Turning sorrow into joy: At Yom Ha’Zikaron and Yom Ha’Atzmaut event, parents recall IDF son

The parents of IDF Sgt. Ari Weiss bridged the mourning of Yom Ha’Zikaron and the joy of Yom Ha’Atzmaut last week as they spoke to a hushed crowd at a Five Towns commemoration of both days.

During the Yom Ha’Zikaron portion of the program at the Young Insrael of Woodmere on Wednesday night, Susie Weiss described a mother’s pain over the loss of her son Ari Weiss, a member of an elite fighting unit in the IDF’s Nachal Brigade who was killed in a battle at Hamas headquarters in Shechem in 2002.

Her husband, Rabbi Stewart Weiss, spoke a few minutes later, during Yom Ha’Atzmaut.

“On Yom Ha’Zikaron, we are allowed to mourn and grieve openly,” Susie Weiss said. “After this, we crawl back into our grief and pretend that life goes on.”

“When we think of Ari, that’s when we’re slapped in the face with the reality of living in a neighborhood determined to annihilate and destroy us,” she said.

Rabbi Weiss delivered words of chizuk for klal Yisroel and Midinot Yisroel.

“This is a unique moment in history, a time we have waited for and prayed for and begged Hashem for for 2,000 years,” he said. “It is in Israel where the history of the Jewish people will be played out, the destiny of Am Yisroel decided. And all of us need to be a part of that process … to build the state and reclaim our place as the preeminent nation on earth.”

The YIW event was co-sponsored by 16 Five Towns-Far Rockaway shuls.