The clock strikes 8 and the siren
goes, we all stand to remember the honoured dead and those taken by acts of
terror intended to kill and strike fear.
This morning we will do the same and pray that the lives taken in the
past are the last and that they day is coming when there will be no terror, no
wars to fight. No parents watching their
sons and daughters go off to fight the good fight.
As someone who is only 3 and a half
years in Israel, I still stand amazed at the respect that is held towards the
soldiers and for the victims of terror, for me I am glad to say I haven’t lost
any friends to war or terror attacks.
But it doesn’t matter for today despite peoples differing political
views we stand united to honour our fallen, as we did last week to honour the
victims of the Holocaust.
They
shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Part
of The Ode of Remembrance from a poem ‘For the Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon
How contrasting is it that the
following day after this day of Remembrance we will celebrate Israel’s birthday
and for me in some ways this has not been an easy year, much has changed and
much hasn’t. A summer spent waiting to
hear the sirens and run for shelter, our soldiers doing their best to defend
this country. Public opinion and
Anti-Semitism rising against the Jewish people across the world, from the
events of the summer, but despite everything Israel stands tall a Jewish
Homeland that few dared to dream would exist during the darkest days of the 2nd
World War and yet here stands Israel 67 years young tomorrow evening and I am
proud to be here and be part of this country. You either hate us or love us,
but one thing is for sure.
עם ישראל חי
(Am Yisrael Chai) – The Nation of Israel Lives
