{"id":42296,"date":"2018-04-18T21:35:20","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T03:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=42296"},"modified":"2018-04-18T21:51:14","modified_gmt":"2018-04-19T03:51:14","slug":"transitioning-from-mourning-to-celebration-israelis-kick-off-70th-year-joy-in-jerusalem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/transitioning-from-mourning-to-celebration-israelis-kick-off-70th-year-joy-in-jerusalem\/","title":{"rendered":"Transitioning from mourning to celebration, Israelis kick off 70th year joy in Jerusalem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(<em>JNS.org<\/em>)&nbsp;&#8212; Following a solemn remembrance of Israel\u2019s fallen on Wednesday as part of Memorial Day commemorations, Israelis kicked off the celebration of its milestone 70th anniversary on Wednesday night in Independence Day festivities at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_42297\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Israel70.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42297\" class=\"wp-image-42297 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Israel70-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Israel70-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Israel70-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Israel70.jpg 880w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/169;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42297\" class=\"wp-image-42297 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Israel70-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Israel70-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Israel70-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Israel70.jpg 880w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-42297\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The mega-Independence Day ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on April 18, 2018. (Photo by Hadas Parush\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The ceremony, which was the biggest and most expensive ever for the Jewish state, featured more than 1,500 participants, including 150 musicians, 400 choir singers, 350 dangers and hundreds of flag-bearers. Some 6,500 Israelis and guests turned out for the torch-lighting ceremony, also the largest to date.<\/p>\n<p>The festivities included speeches from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnly we, out of all ancient nations exiled from their lands, have refused to disappear. We have refused to assimilate and have remained loyal to Zion, in which we have flourished anew with a strong trunk and blossoming branches,\u201d said Netanyahu. \u201cToday, too, there are those who seek to extinguish the light that emanates from Zion. I promise you; it will not happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, 12 people who were deemed to have made significant contributions to the State of Israel lit 12 torches to symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Among those who were honored included were Israeli singer Shlomo Artzi; actors Leah Koenig and Ze\u2019ev Revach; former Israel Defense Forces Gen. Yeshayahu Gavish; and Racheli Ganot, an ultra-Orthodox who trains&nbsp;<em>haredi<\/em>&nbsp;women for jobs.<\/p>\n<p>Those who lit torches included Noam Gershony, a wounded IDF veteran and Paralympian; Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, spiritual leader of the Israeli Druze community; Margalit Zinati, whose family has been preserving Jewish presence in the Galilee for nearly 2,000 years; and Ruth Kahanov, Israel\u2019s ambassador to Japan.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to wish Israel a \u201cHappy Independence Day,\u201d adding that he looks forward to the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem in May.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBest wishes to Prime Minister@Netanyahu and all of the people of Israel on the 70th Anniversary of your Great Independence,\u201d Trump tweeted. \u201cWe have no better friends anywhere. Looking forward to moving our Embassy to Jerusalem next month!\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Transitioning%20from%20mourning%20to%20celebration%2C%20Israelis%20kick%20off%2070th%20year%20joy%20in%20Jerusalem\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":42297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2502],"tags":[8781,8790,8795,8788,8880],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42296"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42296"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42301,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42296\/revisions\/42301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}