By Erez Ben-Ari, JTNews Correspondent
Israel is the home of the Jewish people, but protecting that home has claimed the lives of thousands. Over the years and during its many wars, more than 22,000 Israelis have died. Every year, the entire country stops and remembers them during Yom Hazikaron.
Israel has chosen to hold its national Memorial Day one day before Israel’s Independence Day, and that choice has been done with a purpose. What started unofficially back in 1949 became law in 1963, and since then, on the fourth of Iyar, Israel and many Jews around the world observe Yom Hazikaron. Most countries have national Memorial Days, but as opposed to some where it’s an excuse for retailers to have a sale, Israel’s version is particularly solemn.
The day opens with a siren that resounds throughout the country. All activity halts, people stand and cars stop, and the citizens of Israel spend a minute contemplating those who gave their lives so the rest of their countrymen can live theirs. Every kindergarten, school and college, as well as many companies, organizations and government offices, hold memorial ceremonies. Even TV and radio stations dedicate their entire broadcast schedule to Yom Hazikaron, playing shows dedicated to remembering Israel’s fallen men and women.
One reason Yom Hazikaron is such an important and widely observed day is that nearly every Israeli knows at least one or two persons affected by war or terror. For some, it is a family member; for others, a friend. Many Israelis, though alive and well, still carry scars, false limbs or shrapnel somewhere within their bodies to remind them of a battle they survived. Some of these battles go back decades, while others are as recent as last year’s “Operation Cast Lead” in Gaza, which added four widows and three orphans to the circle of bereavement.
This year, the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle is opening a special exhibition dedicated to Yom Hazikaron. Rachel Schachter, Israel program manager for the Federation, has been working for several months in the hopes of giving names and faces to the stories of some of those thousands. With the help of volunteers in Israel, Seattle, Canada, Germany and elsewhere, Schachter has collected dozens of stories, photos and items from some of those who have died protecting Israel, many of which will see the light for the first time.
Full disclosure: This reporter has assisted in some Hebrew translations for the exhibit.
The exhibition will take place from March 19 to April 25, and will be hosted in several places, such as the Seattle Jewish Film Festival (March 19-21), Congregation Beth Shalom (March 22-28), Hillel at the University of Washington (March 29-April 6), the Stroum Jewish Community Center (April 11-15) and Temple B’nai Torah (April 23-25). The actual Yom Hazikaron will be observed in Israel on April 19, followed by Israel’s Independence Day on April 20.
Schachter, joined by Federation employees and a group of volunteers, collected hundreds of stories, photos, articles, postcards, letters, and more, had the materials translated to English or Hebrew, and built the mobile exhibition. The stories presented include many unknowns, as well as those of some high profile casualties such as Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, whose bodies were returned by Lebanon more than two years after they died in the second Lebanon war of 2006.
One unique story is of Nava and David Applebaum, as told by Shoshana Kordova. Nava, who was about to get married in Jerusalem, went out for a drink with her father, a respected doctor from the Shaare Tzedek Medical center. Both were killed in a suicide bombing at Cafe Hillel on Emek Refaim Street in Jerusalem.
“The timing of their deaths seems almost too tragic to be true,” Kordova said. “A Jerusalem emergency room chief returns from New York, where he lectured at a September 11 commemorative conference on how hospitals should deal with mass casualties, and is killed in a terror attack the night of his return. A young woman goes out to a café with her father and is blown up nearly beyond recognition the night before her wedding.”
Another unusual story is that of Captain Yonatan Netanel of Kedumim. Netanel, a deputy commander of the 202nd Paratroopers Brigade, sent his wife a text message shortly before going into battle, saying, “Everything is all right; you have nothing to worry about.” Fate, however had a different plan, and he was killed in a friendly-fire accident.
These two stories, along with the others, will be shown in the exhibition. Younger visitors will also be invited to paint a camel in memory of Tal Kerman, killed in March 2003 in a suicide bombing on Bus Route 37 in Haifa. Tal loved camels, and her father Ron is collecting painted pictures of camels created by children from around the world in her memory. Visitors will also be invited to make a donation to the families of soldiers, as well as to Kiryat Malachi, Seattle’s sister city through the Federation’s Tucson-Israel-Phoenix-Seattle partnership. Such donations will be used to provide needy families with healthcare, groceries and more. The Federation will also launch a special Web site in coming weeks that will include additional material beyond what is shown in the exhibition.