Most countries separate mourning from celebration. Israel stacks them back to back and calls it reality.

In Israel, our national calendar holds two secular days of reflection. One reminds us of the cost of having a state. The other ensures we never forget the price of not having one, not even for a moment.

Last week, the country came to a complete standstill for Holocaust Remembrance Day. We gathered in homes and public spaces to listen to survivors, acutely aware that their numbers dwindle with each passing year. Those targeted for the singular “crime” of being Jewish will soon no longer be with us. The living voice of firsthand testimony will fall silent. We remembered the millions murdered simply for existing as Jews. No army, no sovereignty, no refuge. Only vulnerability in a world that turned away.

Now we enter one of the most emotionally complex ritual passages in Israeli life. On Monday evening, the siren........

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