Yom Hazikaron–Remember These Faces of Israel

In Israel, the weeks after Passover are filled with  a series of “meaningful days:” Yom Hashoah descends on us first, then the emotional roller-coaster of Yom Hazikaron–Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror–that morphs without warning into Yom Ha’atzmaut–Independence Day, and a few weeks later, the triumphant Yom Yerushalayim–Jerusalem Day, that celebrates the reunification of Jerusalem.

It’s a time of year to reflect and marvel at the panoply of Israelis packed into the Jewish state–one of the most dynamic societies in the world.

Faces of Israel, 2012

Springtime in the Eyala Valley

Celebrating Jerusalem Day in the Old City

 At the Barashi Kurdish Synagogue in Jerusalem

Farmer from Gush Katif–now making the desert bloom in the Jordan Valley

Scribe puts the finishing touches to a Torah at the Sephardic Educational center in the Old City.

Celebrating Ethiopian Jewish holiday of Sigd in Jerusalem

Druze in the Upper Galilee

Yemenite Jew showing off Megillat Esther in the Bukharan Quarter of Jerusalem

In Jerusalem’s Bukharan Quarter.

Running of the blue and white: Jerusalem marathon 2012

Having fun in Park Gilo, Jerusalem

Kibbutz Deganya: Yesterday’s founders and today’s leadership

All photos ©Judy Lash Balint.  All rights reserved.