From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Haredi minister attends Western Wall ceremony for Memorial Day
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Hundreds of worshipers at the Western Wall join Construction and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf from the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party and Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch for the recitation of psalms in honor of Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror.
Immediately after the siren sounds, the attendees — facing the memorial flame erected in the plaza, flanked by an Israeli sailor and airman — recite Psalm 16, the Kaddish prayer for the dead, and the El Malei Rachamim prayer for the souls of the departed.
Golfknopf — who did not serve in the IDF — had originally been slated to attend a ceremony at a military cemetery in Kiryat Gat, but withdrew after some bereaved families protested his planned appearance.
The Times of Israel Community.