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We recently experienced two of the most emotive days in the Israeli calendar. First we remembered those who died in the wars and terrorist attacks on Yom Hazikaron. The mood then changed as we celebrated the nation's birthday on Yom Ha'atzmaut. Here shnatties share their experiences of being in Israel at this time of year with friends and family back home.
Early in the week was Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) which the Shvil group marked with a sunset tekkes (ceremony) led by our Israeli guides Chen, Navot and the recently added Yahav. It was a hard juxtaposition to come to terms with, going from such a fun and busy day to honouring the memory of tens of thousands who have died in terror attacks and in defence of their country. Everyone in Israel knows someone who has been affected by the fight for the freedom of this nation and every Israeli has a story that moves the listener. This particular tekkes commemorated the loss of one of Chen's childhood friends on the first day of last summer's Lebanon war, and really brought home to the group the reality of war here in Israel - he was almost 20 years old. The Kvutzah decided to follow the Kaddish with Hatikvah in remembrance that these 20,000 died not in vain, but rather to protect the land we on Shvil Yisrael are now so privileged to be experiencing. The next day's Peulah led by Richard on top of Tel Hazikar was both fascinating and appropriate, as this small hill was the place of battle between David the Israelite and Goliath the Philistine in Biblical times, both men who fought for their nations, both heroes to their people.
The end of the day saw our old guide (mother) Chen leave us, and Yahav take over. We were dropped in Jerusalem for a free day over Yom Ha'atzmaut (Independence Day) and many dispersed to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to experience the festivities. It was strange enough going from a happy day to a memorial in the evening, but experiencing the sun set on a day of mourning and remembrance to an evening and following day of partying and celebrations could only be understood with the Israeli mentality of such a bitter-sweet reality.
Amelia Viney
On Sunday night we heard the siren marking Yom Hazikaron and 8 members of the house went to a ceremony at Har Chalutz. For one minute, the whole country stops when the sirens go and you really know you're in Israel! The end of a sombre day marking the fallen soldiers brought in the Yom Ha'atzmaut celebrations. Oli spent his chofesh with the Aussies in Jerusalem where he had a great time and the rest of us celebrated at the amphitheatre in Karmiel where we saw dancing, fireworks and of course, like every good Zionist, joined in with Hatikvah. The following day was spent with our adopted families from Har Chalutz in a forest eating vast quantities of food, which lucky for the carnivorous among us, included barbequed meat.
Much love from the Karmiel crowd,
Isi
This week was a very exciting week in the Israeli calendar. Tuesday was Yom Hazikaron followed by Yom Ha'atzmaut on Wednesday. Last week we had a Shabbat B'yachad with all long term Reform programmes in Israel. The theme of this weekend was Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut. About 100 Jewish teenagers met in Dimona in the Negev for this weekend. The programmes included Shnat Netzer - northern & southern hemisphere, Noar Telem - our sister movement from Israel and EIE who are an American group of school kids who are here for 4 months. Various parts of the weekend were run by people from the different groups. It was a very interesting weekend where we were able to share our different cultures and different styles of doing things in Netzer.
Katie and I were very lucky to be working for Magen David Adom at a Yom Hazikaron ceremony in a military cemetery in Holon. There wasn't much medical help needed but it was a good experience. The group of us from Holon celebrated Yom Ha'atzmaut in Tel-Aviv. We started on Tuesday night in Rabin square where there was a performance and fireworks & we ended at a street party in Florentin in Tel-Aviv.
Wednesday was spent at a festival in a park. There were lots of us there including some people from the Shvil Israel programme and some of our friends from another youth movement. We ended the night in our favourite sushi restaurant on Dizengoff Street. Yom Ha'atzmaut is something I've really been looking forward to doing during Shnat. It's the first time I've ever celebrated it on such a big scale. It lived up to expectations and we all had a great time.
Chag Sameach,
Kim Copitch,
MDA/Ha'aretz group, Holon
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