Yom Yerushalayim

Today, Jerusalem and the rest of the country celebrated 43 years since Jerusalem was reunified. I was privlaged to have been able to attend the national ceremony.

(from 3 years ago)

The ceremony itself began almost an hour late- either because they were waiting for the Prime Minister, President and other guests of honor (Mayor of Jerusalem, head of the Knesset, chief Rabbis, ministers in the government, defense minister, etc.) to arrive, or because they told the soldiers and guests to arrive at 5 for a ceremony that was scheduled to begin at 6 for security reasons. I think that it was a combo of the two.

As the ceremony started, there was convocation and Kaddish recited and then there were speaches about where individuals were when they heard that Jerusalem was reunited. It felt like when my mother would tell me where she was and what she was doing when JFK was assasinated or how I remember the same details about the Oslo Accord. The Prime Minister, Bibi Netanyanu, said that he remembered when he was a teenager and then the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, spoke about how he was a boy. Yes- Bibi is older than Nir...but I think that they can still play nicely together...

As part of the tekes (ceremony), soldiers stood at attention, there were songs sung by the Army singers, a childrens' choir, and David D'Or. When the children were singing, I turned to Ari and asked if he things that they do weddings...

There were a number of torches lit and then wreaths placed at the foot of the dais. It ended with Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem.

I think that the whole ceremony was done well- once it started and was delighted that the year would end on a high point.