Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Day 2005/5766
12th Heshvan – 13th-14th November

A Memorial FAQ

1. Q: When is the Hebrew date for Rabin Memorial Day?

A: 12th Heshvan, but not if that falls on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night, when the date is moved forwards or deferred.

2. Q: Are there speeches, readings, online ideas for a Memorial Ceremony?

Official events in Israel open on 3rd November and follow through into mid-November www.rabincenter.org.il

A: This is the collection of relevant links from the Rabin Memorial Day Links page.

Here are some additional guidelines:

Firstly, it is important that participants bring the readings themselves, perhaps writing something of their own towards it and that the participation should be broad, but not chaotically so. The ideal approach is for everyone to work towards the day with a project or memorial preparation activity so that the ceremony is meaningful for all.

Formal Readings:

• Psalms – classic texts for memorial - with sentiments of faith in adversity:15; 23, 24; 61, 62; (69); 90
  http://www.jafi.org.il/education/actual/rabin/shiva1.html
• Psalms for the numerical value of the letters of Rabin's name. 10-80-5-8-90 200-2-10-50 .
  NB for Resh (200), the custom is to read Psalm 119:153-160.
• Text of Kaddish/Yizkor
• Hatikvah

Readings and interventions can also be:

• Personal contributions from participants on what Israel would be if only/what we hope for Israel/how we remember his message in different ways...
• What people say about Yitzhak Rabin and the significance of his life, the significance of the assassination (interviews in the community/selected excerpts from notes in a remembrance booklet).
• It might be possible to mount your own exhibition and have it also on Powerpoint, with groups standing by each real picture and either acting out something in mime, or doing a reading. You can also use random images for powerpoint backgrounds to music and readings.

3. Q: What kind of music would be appropriate?

A: Please find below the track titles in Hebrew-English-transliteration for the Memorial CDs issued by the Yitzhak Rabin Center, Jerusalem.

4. Q: Can I create a memorial ceremony using Naomi Shemer's music?

A: It probably wouldn't work to set the entire ceremony to Naomi Shemer music, but there are some possibilities. Rabin's favourite Naomi Shemer titles appear on the Memorial CDs. In addition, it might be appropriate to add the song she wrote in his memory, Akedat Yitzhak – The Sacrifice of Isaac. The text appears in the Rabin Center Memorial booklet, but it is copyright, so we can't publish it on this website.

5. Q: After the sorrow, the grief, the strife and the intervening years of violence, how can we connect to Rabin for children who never knew him?

A: Yitzhak Rabin had a dream, but he was assassinated at the height of his career and statesmanship. Ordinary and great people have dreams of their own, this is one point of entry. The readings and the different memorial ceremony ideas, the different projects on the website and on other websites offer a wide range of ideas for your selection.