Attending this year’s Yom Hazikaron event struck a deeply personal chord, unlike any commemoration I have experienced before. Israel’s national holidays—beginning with Yom Hashoah and culminating in Yom Ha’atzmaut—form a powerful and emotional journey.
This week is not just a passage through history, it is a testament to resilience, faith and the unyielding determination of a people who have endured and thrived.
Each year, Israelis are called upon to remember the horrors of the Holocaust, the sacrifices of fallen soldiers and the profound price paid for Jewish sovereignty. Such moments lead to celebration, a triumph over adversity. Many nations sing of hope in their anthems, yet Israel’s “Hatikvah,” rooted in a 2,000-year-old dream, reminds that from the depths of sorrow, we rise toward the heights of promise.
As an oleh (“new immigrant”) from India, this week resonates in a special way. The partition of India in 1947 caused one of the largest forced migrations in history, displacing 15 million people and claiming nearly 2 million lives. Like Israel, India emerged from destruction and division, rebuilding from trauma into strength. These journeys, though distinct, carry the same core message: renewal, perseverance and the triumph of spirit over suffering.
Israel has paid dearly for its independence—the price measured in lives lost, in families shattered. We remember not only the fallen but also the mothers, fathers, children and friends who sacrificed so that we may stand here, free in our land. We pray for the safe return of the hostages still in captivity in the Gaza Strip and the healing of every wound, physical and emotional.
While my own family may not have direct ties to wars undertaken by the Jewish state, Israel’s Memorial Day is not just a national moment; it is personal. It is a call to embrace this collective memory as my own.
This is the time not to dwell on hardships but to reaffirm our legacy—our Jewish history, resilience and national pride.
Am Yisrael chai!
