Israel will mark this year’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day from Monday evening, April 13, through Tuesday, April 14, under the theme “The Jewish Family During the Holocaust.”
The official state opening ceremony is scheduled for April 13 at 8 p.m. at Yad Vashem’s Warsaw Ghetto Square in Jerusalem, with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu due to deliver addresses.
Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, chairman of the Yad Vashem Council and a Holocaust survivor, will light the Memorial Torch, and six Holocaust survivors—Saadia Bahat, Michael Sidko, Miriam “Daisy” Bar Lev, Moshe Harari, Ilana Fallach and Avigdor Neumann—will light torches during the ceremony.
Holocaust survivor Menachem Neeman will recite the El Maleh Rahamim memorial prayer, and survivors’ remarks will be delivered by Haviva Burst. Short film portraits directed by Shlomo Hazan, featuring the torchlighters’ testimonies, will be available on Yad Vashem’s website along with additional material on this year’s theme.
Due to the security situation, Yad Vashem has prepared an option for a pre-recorded, audience-free ceremony to be broadcast if Home Front Command restrictions prevent a traditional gathering, while a live ceremony with audience and media will take place if guidelines permit. The approximately 90-minute event will feature musical performances by Roni Dalumi and Harel Skaat, recitations by Hadas Yaron, and an honor guard from the Paratroopers Brigade.
On April 14, a two-minute nationwide siren will sound at 10 a.m., followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem attended by Israel’s top leadership and representatives of survivor groups.
From 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., the “Unto Every Person, There is a Name” ceremony will take place at both the Knesset and Yad Vashem, with additional memorial services, guided tours focusing on the family-centered theme, and a youth movement ceremony rounding out the day’s events.
