What’s the fast day for Israel’s fallen soldiers? I found myself wondering that recently at Mount Herzl, standing among the graves of twenty-somethings surrounded by photos, flags, and mementos of interrupted lives. Young men drifted from grave to grave, some quiet, others smoking and talking, almost as if the missing friend were still part of the conversation.
Would Ta’anit Esther fit – a fast before battle? Not quite. We know the story’s triumphant ending; it is not a fast of mourning. Asara B’Tevet, marking the siege of Jerusalem and the beginning of destruction? That too feels wrong. Those soldiers died defending Jewish sovereignty in our homeland, not witnessing its collapse. Their sacrifice represents a reversal of Jewish history.
And Tisha B’Av? Would they want to be remembered only through the lens of exile and catastrophe? These losses feel connected to Jewish suffering across generations, yet also profoundly different.
We remember fallen soldiers in Yizkor and on Yom HaZikaron. In our synagogue, the names of the fallen are recited before Av HaRachamim, linking today’s grief with older liturgies of martyrdom. Yet dying with a weapon in defense of Jewish life in Israel is not the same as dying helplessly in exile. Perhaps both belong to the same Jewish story, but they tell different chapters.
Perhaps the truest response to their sacrifice is not fasting, but living freely in Israel – walking through a crowded shuk and eating falafel in a sovereign Jewish state.