Last night and today the people of #Israel and many Jewish communities around the world are commemorating #YomHaZikaron, the day when we remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defence of the State of Israel.
We mourn and remember each of the 23,646 fallen soldiers who died defending the Jewish state and also memorialise the 3,134 victims of terror. We pray that their families find comfort and healing. Though Israel has had to fight many wars, from the very beginning it sought peace.
The Hebrew language has two words for strength: koach and gevurah. Koach is the strength you need to win a war. Gevurah is the courage you need to make peace. Israel has shown both kinds of strength. But this is a strength that comes with a painful price.
Throughout Jewish history, we have had to fight for the right to be, and never more so than in the State of Israel, with a courage you find only in those whose ultimate aim is not victory but peace, not triumph but life and the ability to live without fear.
Those who fell were heroes not just of the military battle but of the human spirit. They were willing to die so that we, their children and grandchildren, their extended family, could live.
They lit a flame in the Jewish heart that will never die.
Let us, remembering them and their past, look today at the Israel they built, a land of freedom, energy, creativity, liberty, and life, and continue to pray for the day when peace will be achieved. May this come speedily in our days. Amen.
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