As many as 2,600 people, including more than 2,200 yeshivah and seminary students from around the world, gathered at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center on April 29 for Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day commemoration.
The event was organized by the Department for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora of the World Zionist Organization, headed by World Mizrachi’s representatives in the national institutions.
The second such memorial ceremony amid the ongoing Iron Swords war, the event emotionally focused on the heroism of five individuals who fell in the defense of Israel and as victims of terror attacks: Rabbi Avi Goldberg, a combat division major who died in Lebanon in 2024; Aner Shapira, a combat veteran who saved numerous lives in the bomb “shelter of death” after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on participants of the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when he repeatedly threw back grenades that were lobbed into the shelter before he himself was killed; Daniel Mandel, an elite commando soldier killed in 2003; Alisa Flatow, an American killed in a terror attack 30 years ago; and Daniel Perez, a tank officer killed on Oct. 7 whose body remains captive in the Gaza Strip.
“Our hope with this event is to show young people studying in Israel that heroism and sacrifice are values we must never take for granted,” said Rabbi Doron Perez, chairman of the Center for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora of the WZO. “It is because of those who fought and those who have fallen that we have a Jewish state today.”
He continued, saying that “Israel is currently under threat on our borders and in international courts of ‘justice’ and public opinion. The deeper our connection to the miracle of Israel, the better our young leaders will be able to advocate and fight for the future of our remarkable country and Jewish heritage.”
The World Zionist Organization is committed to promoting Zionism and the Zionist idea, and the Zionist enterprise through Israel education as vital and positive elements of contemporary Jewish life, in accordance with the principles articulated in the Jerusalem Program. This manifesto is dedicated to instilling the centrality of Israel and Jerusalem its capital deep within Jewish consciousness, encouraging the return to Zion; fashioning an exemplary society in the Jewish state; expanding Zionist education, including Hebrew-language instruction; settling the land; and combating antisemitism.