Memorial Day Reflection - What They Died For

The Jewish people are the support of the State of Israel, just as Israel, by its very existence, is the backbone of the Jewish people.

I recently led a group of IDF widows on a visit to France, and there I had the fortune, once again, to experience the direct connection between Jewish people in the Diaspora and in Israel — without having known one another at all before we left Israel. The heart that beats is one heart, and that is the source of our strength.

Any person with the ability to think knows how to differentiate between a soldier sent to defend his people and a terrorist on a mission to intentionally harm innocent citizens — between someone who fights in the hope that the day will come when the Arab-Israeli conflict ends , and someone who refuses to recognize the existence of the Jewish state in the Land of Israel, even if a Palestinian state will also be established.

The first sanctifies life, while the second sanctifies death. IS IT possible that such a deep lack of understanding can exist in our midst while our state is still struggling for its existence?

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But at the same time, it seems that observing the Memorial Day of the Jews who were killed defending their people from slaughter, together with the commemoration of those who, with knives in their hands, carried out that slaughter — is a sin against truth and morality, and reflects a profound misperception. I am sure the intention of those behind the initiative is a good one.

Perhaps from the warm, secure place in which they live, they are unable to see the complex reality in which we live. I ask them to continue hoping for peace between Jews and Palestinians — we all want that. But I also ask them to remember that their strength as Jews in the Diaspora comes from our strength, and that our strength depends on their support. They died for us, for their homes and families and friends, for a collection of traditions they cherished and a future they believed in; they died for Canada.

The meaning of their sacrifice rests with our collective national consciousness; our future is their monument. Library and Archives Canada PA These wars touched the lives of Canadians of all ages, all races, all social classes. Fathers, sons, daughters, sweethearts: The people who stayed in Canada also served—in factories, in voluntary service organizations, wherever they were needed.

Yet for many of us, war is a phenomenon seen through the lens of a television camera or a journalist's account of fighting in distant parts of the world. The states of the former Confederacy were unenthusiastic about a holiday memorializing those who, in General Logan's words, "united to suppress the late rebellion.

On May 30, , President Ulysses S. Some people attended on a spring day which, The New York Times reported, was "somewhat too warm for comfort.

Garfield, a Civil War general, Republican congressman from Ohio and future president. As the songs, speeches and sermons ended, the participants helped to decorate the graves of the Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery. An emotional President Ronald Reagan presided over the interment of six bones, the remains of an unidentified Vietnam War soldier, on November 28, Fourteen years later, those remains were disinterred, no longer unknown. Lieutenant Blassie was reburied near his hometown of St. His crypt at Arlington remains permanently empty.

On Memorial Day weekend in , motorcyclists rode into Washington, D. By , the ride had swelled to , bikers, many of them veterans.

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There may have been a half-million participants in , in what organizers bluntly call "a demonstration—not a parade. A national veterans rights group, Rolling Thunder takes its name from the B carpet-bombing runs during the war in Vietnam. Together with the brigade bugler, Butterfield made some changes to the tune.

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Not long after, the melody was used at a burial for the first time when a battery commander ordered it played in lieu of the customary three rifle volleys over the grave. The battery was so close to enemy lines, and the commander was worried the shots would spark renewed fighting. In , a Georgia teacher and volunteer war worker named Moina Michael began a campaign to make the poppy a symbol of tribute to veterans and for "keeping the faith with all who died.

Several Southern states continue to set aside a day for honoring the Confederate dead, which is usually called Confederate Memorial Day.

Why Remember?

No question that Memorial Day is a solemn event. Still, don't feel too guilty about doing something frivolous like having barbecue over the weekend. After all, you weren't the one who instituted the Indianapolis on May 30, That credit goes to Indianapolis businessman Carl Fisher.



The winning driver that day was Ray Harroun , who averaged Gravitas returned on May 30, , when the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated. Supreme Court Chief Justice and former president William Howard Taft dedicated the monument before a crowd of 50, people, segregated by race, and which included a row of Union and Confederate veterans. Also attending was Lincoln's surviving son, Robert Todd Lincoln.

In , Congress established a National Moment of Remembrance , which asks Americans to pause for one minute at 3 p. The time was chosen because 3 p. It's time for another hidden image puzzle!