We remember those who can't be here and we celebrate the state they gave their lives for

The Silver Platter


The earth grows still. The lurid sky slowly pales over smoking borders.
Heartsick but still living, a people stand by
To greet the uniqueness
Of the miracle. Readied, they wait beneath the moon,
Wrapped in awesome joy before the light. – - Then soon,
A girl and boy step forward,
And slowly walk before the waiting nation;
In work clothes and heavy-shod
They climb
In stillness.
Wearing still the dress of battle, the grime
Of aching day and fired night
Unwashed, weary until death, not knowing rest,
But wearing youth like dewdrops in their hair.
- – Silently the two approach
And stand.
Are they of the quick or of the dead?
Through wondering tears, the people stare.
“Who are you, the silent two?”
And they reply: “We are the silver platter
Upon which the Jewish State was served to you.”
And speaking, fall in shadow at the nation’s feet.
Let the rest in Israel’s chronicles be told.

 -Nathan Alterman
Image from Jdate

On Iyar 5 and 6 this year Israel celebrates Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut: Memorial Day and Independence Day. 
Please visit Michal's Tefillin for a stirring editorial by Basia Ellen.  

Friendship by Chayim Guri
In the Negev, the autumn night falls,
And it kindles the stars in the quiet,
As the breeze rustles outside the door
And the dust settles down on the highway.
Time goes on, do we notice at all
How the months have gone by one by one?
Time goes by, there are few of us left,
And so many we once knew are gone.
Chorus:
They are gone from our midst,
All their laughter, their youth and their splendor.
But we know that a friendship like that,
We are bound all our lives to remember,
For a love that in battle is forged,
Will endure while we live, fierce and tender.
Oh, the friendship we bore without words,
It was silent and grey, it was wordless.
From the pain and the blood of those days,
It remains with us, ardent and yearning.
In the name of that friendship we know,
In its name we'll go on, every forward,
For those friends, when they fell on their swords,
Left us this precious gift to recall them.
Chorus:
They are gone from our midst,
All their laughter, their youth and their splendor.
But we know that a friendship like that,
We are bound all our lives to remember,
For a love that in battle is forged,
Will endure while we live, fierce and tender.