More than 4,000 Haredim on Sunday night participated in the main Memorial Day ceremony for the Haredi public that was held in the International Convention Center (Binyenei Ha’Uma) in Jerusalem in memory of the fallen of Israel’s wars and the victims of terrorism.
The main Haredi memorial event has been held for six consecutive years by the Netzah Yehuda Association, in cooperation with the Defense Ministry, the IDF’s Haredi Directorate and Ground Forces, and the Jerusalem Municipality.
In recent years, about a thousand participants have come to the Haredi memorial ceremony. This year, for the first time, the ceremony had to be held in Binyenei Ha’Uma to meet the high demand of Haredim to participate in a memorial ceremony in a Haredi atmosphere.
The moving ceremony was attended by thousands of Haredim, including soldiers and graduates of Haredi IDF units, chief rabbis, government ministers, members of the Knesset, senior IDF officers, and bereaved families.
Rabbi Nathaniel Lev, a French citizen who lost his son, Sgt. Binyamin Lev, a Haredi fighter who served in the 202nd Battalion’s Hetz squadron of the Paratroopers Brigade and was killed in combat on October 7 in Kfar Gaza, moved the audience when he said to his departed boy, “When we were on the plane on the way to a funeral in Israel, I remembered what we had talked about several times, that a Jew is not limited, that holiness has infinite power, and I thought what I could do for you, so I got up and offered everyone to put on tefillin, and to those who refused I showed your picture, and told them that I was going to your funeral and that you will no longer be able to put on tefillin, and I burst into tears, and I tell you, that there was not an eye that remained dry, everyone, everyone put on tefillin. At that moment, I understood the power of the people of Israel, despite all the differences of opinion, in the moment of truth, everyone is united.”
Yossi Levy, CEO of Netzah Yehuda Association, told the audience, “On Memorial Day, we gathered for the sixth year with aching hearts to remember the fallen, who sacrificed their lives to protect their nation and their country. This is the greatest show of consolation and unity of the people of Israel, attended by thousands of people, Haredim, Orthodox, IDF soldiers, Torah scholars, and rabbis. “And who is like Your people Israel, a unique nation on earth.” (II Samuel 7:23)
