The official holidays in Israel are religious holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Passover, etc. There are 3 exceptional dates: Holocaust Remembrance Day, Memorial Day and Independence Day.
The connection between them on the calendar is not accidental. Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked exactly one week before the Memorial Day, which is marked only one day before Independence Day.
The idea was to create a continuum of consciousness from the lowest point of the Jewish people, the Holocaust, through the terrible cost of the independence of the Jewish people and its ability to defend itself, to the Independence Day celebrations.
Five days ago we marked Holocaust Remembrance Day, in two days we will mark the Memorial Day and a day after we will celebrate Independence Day. The decision made by Ben-Gurion to attach, back to back, Memorial Day and Independence Day celebrations, creates every year a tremendous difficulty. This decision is not accidental and its purpose is to link the terrible price that society in Israel has to pay with its goal: The independence of Israel, the independence of the Jewish people to defend itself.
This year, the difficulty will be enormous, cruel and frustrating in the most extreme way since the establishment of the State of Israel.
