Officially known as “The Day of Remembrance for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel and Victims of Terrorism,” Yom Hazikaron is Israel’s official remembrance day. Traditionally dedicated to Israel’s fallen soldiers (23,477 to date), commemoration has also been extended to civilian victims of terror. I shot this at 11 am at Mahane Yehuda where people mostly stood at attention for the duration of the 2 minute siren. This siren sounds across the country and as you can see, people stop and remember friends, colleagues, family and loved ones who passed on for the sake of the country. It’s really touching. I always look at people who seem particularly thoughtful and wonder what they are thinking and who exactly they are remembering. Israel is a complex and multifaceted country. It has many accomplishments and many challenges left to overcome. One thing we do right as a nation is manifested here in the deep respect we show to our fallen. Tomorrow we will celebrate Israel Independence Day and I hope we will all strive to make sure that the lives lost were done so in the pursuit of our noble moral values.

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ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.