Hi, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Ask Haviv Anything. This time we're recording on April 20 on the eve of Yoma Zikaron Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers and victims of terror in the history of Zionism and of Israel. It's part of a long arc that begins this year with Yoma Shoa, which was on April 14,

which is the day of commemoration of the Holocaust and of the heroism of those who resisted the

Holocaust. And it moves on a week later to Yoma Zikharon, that's tomorrow or tonight. And then the

next day, Yomat's Ma'ut, Independence Day for Israel. And it the next day, Yomatzmaud, Independence Day, for Israel.

And it has this quiet, soft ending five days after Independence Day,

with Yom Herzl, Herzl Day, which this year falls on April 27,

which is Theodore Herzl's Yardtseid.

That's the Jewish day of commemorating somebody's death on the day they died.

That's the day he died on the Hebrew calendar in 1904. It's an arc that I want to dive into

because I think it tells us a lot about this moment for Israelis, for Jews. So let's get into it.

Before we do, I want to thank our sponsor who asked to remain anonymous,

who just wanted to dedicate this episode in memory of the victims of October 7. Thank you so much

for that support. What are these days all about in the end? The simple answer is they're about

intimacy. This can be hard to see from far away.

So what am I talking about? The victims of the Holocaust, who are commemorated in this period of what

we call the national holidays in Hebrew, the victims of the Holocaust or of the wars, you know,

from the other side of the world, they can seem abstractions.

From four generations later, they can seem abstractions.

These days are about making them not be abstractions.

And Israelis try to use these days to connect to those people.

Names are read out, stories are told, and transformed that sense of the abstract,

the distant, the cultural touchstone, the moral concept that these people sometimes

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