Holocaust Memorial Day and the Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers are part of a sequence (that starts at Passover and ends in Jerusalem Day) in which Israeli society shapes its identity time and again. In this lecture we shall explore how, why and when these days were “invented”, by what means and how all this influences our life in 2019 Israel.
Jokes about the Holocaust? That was a taboo for many years, but in recent years it has become a frequent subject for humor television shows, standup comedy and viral memes. In this lecture we shall explore the different uses of the Holocaust subject in humoristic artifacts, examine what is allowed or forbidden, and figure out what all these imply about Israeli society.
Usually we prefer to remember and commemorate positive events, those that present us in a positive way, so what do we do with an event that is very negative but cannot be ignored? In this lecture we shall explore the way Israel commemorates the murder of Yitzhak Rabin: who commemorates what? Are we remembering Yitzhak Rabin or his murder? Or maybe other issues? How Israeli society confronts the wound that was opened in 1995 and did not heal since then?