Whom Do We Mourn?

MOURNING THE DEAD-ESPECIALLY THOSE DEAD OF VIOLENCE-IS ONE WAY IN WHICH societies mark their boundaries, name their enemies, and remember their histories. For Israeli-Jewish society, it has become a ritual act with quasi-religious intensity to pause for an entire day (just before Independence Day) to mourn those Israelis killed in various wars with the various Arab states and the Palestinian people over the last two generations.