A moving Yom Hazikaron commemoration ceremony took place at Ben Porat Yosef on Sunday, April 30, in joint sponsorship with Friends of the IDF, Yashar LaChayal, One Family Fund, the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey and Ben Porat Yosef. The event was attended by approximately 300 people. BPY middle school students performed a presentation on the theme of “gevura v’achdut” (strength and unity), during which they spoke about several fallen soldiers and victims of terror, including: Yoni Netanyahu, the Sayeret Matkal commander of the operation to free the Israeli and Jewish hostages from Entebbe Airport in 1976; Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Fraenkel, three students who were kidnapped from Gush Etzion while on their way home; and Shlomo Rindenow, lone IDF soldier and member of the extended BPY family, who was killed in a grenade explosion in the Golan Heights. Shlomo’s father, Rabbi Mordechai Rindenow, spoke poignantly to the assembled audience and concluded his remarks with a recitation of tehillim and kadish.

Rabbi Shalom Hammer, chaplain, speaker and educator in the IDF and founder and director of Makom Meshutaf, an organization that works to advocate unity between the religious and secular communities in Israel, was the featured speaker. He spoke about “Israel’s Survival and Continuity,” eloquently describing the vital importance and connection between unity and strength, the themes of the evening’s program, emphasizing that the strength of Yisrael lies in its unity. Rabbi Hammer began his talk by stressing the value of programs that promote unity with Klal Yisrael and the State of Israel, and the critical importance of promoting Hebrew language fluency as part of this effort.

Rabbi Saul Zucker, incoming BPY principal, presided over the evening, and Rabbi Ilan Acoca, rav mechanech, and Mr. Stanley Fischman, BPY Judaic studies teacher mentor, recited the kel maleh rachamim.