Israel At 59: Megadeath, Hip-Hop Hatikva, 'Human Beat-Box' & Dudu Fisher

There. That got your attention.

Click the flag.

Also from Ynet News, other artists do Hatikva:

• Teapacks

• Zehava Ben

• Rivka Zohar

• Daniel Zamir

And, of course, while we're talkin' odd musical covers in the national anthem, why not try out Megadeath guitarist Marty Friedman, from a recent gig in Tel Aviv:

Happy 59th.

Memorial Day: The heart breaks, the soul mourns

Grieving mother of Israeli civilian
killed in Katyusha strike in Haifa
holds his photo, as her sister looks on.
(Dave Bender)

As Memorial Day in Israel draws to a close and Independence Day enters, The Jerusalem Post offers photos of civilians and solders, Jews and Arabs, religious and secular who were killed during last summer's Second Lebanon War.

A total of 43 Israeli civilians (including four who died of heart attacks during rocket barrages) and 116 IDF soldiers were killed in the Israel-Hizbullah war.

Listening to the achingly sad songs on Galei Tzahal Army Radio via Internet from across the sea, and the heart wrenching litanies of family and friends telling of their fallen friends, comrades, children, parents and loved ones, the heart grieves, the soul feels the pain, loss - and longing to return to Israel soon. To be at home.

In "Wind of Remembrance," colleague Judy Lash Balint writes so movingly about Memorial Day ceremonies in Israel. Go read it, and buy her new book Jerusalem Diaries II.

JerusalemOnline Memorial Day update (Video - Channel 2 TV)

Today's Headlines:

Click to watch Memorial Day ceremony: Israel remembers its fallen Click to watch a Memorial Day commemoration Click to watch a tribute to those who fought and fell for Israel Click to watch the story of an Israeli peace activist killed in a terror attack.

Click on screen for more news

22,305 Fallen: Every number a name, a face, a memory

Faith Under Fire

War Against Hizbullah, Summer 2006:
Israeli Defense Forces soldier at brief morning prayers
along northern border; smoke from a recently fallen Katyusha rocket rises in distance.
(Photo: Dave Bender - More images are here)

From the Israel Foreign Ministry:

A total of 22,305 men and women have been killed defending the land of Israel since 1860, the year that the first Jewish settlers left the secure walls of Jerusalem to build new Jewish neighborhoods.

In the past year, since Remembrance Day 2005, 233 members of the security forces - police, IDF, Border Police, Israel Security Agency and other organizations - have been killed in the service of the state.

Israel's 59th Independence Day celebrations will commence on Monday evening, April 23, when the state flag is raised to full mast at a national ceremony on Mount Herzl, at which twelve torches are lit.

Israel at 59: Statistics

Click image to view a memorial
film on Israel's fallen

Israel At 59: Orthodox Union slideshow

Ok. Shameless self-promotion disclaimer here - but hey, they asked.

So, What Does Israel Mean To You?

(Image courtesy AJC)

This?


This?


This?

Or something in between?

Comments are welcome, and many will be posted here (some with appropriate replies, so be nice...). So, c'mon - speak up.

To see an Israel beyond the headlines, go here and here for features, and here and here for images.

Israel at 59 to Hamas: you need us

Cor-ten steel sculpture on observation deck of
Tel Aviv's Azrieli Towers (Photo: Dave Bender)

From Bradley Burston in Haaretz:

To you, the leaders and activists of Hamas, on the occasion of the 59th anniversary of the darkest day on the Palestinian calendar, I offer my sympathy.

After all this time, perhaps there is only one thing more galling for you than the fact that the State of Israel still exists: the fact that you need us.

(...)You want to believe that if you wait long enough, endure enough anguish, exact enough revenge, the Jews will relent. It seems only fair, only just, that after all this sacrifice and struggle, you will come into possession of the very state for which you have sworn to give your very life.

You don't know the Jews.

Virginia Tech: heroic Israeli Holocaust survivor's last moments

An absolute must read in Newsday:

Theresa Walsh was one of the last people to see Liviu Librescu alive.

"He looked horrified, almost as if he knew what was going to happen," said the Virginia Tech math major, who had stepped into the hallway from a second-floor classroom across from his when she heard gunshots.

---
From Ynet News:

Librescu was buried Friday morning at the Ra'anana cemetery. Hundreds of mourners accompanied Librescu to his final resting place.

From The Jerusalem Post:

According to Librescu's wife [Marlena], lighting Shabbat candles was his favorite mitzvah.

...[Son] Arie said his mother would now move to back Israel once she has completed the arrangements in the US.

Gheorghe Angelescu, adviser to the president of Romania, presented Marlena Librescu at the funeral with the Grand Cross of Romania - the country's highest civilian honor, which was previously granted to the prime ministers of France and Italy.

Librescu was given the award for his scientific achievements and the heroism surrounding his death. According to Angelescu, Librescu "was a very important scientist - not just for Israel or Romania, but for the world."

Professor Liviu Librescu's funeral (photo: Ido Erez)

Jews worldwide - whatever your level of observance - take an example from Librescu, and light Shabbat candles this evening, just before sunset. Here's how.

Librescu condolence page.

'Wandering Jews' get a 'Geni' map

Jewish memorial tree, Budapest, Hungary
(Photo credit)

Blogger Brian Blum is touting a new web-based genealogy app: Geni:

Every time you add a name, you can include an email address. Geni then sends a message inviting that person to join your tree and start entering data of his or her own. In that way, your family tree grows as other people do the heavy lifting. Geni sends out an email summary of every week of who's joined and allows you to enter missing addresses directly into the email.

To give you an example, I started by entering 21 names into Geni. I knew the email addresses of 15 of those people and they were automatically invited, a number of whom immediately began filling in their part of the tree. After about 3 weeks of using Geni, there are now 472 people in my tree dating as far back as the 1850s – to my great-great grandfather who lived in Berlad Romania – and as far a field as my aunt's ex-husband's sister's family. That comes out to 115 blood relatives and 356 in-laws.

Worth a visit and sign-up, I'd say.

More Jewish genealogy resources are here.

Virginia Tech slayings: A fitting Jewish response

In a response to the appalling Virginia Tech slayings, Chabad on Campus has set up the Hearts to Hokies campaign:

A National Week of Goodness and Kindness

Join the "Hearts to Hokies" campaign to spread the light of goodness and kindness in the world. Add an extra good deed, whatever it may be, in memory of the victims.

The deeds will be collected from campuses and communities across the nation and presented to the Virginia Tech community, as a tangible expression of our love and concern and our dedication to making the world a better place.

Go there now, sign in and do this.

Here is the condolence page for Liviu Librescu, the 75-year old Romanian-Israeli Holocaust survivor who was slain in a true act of Kiddush Hashem - sanctifying God's Name - as he heroically defended his students from the killer.

More on Librescu here.