Remembrance Day "expresses the painful partnership of bereaved families and the moral obligation to remember and perpetuate the fallen," said Arieh Moalem, Deputy Directer of the Family, Memorial and Heritage Department of the Defense Ministry. "This year, Remembrance Day events will be held without the participation of the general public. We will continue to march alongside you, the bereaved families, in the long and neverending journey of coping with the memory of your loved ones.
"This year, we will all stay home and remember," he concluded.
As is every year, a siren will go off on the eve of Remembrance Day this coming Monday at 8 p.m., and another one on Remembrance Day itself at 11 a.m., during which the country stands still for a moment of silence and remembrance for the fallen soldiers of the IDF.
Due to the continued spread of the coronavirus, the Defense Ministry decided last month that the main ceremonies at the Western Wall plaza (on Remembrance Day eve) and Mount Herzl (Remembrance Day) to be held without an audience and instead to be broadcast live.
In addition, ceremonies in all military cemeteries across the country will be canceled in their usual form and in their place IDF soldiers will hold a candlelight vigil as well as a salute by a commander and military cantor saying the Kaddish. The placing of wreaths and candles on graves will take place in accordance with the guidelines set by the health ministry.
IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Hidai Zilberman told reporters that troops have already been sent to the 53 military cemeteries across the country, welcoming bereaved families with bottles of water, flags and commemoration candles. Troops will also be going around to every grave to place a candle, wreath and flag of Israel.
With the first siren on the eve of Remembrance Day, the annual ceremony in front of the Western Wall will occur. The ceremony will end with a call for Israelis to go onto their balconies and join together in singing the national anthem, "Hatikvah."
The ceremony on Remembrance Day itself will be held without an audience, as well. Because the bereaved families were not granted visit to their loved ones' graves on that same day, members of the Israeli defense systems will read the names of all 23,816 fallen soldiers from 7:30 a.m. until 10 a.m. in the State Memorial Hall before the ceremony begins.
The Family, Memorial and Heritage Department of the Defense Ministry asked the public to follow coronavirus regulations by lighting a memorial candle and communicating by digital means rather than going out to public services, as is tradition throughout the country.
The national ceremonies, as well, have been created so that they occur without a live audience.
As restrictions for the eve and day of Remembrance day say that no one is to visit the military cemeteries, families of fallen soldiers were encouraged to spend the week leading up to Remembrance Day visiting the aforementioned graves, with renovation, maintenance, cleaning and landscaping having occurred ahead of the event.
The memorial ceremony traditional of Remembrance day, in which an Israeli flag is lifted half-mast to pay respect for each individual fallen soldier, with a "Yizkor" ribbon placed alongside it.