Yizkor prayer for Yom HaZikaron

http://www.izkor.gov.il/Tfilat_Izkor.aspx

"יִזְכֹּר אֱלֹהִים אֶת נִשְמוֹת בָּנָיו-גִּבּוֹרָיו, חַיָּלֵי צְבָא הֲגַנָּה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, שֶׁנָּפְלוּ בְּמִלְחֲמוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל, בִּפְעֻלּוֹת הֲגַנָּה, תַּגְמוּל וּבִטָּחוֹן וּבְעֵת מִלּוּי תַּפְקִידָם, וְנִשְׁמוֹת כָּל לוֹחֲמֵי הַמַּחְתֶּרֶת וַחֲטִיבוֹת הַלּוֹחֲמִים בְּמַעַרְכוֹת הָעָם, שֶׁחֵרְפוּ נַפְשָׁם לָמוּת עַל קְדֻשַּׁת הַשֵּׁם, וּבְעֶזְרַת אֱלֹהֵי מַעַרְכוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל הֵבִיאוּ לִתְקוּמַת הָאֻמָּה וְהַמְּדִינָה וְלִגְאֻלַּת הָאָרֶץ וְעִיר הָאֱלֹהִים. מִנְּשָׁרִים קַלּוּ וּמֵאֲרָיוֹת גָּבֵרוּ, בְּהֵחָלְצָם לְעֶזְרַת הָעָם וְהִרְווּ בְּדָמָם הַטָּהוֹר אֶת רִגְבֵי אַדְמַת קָדְשֵׁנוּ. זֵכֶר עֲקֵדָתָם וּמַעֲשֵׂה גְבוּרָתָם לֹא יָסוּפוּ מֵאִתָּנוּ לְעוֹלָמִים. תִּהְיֶינָה נִשְׁמוֹתֵיהֶם צְרוּרוֹת בִּצְרוֹר הַחַיִּים עִם נִשְׁמוֹת אַבְרָהָם, יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקֹב וְעִם שְׁאָר גִּבּוֹרֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּקְדוֹשָׁיו שֶׁבְּגַן עֵדֶן עַד
 

עוֹלָם. אָמֵן".
 

" May G-d remember the souls of His heroic children: The fighters of the Israel Defense Forces, who fell in the wars of Israel, in defensive, retaliative, and security actions and during the fulfillment of their duty, including the souls of the underground fighters and brigades who fought in the national struggle - all those who sacrificed their lives for the sanctification of G-d's Name.

And with the help of G-d, the Lord of Israel's campaigns, they brought about the revival of the nation and the state and the redemption of the land and the city of G-d.
They were quicker than eagles and stronger than lions as they volunteered to assist the nation, and they saturated our holy land with their pure blood.
The memory of their self-sacrifice and heroic deeds will never disappear from us. May their souls be bound in the Bond of Life with the souls of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and with the souls of the other heroes and martyrs of Israel who are in the Garden of Eden. Amen."

Ready for Pesach? For Freedom?

What you can do in the days before being freed? Doing your best to deserve your freedom. From this point of view, cleaning means more than vacuuming and washing; it means as well reorganizing your priorities, thinking bolder to the future and finding time for thinking about the story of the Haggada - including the newest version, by JSFoer.

I found interesting this minhag of the Syrian Jews, according to this feature report:

Syrians — like Egyptians and other Jews who hail from Arab lands — will wrap the matzo in a cloth, sometimes resembling a knapsack. The Syrian tradition — at least in her family — is for each male, from oldest to youngest, to take the covered ceremonial matzo, hold it over his left shoulder and respond to three questions: What are you carrying? Matzo. Where are you coming from? Egypt. Where are you going? Israel.

At the practical level, I am trying to do my best for covering all those aspects. I am not always very successful, but at least I am learning more and more each day. Out of my working program, I put aside some time for reading about the traditions, cleaning some strange corners of the house and learning something insightful. Blogging is not necessarily part of the plan, but will try to update my online thinking diary as often as possible in the next days.