{"id":48926,"date":"2026-05-08T01:40:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T08:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=48926"},"modified":"2026-05-07T14:54:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:54:22","slug":"together-in-mourning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/together-in-mourning\/","title":{"rendered":"Together in mourning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geoffrey Druker, who leads the community\u2019s annual memorial ceremony, consoles a young speaker on Yom Hazikaron. (photo from Geoffrey Druker)<\/em><\/p>\n

Emotions were close to the surface April 20 at Vancouver\u2019s annual Yom Hazikaron commemoration. The Jewish community gathered at Temple Sholom to mark Israel\u2019s day of remembrance for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism \u2013 an evening that bridged decades of loss with the raw immediacy of the present.<\/p>\n

Geoffrey Druker, who has led the annual ceremony for many years, shared multiple stories spanning decades, reflecting the losses in Israel\u2019s many wars and incessant terror attacks.<\/p>\n

A photograph from 2005 showed four young commanders from the Golani Brigade. Within a year, two of them \u2013 Benji Hillman and Roi Klein \u2013 would be killed in the Second Lebanon War. Hillman died in battle and, six days later, Klein was killed after throwing himself on a grenade to save his soldiers.<\/p>\n

Nearly two decades later, the tragedy continued.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 7, 2023, the two surviving commanders in the photo \u2013 Roi Levy and Yizhack Ben Bassat \u2013 rushed from their homes to defend Israeli communities under attack. Levy was killed that day at Kibbutz Re\u2019im. Two months later, Ben Bassat was killed during the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Col. Yizhack Ben Bassat\u2019s sister, Hamutal, is a member of the Vancouver community and lit a candle in his memory.<\/p>\n

In the 40 days of Operation Roaring Lion, the initial war with Iran, Druker said more than 20 civilians and 13 soldiers were killed. Among the civilians killed was Ofer Moskovitz.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was better known in the region and throughout Israel as \u2018Pushko,\u2019\u201d said Druker. He was a farmer in charge of the avocado orchard of Kibbutz Misgav Am, which is located right on the border with Lebanon, in Vancouver\u2019s partnership region of the Upper Galilee.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cVeteran members of our Federation partnership committee met with him numerous times during visits to the region,\u201d said Druker. \u201cHe was 60 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight we remember them all,\u201d Druker said, as the congregation rose for a moment of silence.<\/p>\n

The ceremony moved between individual stories and collective grief, underscoring the scale of loss while emphasizing its personal nature.<\/p>\n

The evening became intensely personal with the remembrance of Ben Mizrachi, the young Vancouver man killed at the Nova music festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cBen did not run away to save himself when he had the chance,\u201d his mother had said in a previous address that was recounted. \u201cHe showed tremendous courage \u2026 as he tried to save others.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, the graduate of King David High School was remembered by his uncle, Mooshon Mizrachi.<\/p>\n

Many other stories were read aloud and relatives and community members read Yizkor and lit candles, transforming the ceremony into a living bridge between Vancouver and Israel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese past years, Israel has been engaged in wars on five fronts,\u201d Druker noted, referencing the sustained conflict that has affected every part of the country.<\/p>\n

The story of brothers Amit and Yigal Vax, killed defending their community during the Oct. 7 attacks, was told as a recollection of that morning \u2013 sirens, explosions and the sudden realization that terrorists had entered their village. The account described fear giving way to terror, as residents hid in safe rooms as gunfire echoed outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmit \u2026 heard gunfire \u2026 grabbed his weapon \u2026 and was killed,\u201d Druker recounted. His brother Yigal, armed only with a machete, was also killed trying to defend their home.<\/p>\n

Sivan Keidar, a member of the extended Vax family, lit a candle in their memory.<\/p>\n

Throughout the ceremony, music and ritual provided a framework for mourning. Songs such as \u201cAd Machar\u201d<\/i> (\u201cUntil Tomorrow\u201d) and \u201cMakom L\u2019de\u2019aga\u201d<\/i> (\u201cA Place to Worry\u201d) reflected the emotional landscape of grief.<\/p>\n

Shinshinim<\/i>, Israeli teenagers participating in a year-of-service program in Vancouver, spoke about the legacy they have inherited \u2013 one shaped by wars they did not experience directly, but which continue to define their lives.<\/p>\n

Eliyahu Kaminsky of Congregation Schara Tzedeck synagogue recited the memorial prayer El Maleh Rachamim.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geoffrey Druker, who leads the community\u2019s annual memorial ceremony, consoles a young speaker on Yom Hazikaron. (photo from Geoffrey Druker) Emotions were close to the surface April 20 at Vancouver\u2019s annual Yom Hazikaron commemoration. The Jewish community gathered at Temple Sholom to mark Israel\u2019s day of remembrance for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[20384,4242,4330,8676,1774,5412,3640],"class_list":["post-48926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-geoffrey-druker","tag-history","tag-israel","tag-remembrance","tag-terrorism","tag-war","tag-yom-hazikaron"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}