Shabbat Shalom,
On Tuesday evening I was honored to share words of greeting at the official Yom HaZikaron ceremony for the city of Los Angeles, co-sponsored with the Israeli Consulate and held at Stephen Wise Temple. Below is a translation of the remarks I delivered in Hebrew.
— Rabbi Yoshi
We gather here this evening, as a sacred community, united as one, to mark Yom HaZikaron—Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror. This is not the only day of mourning on our calendar, but it is distinct and unique.
On Yom HaShoah, just a few days ago, we mourned the six million murdered in the Holocaust and acknowledged the painful truth:
Part of the terrible price we paid was because we did not have a state, and we did not have an army to defend us.
But tonight, on Yom HaZikaron, we grieve a different loss: We mourn the soldiers and police officers who fell defending the State of Israel, and the victims of terror who were murdered simply because they were Jews, because they were Israelis.
Tonight, we mourn the heavy price we pay so that we may have a homeland—so that we may live as a free people in our land.
Every name we mention this evening represents a whole world—a world of dreams, of relationships, of possibilities. They were our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, our friends and our loved ones.
We stand this evening with the bereaved families, for whom every day is a Memorial Day. We offer our presence, our prayers, and our promise: we will never forget their loved ones.
May this be a space of reverence, a space for tears, for silence, and for song. A space to remember and to honor.
And before we turn to the ancient words of comfort and promise from the Book of Psalms, we recall a truth even deeper than grief: Jews do not give up hope.
Even if this past year was hard and dark… Even if our hearts are broken for the soldiers who fell, for the murdered on October 7th, and for those still held captive…
We, in the words of the prophet Zechariah, are “Prisoners of Hope.”
We will not stop working for peace.
We will not stop fighting for peace.
We will not stop hoping for peace.
We refuse to surrender to despair. And we will never give up on the 59 hostages still in Gaza. Whether alive—or God forbid, no longer—we will not rest and we will not be silent until every one of them is brought home. Now.
No one will be forgotten. No one will be left behind.
With broken hearts–and hope still in our hearts–we turn to the poet’s words in the Book of Psalms: “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.”
We do not arrive at joy easily. We arrive there slowly and painfully and only when we stand shoulder to shoulder.
And though we do not always agree—we may differ on politics, on worldview, or on approach—we have no better choice, in truth no choice at all, but to stand together in unity, in friendship, and in love.
We must lift one another, carry one another, and never let one another fall.
This is our sacred duty. This is the strength of the people of Israel.
Together, may we journey from pain to hope, from mourning to wholeness.
May this ceremony be another step on this sacred path.
Together—Am Yisrael Chai v’Kayam—the People of Israel live and endure.