On Tuesday evening, the eve of the Memorial Day for Israel’s Fallen
Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism, the Defense Ministry, the National
Insurance Institute (NII) and the Knesset held the third
annual “Songs in their Memory” event. The event was attended by
thousands of bereaved family members and other Israelis.
Taking part in the memorial event were some of Israel’s best singers,
as well as the IDF Chief Cantor Lt. Col. Shai Abramson, the IDF
orchestra and IDF entertainment troupe.
3,000 members of bereaved families and citizens took part in the
event, which took place in the Knesset plaza. In addition to memorial
songs, poems and readings were read by Knesset Speaker MK Reuven
Rivlin, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Deputy Chief of Staff Yair
Naveh, police chief Yohanan Danino, Welfare Minister Moshe Kahlon and
other public officials. The officials read excerpts written by the
fallen soldiers and victims of terror, as well as poems written about
them.
Arutz Sheva visited the rehearsals for the memorial event and spoke
with the participating singers. The visit took place on Monday, one
day before the ceremony itself.
“The event ‘Songs in their Memory’ will be held for the third time,”
said Knesset Secretary-General Dan Landau. “Its uniqueness is in the
fact that the two subjects of bereavement – the military bereavement
of the fallen IDF soldiers and the civilian bereavement of the terror
victims – come together. This is the only state-sponsored stage in
Israel on which the fallen soldiers and the victims of terror are
commemorated in one event.”
Landau explained that “the purpose of the event, besides having these
two agendas on one stage, is doing it with the Knesset in the
background so it can be an institution which includes the entire
public.”
He expressed hope that in addition to the 3,000 people in attendance,
hundreds of thousands more will join the event by watching it on
television, listening to it on the radio and watching on the internet.
Popular Israeli singer Lior Narkis, for whom it was the first time
performing at an official state-sponsored Memorial Day ceremony, said
he was excited and proud of the opportunity to take part in such an
important event.
“It’s hard to explain how great the excitement is to sing on Memorial
Day,” he said. “It’s one of the most exciting things I’ve done in my
career, and it’s the first time, by the way, that I sing at a
Memorial Day ceremony. I sang in school ceremonies and the like, but
it’s the first time I’m singing in an official ceremony and it’s very
very exciting.”
Jewish music singer Udi Davidi, who also took part in the event,
said, “The eve of Memorial Day is a different kind of excitement.
It’s not the same as the excitement of a regular performance, and it
goes beyond the fact that working with these people is a great honor
for me and a new thing. I’ve never had the chance to perform with
such a big group of musicians.”
