Erev Yom Hazikaron

Tonight is Erev Yom HaZikaron (Israel Memorial Day). This solemn day honors fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism. All places of entertainment and food stores and restaurants will be closed from 6PM tonight. And tomorrow, Tuesday morning there will be a siren where all traffic will stop and everyone will stand silent. Then it is immediately followed on the evening of Wednesday, April 21st by Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day) where there will be dancing and singing and on Thursday we will have lots of traditional barbeques and going to national parks and beaches. It is a sort of schizophrenic transition and maybe a good way to understand our national character. 

Here are two Dry Bones cartoons, as they are very similar, and I could not decide between them. This one is from 2022  

and here is one from 2014

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Middle East Peace

the bitter truth

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Independence

Wearing MMA Grappling Gloves.

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Israel at 74

A great way to celebrate Israel's 74th year of independance is to order a Dry Bones Israel at 74 commemorative mug! Check it out HERE

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From Sadness to Joy

Tuesday evening May 7 through Wednesday May 8 is Yom HaZikaron, Israel's National Remembrance Day for the Fallen & the Victims of Terror.
Wednesday evening May 8 through Thursday May 9 is Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel's Independence day.
The official "switch" from Yom HaZikaron to Yom HaAtzmaut takes place a few minutes after sundown, with a ceremony at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl Cemetery in which the national flag is raised from half staff to the top of the pole.

Yom HaAtzmaut

Our Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron, has ended and our joyous Independence Day, Yom HaAtzmaut, has begun.

The Way We Are

Tuesday evening May 10 through Wednesday May 11 is Yom HaZikaron, Israel's National Remembrance Day for the Fallen & the Victims of Terror.
Wednesday evening May 11 through Thursday May 12 is Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel's Independence day.
The official "switch" from Yom HaZikaron to Yom HaAtzmaut takes place a few minutes after sundown, with a ceremony at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl Cemetery in which the national flag is raised from half staff to the top of the pole.

Happy Birthday Israel

"Yom HaZikaron" (Hebrew for Day of Remembrance) ended today April 22 2015 at sundown.
It was the day on which we honored our fallen soldiers and victims of terror.

"Yom HaAtzmaut" (Hebrew for Independence Day) then began.
It is a day of Joy and celebration, picnics, barbecues, and the waving of our beautiful blue and white flags!

Our Sadness and Our Joy

"Yom HaZikaron" (Hebrew for Day of Remembrance) begins today April 21 2015 at sundown.
It is a moving and terribly sad day on which Israel honors its fallen soldiers and its victims of terror.

"Yom HaAtzmaut" (Hebrew for Independence Day) begins at sundown the next day, April 22 2015, as Yom HaZikaron ends.
It is a day of Joy and celebration, picnics, barbecues, and the waving of our beautiful blue and white flags!

Israel at 65

Today is the first of a two-day Israeli holiday.

The first part, today, is Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Memorial Day. A day of remembering and longing for those who died so that the Jewish State could live. It is one of those times when Israel feels more like a family than a country. A day of sadness.

The second part begins at sundown when the country bursts into a celebration of life! It'll be Israel's Birthday!
This year is our 65th. What's planned is day of picnics, barbecues, family outings and parties!
The country is festooned with flags.
Big flags, little flags, flags that clip onto our car windows and hang from our balconies.

Strangely, we remain an island of calm surrounded by a sea of rage, which, for the time being at least, seems not to be directed at us!

Happy Birthday Israel

Today we remember those who lost their lives in our struggle to live as a Jewish State. Then, tonight, we will move from mourning to joy as we begin to celebrate another year of the miraculous rebirth of the Nation of Israel in the Land of Israel!

Next cartoon on Friday.

Remembrance Day (1977)

April 13, 1977

Today's Golden Oldie has the flag at half-mast for Yom Hazikaron back in 1977.

This evening begins the 2012 Israeli Remembrance Day (Yom HaZikaron).
According to Ynet:

2012: Number of Israel's fallen stands at 22,993
"Total of 126 names added to sad list of fallen soldiers, victims of terrorism in past year. Government to discuss plan to build memorial hall in Mount Herzl A total of 126 new names have been added to the list of Israel's fallen soldiers and terrorism victims who will be honored at this week's Remembrance Day events. Israel now has 10,524 bereaved families who have lost 22,993 loved ones. The families include 2,396 orphans and 4,992 widows."-more

Oklahoma City (1995)

Today's Golden Oldie is from April 1995.

Three days ago, April 19 2010, was Yom HaZikaron when we in Israel were having our Memorial Day to remember our fallen soldiers and victims of terror. In the U.S. it was marked as the 15th anniversary of the "Oklahoma City Bombing". The bombing was an attack on the Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh, who detonated an explosive-filled truck parked in front of the building. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The Oklahoma City Bombing killed 168, including 19 children under the age of 6, and injured more than 680 people.

