Tonight, we will begin to mark Yom HaZikaron, a day of mourning for Israel’s fallen.

Tomorrow night, we will instantly shift to Yom Ha’atzmaut, a day to celebrate Israel’s independence as a Jewish and democratic state.

The dramatic contrast between the two days is about much more than a country’s calendar. It speaks to the Jewish experience in all times and places—and what the restoration of Jewish sovereignty means for us all.

On Yom HaZikaron, a haunting siren sounds across Israel. The entire public comes to a standstill to remember more than 25,000 Israelis who have been murdered in terror attacks or while serving their country. The moment symbolizes the depths of pain, loss, and despair that can only be expressed as the cry of a siren.

Can words ever suffice when entire families in Beit Shemesh and Haifa are shattered by Iranian missiles?

When another 170 of Israel’s bravest citizens, some as young as teenagers, were murdered in the past year?

When such a small country counts among its people nearly 60,000 bereaved widows, children, parents, and siblings of the fallen?

The siren of Yom HaZikaron is at the core of the Israeli consciousness—and its echoes are felt throughout the Diaspora. Especially after a year that saw the highest loss of Diaspora Jewish life to antisemitic violence in more than three decades. 

Can words ever suffice when Holocaust survivors are murdered in Boulder, Colorado, and on Bondi Beach?

Yom HaZikaron represents a sense of loss that’s both indescribable and deeply familiar to the Jewish experience. But when we shift to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut, we send the message that despair and loss will never have the final word for the Jewish people.

This isn’t a matter of empty platitudes or optimism. It’s about a proven track record, 4,000 years in the making. Within living memory, nothing symbolizes the renewal of the Jewish people more than the restoration of a strong and vibrant Jewish nation-state.

The words of Israel’s national anthem—Hatikvah, the Hope—always held much more than the promise of political independence for Israelis. It symbolized a mindset of self-determination and self-worth for Jews everywhere. And the deeply Zionist realization that communities like ours should always have the confidence to transform despair into dreams, and the agency to turn our dreams into reality.

Tonight, we mourn together with Israelis, tell the stories of the fallen, and remember the painfully high cost of Jewish independence.

Tomorrow, we celebrate with unabashed pride in the people of Israel and the extraordinary country they have built against all odds.

And every day, we stand tall, live proudly, and build up Jewish life right here and around the world—empowered by the fact that we are a changed people.

Am Yisrael Chai,

Adam Minsky

President& CEO

UJA Federation of Greater Toronto