bus? I remember being freaked out because I missed that bus on my way home...because the driver saw me running, made eye contact, and left the stop anyway.

Yes.

shevi82

Sun, Apr 30 2017, 12:51 pm

So so sad.
This is a interview with rabanit Chana Henkin. Very special woman

http://mobile.mako.co.il/news-.....sults

chanchy123 ↓

Sun, Apr 30 2017, 12:59 pm

Marion wrote:

Was that the #14 bus? I remember being freaked out because I missed that bus on my way home...because the driver saw me running, made eye contact, and left the stop anyway.

Was that the one that blew up on King George by the candy store?
I was on the bus to tachana merkazit when that one happened, at the end of Yaffo. I heard the boom. A guy I knew from the debating society at Hebrew U was injured in that attack.
It was a crazy time, surreal. I'm so sorry the loss of your friend. It's a crazy world we live in.

etky

Sun, Apr 30 2017, 1:06 pm

grace413 wrote:

Yes.

So sorry you lost a close friend. She sounds like an amazing person.
I remember that attack. Our kids' dentist was on the bus and she was injured.
I just got back from the yishuv's commemoration ceremony.
It was, as always wrenching.
The tekes (ceremony) is different every year since usually the most recently fallen are spotlighted.
This year our mayor spoke about my sister's neighbor who was injured in a shooting attack 21 years ago, as a result of which he was neurologically compromised and developed ALS. He hung on to life all these years and just passed away only several months ago.

↑ grace413 ↓

Sun, Apr 30 2017, 1:36 pm

chanchy123 wrote:

No, it was on Yafo in front of Binyan Clal.

ChossidMom

Sun, Apr 30 2017, 1:50 pm

My sister in law's brother was murdered on that bus in 2003. :-(

amother

Linen

Sun, Apr 30 2017, 2:04 pm

Thank you for sharing.
My cousin an uncle and a nephew. The nephew Reb Shaya H"YD. was killed and the uncle was left with scars.
We need moshiach already!

↑ chanchy123

Sun, Apr 30 2017, 10:50 pm

grace413 wrote:

No, it was on Yafo in front of Binyan Clal.

Too many of them.

↑ grace413 ↓

Mon, May 01 2017, 12:31 am

ChossidMom wrote:

My sister in law's brother was murdered on that bus in 2003. :-(

There were many English speakers on the bus. Just a coincidence I suppose.

↑ grace413

Mon, May 01 2017, 12:35 am

chanchy123 wrote:

Too many of them.

That's for sure.

I was watching the names on TV yesterday and it's so hearbreaking - you see entire families who were killed. I watched a short clip on the Palmer family - the husband and baby were driving in the Gush and large rocks thrown by terrorist caused the car to crash. At first police though it was just an accident but within a few days they ruled it a terror attack. The wife was left alone, 5 months pregnant. So sad.

amother

Wine

Mon, May 01 2017, 2:14 am

My thoughts on Yom Hazikaron, partially spurred by this thread:

Today is Memorial Day in Israel. In contrast to the partying and start of the beach season that characterize Memorial Day in America, here there is somber reflection and heart-wrenching ceremonies. Regular programming is stopped for the day, as fallen loved ones are remembered. I spent some time reading up on the 60 soldiers who have been killed since last Yom Hazikaron, but it all remained rather abstract. I’m fairly young and new to Israel, and I don’t personally know anyone who was killed by terror or in combat.

The concept of Yom Hazikaron really hit home for me just now as the siren sounded. I was resting with my new baby, listening to the sounds of children playing in the nearby school courtyard. At 10:58, they started making siren noises.

I remember from Tzuk Eitan that kids imitated the siren in order to “control” it and make it less scary. And it suddenly hit me how heartbreaking it is that these little 6-7-8 year olds have grown up with the reality of loud sirens signaling scary things and hiding in a protected room. When the real siren sounded at precisely 11:00, I started crying as I thought about everything our nation has been through in the last two thousand years.

It may have been postpartum hormones that caused the tears, but I also cried for the little boys’ lost innocence as they tried to wield some control over a very unpredictable world.

I also said a little tefillah that my own kids not know this reality, and instead grow up in a world illuminated by the geulah sheleimah.
https://milkinabag.net/2017/05.....aron/

(sorry for posting anon, I just don't want my blog associated with my username.)

amother

Lavender

Mon, May 01 2017, 2:18 am

As people here say, we have Yom Hazikaron to remind us of the cost of having a state, and Yom Hashoah to remind us of the cost of not having a state.

It's hard, but at the same time it's hard not to be grateful for what we have.

Page 1 of 1