05/10/2024
Federation’s Yom Hazikaron Commemoration Will Pay Tribute to Fallen IDF Soldier with Local Roots
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Amichai Yisrael Yehoshua Oster. Submitted photo
ABIGAIL PREISZIG | CJN
Article reprinted with permission from Cleveland Jewish News
The Jewish Federation of Cleveland will commemorate Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, on May 12.
Attendees will honor the lives, legacy and sacrifice of Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror through music and prayer at Green Road Synagogue in Beachwood and are encouraged to partake in the Israeli tradition of wearing a white shirt.
“As part of the commemoration ceremony, we are paying tribute to the memory of Amichai Oster, an Israeli soldier, whose family lived in Cleveland for many years,” Mark Sack, event co-chair, told the Cleveland Jewish News.
Amichai Yisrael Yehoshua Oster, 24, was killed Jan. 1, 2024, while fighting Hamas in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack on Israel. His parents, former South Euclid residents, Dr. Howie and Marcy Oster, a former Cleveland Jewish News reporter, will speak at the tribute, Sack, an Orange resident, said.
Additionally, the community has been working to create 1,400 Anemones, the national flower of Israel, out of reflective tape and garden stakes, which will be revealed at the commemoration, Andrea Litvin, who led the project, told the CJN.
“Every year the anemones bloom after the rain in the Negev the South Red Festival is taking place,” Litvin, administrator of the Israeli Cleveland Women’s Group and a Beachwood resident, said. “… The anemones that bloomed before the rain commemorate those dear to us who were harvested in their time, but one day will come and they will bloom again after the rain as a symbol of hope and renewal.”
The local project was inspired by thousands of volunteers in Israel who made ceramic anemones to commemorate the 1,200 Israelis murdered during on Oct. 7, she said.
Hundreds of community members have been working on the project, funded by the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, since April 25. The crafted anemones will be installed outside its building at 25701 Science Park Drive in Beachwood alongside the hostage ribbon created by local Judaic artist Nancy Schwartz-Katz with the help of Sharon Rosenbaum that was installed in December.
