OWN CORRESPONDENT
These were the words of Martin Skudicky, chairman of the Zionist Youth Council, when he opened the Yom Hazikaron ceremony at the Yeshiva College campus on Sunday evening.
The youth movements ran the traditional candle-lighting ceremony and as the Israeli flag was lowered, Arthur Lenk, the South African Ambassador of Israel, lit the flame of remembrance, which was followed by a moment of silence and Yizkor.
“Lost Voices”, a series of readings gathered together by Dan Bacher, was read out by representatives of the various movements – Bnei Akiva, Habonim Dror, Betar and Netzer.
The clearly moved audience took these personal accounts of pain and loss to heart and were left silent as the candles were lit in memory of these heroes.
As the evening drew to a close, the audience was encouraged to consider where Jews would be without a Jewish State.
Israeli soloist Hananel Edri performed a moving song and led the audience in the singing of Hatikvah.
