Hundreds of thousands of Jews from around the world will gather this evening to commemorate the soldiers and victims of terror who gave their lives for the State of Israel. One of the largest ceremonies will be held by Masa, an organization that provides immersive international experiences in Israel for young adults.
The ceremony will be held at Yad L’Shiryon in Latrun and will be broadcast on the Jerusalem Post website at 7:50 PM Israel Time/ 12:50 PM EDT and will focus on the stories of soldiers and civilians who came to Israel from around the world and died while serving in the Israel Defense Forces or were killed in hostilities. The ceremony will include speeches from Government Secretary Yossi Fuchs, Major General (res.) Doron Almog, Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel; Julie Platt, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Federations of North America; and Ofer Gutman, CEO of Masa Israel Journey. David Koschitzky, Immediate Past Chair of Keren Hayesod’s World Board of Trustees, will lead the Yizkor prayer. In addition, Hakeem Jeffries Minority Leader of the U.S House of Representatives, and 12 members of the House of Representatives will lay a wreath in memory of the fallen.
Masa’s ceremony is the largest English-language ceremony in Israel and is adapted for these communities and communities of new immigrants living in Israel. The ceremony will also be translated into Spanish, Russian and French.
The main ceremony will share the stories of Joyce Fienberg z”l, a victim of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh; Second Lieutenant Carmi Elan z”l, a Los Angeles-born pilot who died at age 19 due to injuries he received during a training accident.; Officer Shirel Aboukarat z”l, a 19-year-old Border Police Officer who made aliyah from France and was killed by two terrorists during an attack at a bus station in Hadera; Michael Ladygin z”l, a Russian native who made aliyah and was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in Ariel in 2022, leaving behind a wife and two children; Captain Alexander (Sasha) Schwartzman z”l, an IDF soldier from Ukraine; and Uriel Bar-Maimon Wolf z”l, a Border Guard Officer who made aliyah from Argentina and fell during operational activities at the Erez checkpoint.
“Yom HaZikaron, our Day of Remembrance, is an essential part of Israel and the Jewish people", said Masa CEO Ofer Gutman. “At Masa, it is extremely important to us that we recognize we are a forever connected people, and we must reflect on our journey. The individual stories shared here tonight are connected by the values of love, determination, sacrifice, and commitment. This ceremony is for us to focus on the heroes who gave their ‘last full measure of devotion’–and they gave it to Israel. To the Jewish people.”