Israeli Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron) 2031

The dates

Yom HaZikaron, Israel's memorial day for its fallen soldiers and for civilians killed in hostile acts, is fixed by law to 4 Iyar. It opens in the evening with a siren and a ceremony at the Western Wall, continues the next day with ceremonies in military cemeteries and schools, and ends with the transition ceremony at Mount Herzl, the moment it turns into Independence Day. It is not a day off work, but it is the quietest day in the Israeli year: places of entertainment are shut and broadcasting is given over entirely to remembrance.

Why the day before

For the first two years after the War of Independence the fallen were commemorated inside Independence Day itself, and bereaved families found the combination difficult: one day was expected to carry both a memorial service and a celebration. In 1951 the recommendation was adopted to separate them and give remembrance a day of its own, the day before. That kept the link between the two without forcing them into the same twenty-four hours.

In 1963 the Knesset put the day into law, under a title that was originally “Law of Remembrance Day for the Fallen of the War of Independence and the Israel Defence Forces”. Section 1(a) defines it: “4 Iyar is a day of remembrance of the valour of the soldiers of the Israel Defence Forces who gave their lives to secure the existence of the State of Israel, and of the fighters of Israel's wars who fell for the rebirth of Israel, for communion with their memory and for the recounting of their acts of valour” ¹. In 1998 the government decided to include victims of hostile acts in the same day, and the name in use today reflects that.

The date carries three shifting rules, set out in section 1(b): if 4 Iyar falls on a Thursday the day moves back to 3 Iyar; if it falls on a Friday it moves back to 2 Iyar; and if it falls on a Sunday it moves forward to 5 Iyar ². The rules exist to keep the ceremonies clear of the Sabbath, and they are matched exactly by the shifting rules of Independence Day, so the two days always stay adjacent.

What the day looks like

Two sirens. The first sounds at eight in the evening and lasts a minute; it opens the day and the state ceremony in the Western Wall plaza, where the flag is lowered to half-mast and a memorial torch is lit. The second sounds at eleven the next morning and lasts two minutes, after which ceremonies begin in military cemeteries across the country. The law states the requirement itself: “on Remembrance Day there shall be, throughout the state, two minutes of silence during which all work shall cease and all traffic on the roads shall stop” ³.

The ceremonies. The central morning ceremony is held at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, with parallel ceremonies in every military cemetery, in schools, in towns and on army bases. The Yizkor prayer composed for Israel's fallen and the El Maleh Rachamim prayer are recited, and names are read.

Visiting the cemeteries. Through the day families come to the graves, alongside school groups, army units and friends. It is the least formal part of the day and, for many people, the central one.

Closures and broadcasting. Entertainment venues shut from the evening before, flags on public buildings fly at half-mast, and radio and television give the day over to it: accounts of the fallen, interviews with families, music chosen to match. Before the day the Ministry of Defence publishes an updated count of those who have fallen since 1860.

The transition

The most unusual thing in the Israeli calendar is not this day in itself but what comes immediately after it. Yom HaZikaron ends at nightfall, and at exactly that hour a ceremony begins at Mount Herzl that closes it and opens Independence Day: the flag is raised from half-mast to the top of the pole, and the torches are lit straight afterwards. Within a few minutes the country moves from a memorial service to a celebration.

The adjacency was deliberate. The thinking behind it is that independence and its cost are not two separate subjects, and that it is hard to celebrate without first saying who is missing. In practice it also produces an abrupt switch that not everyone is comfortable with, bereaved families above all, a question Israel has revisited repeatedly without agreeing to change anything.

One more thing sets the day apart: it is barely a private occasion. In a country where most of the population has served in the army, most people have at least one name they are remembering, which is why a siren that is, in the end, a two-minute pause in the middle of a working day is kept almost universally.

Common questions about Yom HaZikaron

When is Yom HaZikaron?
On 4 Iyar (28/4/31), the day before Independence Day. On the civil calendar that falls in April or May.

Is it always on 4 Iyar?
Not every year. The law carries three shifts: 4 Iyar falling on a Thursday moves back to 3 Iyar, 4 Iyar falling on a Friday moves back to 2 Iyar, and 4 Iyar falling on a Sunday moves forward to 5 Iyar. Only when it falls on a Tuesday does it stay put.

When does it begin?
At sunset before the date. The first siren sounds at eight in the evening, followed by the state ceremony at the Western Wall.

What time are the sirens?
Two of them: one minute at eight in the evening, and two minutes at eleven the following morning.

Is it a public holiday?
No. Workplaces and schools operate, though many finish early. Entertainment venues are closed from the evening before.

When does it end?
At nightfall, with the transition ceremony at Mount Herzl, which is also the opening of Independence Day.

Yom HaZikaron on the calendar: 4 Iyar and its civil date

The grid at the top of this page shows Israel's memorial day inside the month it falls in, with the Hebrew date and the civil date on every day. You can see at a glance which civil date carries 4 Iyar in the year selected, which weekday it lands on, and whether this is one of the years in which the day moves back to the 3rd or 2nd of Iyar or forward to the 5th. The eve, when the first siren sounds, is the preceding day on the grid. You can also see the day that follows it, Independence Day, and Holocaust Remembrance Day a week earlier.
The button above the grid prints it to a single page, portrait or landscape, without the navigation or this text.

• Every festival of the year at a glance: the annual holidays calendar
• The full printable calendar: home page
• The Hebrew month it falls in: Iyar

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