This Monday evening, at precisely 8 PM, a siren will cut across the entire State of Israel. On highways, drivers will pull over and step out of their cars. Soldiers will stand at rigid attention on base. Children will freeze mid-step on playgrounds. For one unbroken minute, an entire nation will stand in silence for the men and women who gave everything so that Israel could exist. On Tuesday morning, a second siren — two minutes — will do the same.
This is Yom HaZikaron — the Day of Remembrance. Its full name in Hebrew is Yom HaZikaron LeHalelei Ma’arkhot Yisrael ul’Nifge’ei Pe’ulot HaEivah — Remembrance Day for the Fallen Soldiers of the Wars of Israel and Victims of Acts of Terror. There are no sales. No long weekends. No discount codes. Just a nation that understands, with absolute clarity, what it cost to get here.
What does it mean for a people to remember — and why does the Hebrew Bible treat memory not as sentiment, but as sacred obligation?
The Book of Deuteronomy does not merely suggest that Israel recall its past. It commands it. “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen.” (Deuteronomy 4:9) Zikaron — memory — is a covenant act. To forget is not simply carelessness. It is a form of betrayal. Israel’s national calendar is built around this understanding, and nowhere is it more visible than in the week that moves from Yom HaShoah to Yom HaZikaron to Yom Ha’Atzmaut — from Holocaust to sacrifice to independence. The Jewish calendar places these three moments back-to-back on purpose. One is the cost of helplessness. The second is the cost of strength. The third is what both made possible.
As of last year’s count, 25,034 soldiers and security personnel are honored on Yom HaZikaron, alongside 5,091 victims of terrorism. In the single year between Memorial Day 2023 and Memorial Day 2024, 760 soldiers and 834 civilians were added to those rolls — the vast majority because of the October 7 Hamas terrorist massacre and the war that followed. These are not statistics. They are names. They are families. They are children who will grow up without fathers.
One of those names is Sgt. Yisrael Natan Rosenfeld.
He was 20 years old, serving in the 601st Battalion of the Combat Engineering Corps. On June 29, 2025, during an operation to clear ground in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, a hidden explosive killed him. He was born in the United Kingdom and raised in Israel after his family made aliyah — immigration to the Land of Israel — eleven years ago. His commander, Lt. Col. Avshalom Dadon, said he was “a fighter, a leader, and a light we so badly needed.” His grandparents survived Auschwitz.
Let that sink in. The grandchildren of Auschwitz survivors are now serving in the Israel Defense Forces. What the Nazis tried to erase, the State of Israel raised up as soldiers. Natan Rosenfeld knew his family’s history. He did not carry it as a burden. He carried it as a calling. His younger brother is now 18 years old and plans to follow him into an elite unit.
This Sunday, April 19 — the evening before Yom HaZikaron begins — Israel365 is hosting a live prayer and remembrance event for believers who love Israel, called Remember and Honor. It begins at 2:00 PM Eastern Time and opens the same way Israel will the following evening: with a minute of silence.
The event will feature four speakers. Avi Rosenfeld, Natan’s father, will speak — a man who lost a son in Gaza and has another son preparing to go to the same battlefield, who will tell you his son died doing exactly what he believed he was born to do. Ali Feirstein, the wife of a reserve soldier who has served hundreds of days in uniform, will speak about what it looks like on the home front — raising children, running a family, and finding her own footing when her husband is deployed. Yehoshua Fleischer, a reserve soldier whose business has paid the price of his service, will speak — and will tell you he goes back willingly, with a smile. Elisha Gimpel, an active soldier, will share from inside the experience itself.
The prophet Isaiah wrote of a day when God would raise a signal to the nations and gather the Jewish people back to their land. (Isaiah 49:22) The Sages understood this not as poetry but as promise. What we are watching in our time — the return to the land, the establishment of the state, the survival against impossible odds — is not a political story. It is a prophetic one.
A special offering will also be raised for IDF widows.
Yom HaZikaron 2026 begins Monday evening, April 21st. But this Sunday, one day before, you have the chance to stand with Israel — to hear from a grieving father who would not change his son’s choice, from soldiers who would serve again without hesitation, and from families who pay the price every single day that goes unnoticed.
Register now for the webinar by clicking here.
The webinar will begin on time with the siren at 2:00 PM Eastern sharp. Be there when it sounds to stand with Israel.
