I went to my first official Memorial Day ceremony yesterday, mostly by accident. I wanted to get out, and figured I'd go to the Western Wall. As I was leaving the house, I realized that it was Memorial Day Eve, which meant there would be ceremonies after sundown, and most likely there would be one or two at the Kotel. I decided to go anyway, figuring I could either weave my way through the heavier crowds at the main plaza, go quietly to the probably empty Robinson's arch, or hey, maybe I'd even attend a ceremony.
It turns out that main IDF Memorial Day ceremony is Memorial Day Eve at the Western Wall. I attended, and it was... inoffensive. Seriously, that's the word that comes to mind.
The ceremony started with the nation-wide siren marking a moment of silence for the fallen, then the (apolitical) president lit the memorial torch together with a war widow. A military trumpeter played taps, the president spoke for 15 minutes, a general spoke for 10 minutes, the chief rabbi of the IDF recited a psalm, a bereaved father recited kaddish, the chief cantor of the IDF (there is one!) recited Kel Malei Rahamim (prayer for the dead), everyone sang hatikva.
Muted. Inclusive. Nondenominational. It wasn't bad, I mean heck, I cried a couple of times. But I think this was a good example of a ceremony that went so far out of its way not to offend anyone that it lost most of its power. Who knows, says cynical Malka, maybe that's even by the IDF's design.
Anyway, it was interesting.
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