Metro
Honoring Israel
Programs memorialize soldiers and terror victims, celebrate 59 years of statehood.
Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
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At the Yom HaZikaron memorial ceremony at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield, Col. Chen Livni of the IDF and
Marni Jacobson and Tamar Dvir, both of West Bloomfield, light memorial candles.
Left: Lev Sklar, 4, and brother, Daniel, 7, of Oak Park checkout the candles at the Yom HaZikaron event at the Oak Park JCC.
Right: Halevi Shlomit and her daughter, Halevi Mor, 7 months, of Oak Park in front of photos of Israeli soldiers who gave their
lives to defend Israel.
Far left: Kollel
Torah MiTzion
members Ayelet
Safra and son,
Ariel, 5, of
Southfield listen to
the memorial pro-
gram in Oak Park.
Left: The somber
mood gave way
to dancing as the
Oak Park program
shifted to Yom
HaAtzmaut.
piercing two-minute siren blast
served to focus the attention
of the more than 400 Metro
Detroiters who gathered April 22 for the
annual community Yom HaZikaron/Israel
Remembrance Day program at the Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield.
Following the American and Israeli
national anthems and opening remarks by
Federation President Peter Alter, a series of
prayers, poems and songs memorialized
the more than 22,000 Israelis who have
given their lives in the defense of the State
of Israel.
Col. Chen Livni, an active Israel Defense
Forces (IDF) officer, quoted the Passover
Hagaddah — "in every generation they
rise up to annihilate us" — in reference
to Iran and the unwillingness of so many
to recognize and accept Israel as a Jewish
State.
Clara Gaba and Susan Krakoff co-
chaired the program that was sponsored
by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit together with the Michigan
Friends of the IDF.
The following evening, April 23, hun-
dreds more gathered for a Yom HaZikaron
commemoration and Yom HaAtzmaut/
Israel Independence Day celebration at
the JCC in Oak Park. Kollel Torah MiTzion,
together with the Young Israel Council
of Metropolitan Detroit, Yeshivat Akiva,
Temple Emanu-El and Congregation Beth
Shalom organized the remembrance pro-
gram. Karen Alpiner and Cheryl Jerusalem
chaired the event.
Emceed by Rabbi Judah Isaacs of
Federation's Alliance for Jewish Education,
the program also included a siren blast
as well as a photomontage of last year's
Lebanon War that included images of
funerals, tears, prayers and determined
soldiers. The stories of Lt. Col. Roi Klein,
an assistant batallion commander who
saved his soldiers by falling on a grenade
during the war, and of Eta Tzur and her
12-year-old son Ephraim who were killed
in a drive-by shooting on Chanukah in
1997, were poignantly told in picture, song
and story.
Kollel member Ayala Urim, a cousin
of the Tzurs, told the silent audience,
"I remember sadness but not despair; I
remember deep pain but not depression."
Honoring Israel on page 16
April 26 * 2007 15