Memorial Day

I was sitting at the kitchen table studying when the siren went off this morning. The baby was laying on the floor on his blanket playing. As I stood in silence, he rocked back and forth on his back and smiled.  I couldn't help but think about another baby, just a bit younger than him, who will never have that moment, or any moment with is father.

Yanay Wiesman was grocery shopping with his pregnant wife when 2 terrorists attacked, stabbing customers as they shopped. Without a second thought or a weapon, he charged toward the attack, and was killed while trying to prevent others from being attacked.

Memorial Day in Israel is not a day I like, it's not a day of sales in stores and barbecues. It is a day of mourning and tribute. It is a day not simply to honor the dead, but to stand, to stand here free in our homeland. We stand for a moment as a nation, not to model the gentile tradition of a moment of silence, but as a memorial, that we are all one, we are all united. We stand in silence, we channel the memory of the last time we all stood together in silence, at Mount Sinai, כעם אחד בלב אחד, to accept together the Torah.

Today, we stand together in silence, to give tribute as a nation to all those that stood in front of us, stepping forward to protect us, and the generations to come. We stand again for a moment כעם אחד בלב אחד, because that is what our fallen heroes stood for and died for, in their moment of sacrifice, they stood for the entire nation, and all of our future generations. For that, we take a moment to stand together, to remind ourselves that the best way to honor them is to strive to build all of those moments into an unbroken chain. That we become what their moment was, And we take all the time that their sacrifices gave us to build not just a moment, but a lifetime of unity, and realize the ideal of Sinai, to bring the light of truth, Torah, and love to the world.

And Yanay, when one day our sons do meet, as it is inevitable in this small country of our's, I hope it is in the בית המקדש, where your son is bringing his bikurim from his garden, while my son is serving there, I'll make sure he knows to say thanks.