The blast destroyed or damaged 324 buildings within a sixteen-block radius, destroyed or burned 86 cars, and shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings. The bomb was estimated to have caused at least $652 million worth of damage.

62

I wrote this last night, on the eve of Yom HaZikaron, our Remembrance Day for Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism. The siren sounded and the country stood in silence and in remembrance of the price that others paid for our independence.

Today, Monday, folks will be visiting cemeteries. A painful and sombre day. Tonight at sundown, Yom HaZikaron will end and the celebration of Yom Ha'Atzmaut, Israel's Independence Day begins.

I wanted to do a cartoon to show how short a time 62 years really is. I wondered if I'd be able to write out every year in a cartoon. It turned out that I could do it as a border and still have room for Mr. Shuldig and his dog Doobie!

Israel at 62

Sunday evening will usher in Yom HaZikaron, our Remembrance Day for Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism. Then, Monday evening, Yom HaZikaron ends and the celebration of Israel's Independence Day begins. We'll be going up to Jerusalem for a party with old friends. All that's left for me to do now is to hang up the big new Israeli flag we just bought.

3 Day Weekend (1983)

Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon done on a Friday in 1983. It was the Friday before Shabbat, which was followed by Yom HaZikaron on Sunday, which was followed by Yom HaAtzmaut on Monday. This weekend would have been the same, except for the fact that in 2004 it was decided that when Yom HaAtzmaut falls on a Monday, the festival is postponed to Tuesday. And so this time we don't get the three day weekend we had back in 1983.

Another difference is that I can no longer remember when I thought that 35 seemed old.

Yikes.

Sadness and Joy (1999)

Today's Golden Oldie is from Israeli Independence Day 1999.

Yesterday was Israeli Independence Day 2009, and I'm still in the post-barbeque euphoric stage of our national mood swing. I've decided to continue the party for another day ...at least.

* * * FLASH!! Apparently I'm not the only one who wants to keep the festivities going. One of my favorite blogs, "Yid with Lid" just posted an Israel at 61 Blog Carnival! Check it out here! * * * Happy Birthday Israel!

Yom HaZikaron (1982)

This Golden Oldie will appear on Yom Ha'Atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day. But I'm writing these words(and I picked the cartoon) at the end of Yom HaZikaron. As usual it has been a heavy, sad day... this year made even sadder by the remembrance of our recent war dead from the Second Lebanon War.

All day today, our TV stations broadcast photos of the fallen and reminiscences by those who loved them. Today we were one quiet, grieving family holding one another and looking at our photos, into the eyes of those young people who were taken from us.

Tonight we'll party, and tomorrow, April 24, when this posting goes up on the blog, we will be grilling and picnicking and being pushy and boisterous. If you want to see a cartoon about that... look at yesterday's cartoon.

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Yom Ha'Atzmaut

Today, April 23, is Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Memorial day. I finally managed to get the giant flag I bought tied to the railing of the roof for all to see.

Tonight the mood will change from sadness and remembrance to the joy and celebration of Israel's Independence Day: Yom Ha'Atzmaut.

* * * This week is also, appropriately enought, the first round of voting for the 2007 JIB awards (Jewish & Israeli Blog Awards). Dry Bones has been nominated in five categories.

Please take the time to click on each of the five links below and cast your vote for Dry Bones.

Best Overall blog

Best News & Current Events blog

Best Pro-Israel Advocacy blog

Best Humor blog

Best Jewish Culture blog

Memorial Day for Israel's Fallen (1976)

This cartoon, from 1976, was never published in a newspaper. It was drawn for the last page of a small Dry Bones book. The text that went with it read:

Every other cartoon in this book has appeared in the pages of The Jerusalem Post. It is the fervent prayer of the Dry Bones "staff" that the day will come when we will be able to print this one there as well. Peace...

The cartoon shows Mr. Shuldig (my alter ego) in his uniform with an olive branch in his mouth. The Hebrew letters on his shirt pocket are (from right to left) H G A and is pronounced Haga. Haga is the home guard reserve unit of old guys in outmoded uniforms and old-style helmets that, at the time, checked people's handbags at the entrances to movie houses, guarded public places, and trained for emergency operations.
My optimism led me to sign the cartoon with the date of 197?
Thirty years have gone by. And many more of our sons and daughters, friends, parents, and loved ones have fallen in uniform since then.

Today, May 2, 2006, is Memorial Day in Israel.
It is called (even in English) Yom HaZikaron.
The day is felt deeply by most Israelis and marked by visits to graves, special programs on TV, public ceremonies, candle lightings, and siren wails that bring traffic to a stop and the nation to stand at silent attention.

Today we remember and celebrate the lives of those who paid for our Independence with their lives. The somber, painful day ends when, at sundown we will mood-swing ourselves into the joy of Independence Day, barbecues, and hope for the future.
Meanwhile, we remember.