Is it Permitted to Stand for the Siren on Yom HaZikaron?

On Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron, we observe various mourning practices – lighting a ner neshama, reciting Yizkor, and others. One of the most prominent customs, uniting vast portions of the Jewish people, is standing for the siren.

But is it actually permitted?

In various countries – England and the Netherlands among them – it was once common to sound a siren or ring bells on memorial days, though this practice has largely fallen out of use. In the early years of the State of Israel, this custom was adopted and incorporated into Yom HaZikaron observance.

The Torah, however, forbids following the practices of non-Jews and imitating their ways: “You shall not follow the practices of the land of Egypt where you lived, nor the practices of the land of Canaan to which I am bringing you; you shall not follow their laws (chukim)” (Vayikra 18:3). The question must therefore be asked: does adopting the practice of standing for the siren from non-Jews constitute a violation of chukot hagoyim, the Torah prohibition against imitating non-Jewish practices?

Several sugyot indicate that when one follows a non-Jewish practice not out of a desire to imitate them, but for other reasons, it is permitted. The Gemara (Sanhedrin 52b), for instance, permits burning the bed and personal effects of a deceased king. Even though non-Jews do the same, there is no issue of chukot hagoyim, since we do it to give honor, not out of a desire to imitate their custom. From this, the Ran (Sanhedrin ad loc.; Avodah Zarah 2b) derives that the prohibition of chukot hagoyim applies only to things of hevel u-vatalah, “meaningless vanity,” but things that have a rational purpose are not prohibited. So rules the Rema (YD 178:1).

A further example: the Gemara (Sotah 49b) prohibits cutting one’s hair in the komi style – shaving the front of the head while growing a long lock in the back – yet permits someone close to the royal court to do so if necessary. If this is a Torah prohibition, how could the rabbis permit it? The Bach (YD 178:7) explains that chukot hagoyim is only violated when one intends to imitate non-Jews. Someone who does so to avoid disgrace or for a communal need – such as maintaining access to the royal court – is permitted to act accordingly.

Based on these sugyot, the Maharik (She’elot u-Teshuvot Maharik, siman 88) rules that chukot hagoyim is only violated in one of two ways: (a) an act performed with no logic or explanation, such that one can reasonably assume it originates in avodah zarah; or (b) an act that involves peritzut (licentiousness). 

The Rema rules accordingly (ibid.): “All of this is only prohibited in something that non-Jews practice out of peritzut – such as wearing red garments – or in something practiced as a custom or decree with no rational basis, where there is concern of darchei ha-Emori and a trace of avodah zarah inherited from their ancestors. But something practiced for a useful purpose – such as a distinctive garment identifying an expert physician – is permitted to wear. Similarly, something done out of honor or another legitimate reason is permitted.”

It is therefore clearly permitted to stand for the siren. Standing for the siren was not instituted out of peritzut, nor as part of avodah zarah, and it is not done in order to imitate non-Jews. On the contrary – it is a beautiful practice that unites the Jewish people around those who gave their lives al kiddush Hashem, and honors the memory of the murdered and the fallen. 

Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook writes regarding standing for the siren on Yom HaZikaron: “Standing during the siren for the fallen of Tzahal is a holy mitzvah of honoring the memory of the kedoshim” (Techumin 3:388).

There may even be a hint in the Torah to this shared silent standing. When Aharon’s sons died, Aharon responded with silence: “Vayidom Aharon – and Aharon was silent” (Vayikra 10:3). Sometimes the appropriate response to mourning and grief over death is precisely silence and kabbalat ha-din – acceptance of Divine judgment. “And a still, small voice shall be heard” (Mussaf for Yamim Nora’im).

We do not understand the judgments of the Almighty. We cannot comprehend why the finest young men were killed in battle, and certainly not why millions of our people were murdered in the Shoah. Standing in silence in their honor is not an absence of speech – it is a silence that expresses kabbalat ha-din, connection to all the murdered and fallen, the shared bond of Knesset Yisrael as a whole, and emunah in the Almighty, Who is the source of our strength even in hours of bereavement and crisis.

Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon is the Nasi of World Mizrachi. He is the Founder and Chairman of Sulamot and La’Ofek, and serves as the Chief Rabbi of Gush Etzion, and Rosh Yeshivah of the Jersualem College of Technology.