Yom Hazikaron remembers victims as Israel’s toll mounts

Since the declaration of the state of Israel in May 1948 – 75 years ago – 24 213 men and women have died defending the Jewish homeland. Another 4 255 have perished in terror attacks. In the past year alone, 36 Israeli civilians and soldiers have been killed. Israel has counted every single victim. They all made the ultimate sacrifice so that Israel could not only survive but thrive.

On 24 April, the Johannesburg Jewish community gathered at Yeshiva College in Glenhazel for the annual Yom Hazikaron (Day of Remembrance) ceremony. This solemn day immediately proceeds the joy of Yom Ha’aztmaut (Independence Day). This year’s Yom Hazikaron theme was “Carrying the past forward: Always remembered, forever honoured.”

Two powerful speakers from Israel travelled to Johannesburg to address the audience. Cheryl Mandel, aged 75, originally from Toronto, Canada, lost her 24-year-old son, Daniel, on 15 April 2003. She said he died “defending the state of Israel for Jews all over the world” after a moving video montage of Daniel’s life was shown.

“Is anything in your life important enough to die for?” Mandel asked. “For all soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the state of Israel is important enough that they are willing to die for it.”

She told the story about her son having to carry a heavy machine gun in his army unit when the burly soldier originally responsible for it collapsed. Daniel’s commanding officer ordered him to do it, and he had no choice but to comply. Mandel said she, too, has an unchosen burden to bear. “I’m a bereaved mother, but I want to do it with love and respect for am Yisrael (the people of Israel).”

Mandel belongs to Mishpacha Achat (One Family), a volunteer, non-profit organisation that assists terror victims and their families throughout Israel.

Dana Ofir, aged 25, described how emotional it was for her to be outside Israel on Yom Hazikaron for the first time in six years. She had applied to be a combat fitness instructor in the IDF. In spite of being rejected, she stubbornly harangued the IDF until it accepted her.

She was visiting Jerusalem with her unit when a terrorist deliberately drove into the group, killing four people. Ofir was badly injured. Her pelvic bones were crushed. Her tibia, nose, and jawbone were all broken. She had spinal fractures and internal bleeding. She endured operations and has steel pins and plates in her pelvis. Confined to a wheelchair, she fought hard to recover, and miraculously, was able to walk again six months after the attack. She also fought her way back into the IDF and today, is studying sport therapy.

Ofir was brought to South Africa as a representative of Belev Echad (With One Heart), an organisation supporting wounded Israeli soldiers to overcome their limitations. She’s living proof that anything is possible. She lit one of the eight memorial lamps in memory of her murdered friends.

Earlier, Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein delivered a moving dvar Torah. He talked about seeing the Dee family in Israel that had lost their mother and two daughters in a horrific terrorist shooting attack this month. He said that the bereaved Rabbi Leo Dee told hundreds of people visiting the shiva house how saddened he was that this heinous act of terror did not spur universal condemnation. The South African government needed to hear this, Goldstein said. Its silence about this attack spoke volumes. He quoted from Psalm 120: “We came for peace; others came for war.”

Israel’s ambassador to South Africa, Eli Belotsercovsky, lit another of the lamps. He said that although the IDF was strong in terms of sophisticated weaponry and technology, its real strength lay in being a “people’s army”, a unifying force for the country. He said the sacrifice made by its soldiers should never be forgotten or taken for granted.

Rowan Polovin, the chairperson of the South African Zionist Federation, read out a macabre rollcall of those killed in Israel since the start of 2023. He said Shin Bet, the Israel Security Agency, had foiled about 300 planned terror attacks this year.

Eli Kay, the young South African oleh killed in November 2021 at the Kotel, was also specifically remembered. A cousin had set one of Eli’s beautiful poems to music in a moving tribute. One line echoed across the audience: “You are always with me.”

Many families of those tragically killed or injured in Israel’s wars have started or joined charitable foundations to perpetuate their memories and help others affected by similar trauma. The organs of the late Lucy Dee were donated to five different patients, including a young Palestinian girl on dialysis.

As Goldstein said, “Imagine if Israel had had 75 years of peace instead of war.”