Monday, April 15, 2013

The saddest day, year after year

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Memorial Day events began Sunday afternoon  with a ceremony at Jerusalem's Yad LaBanim, an association for bereaved families.
(Every city has a Yad LaBanim to honor its own fallen soldiers.)

Update: I see now how the Jerusalem Post defines it:
"Yad Lebanim (“A Memorial for the Sons”) is the organization that supports bereaved families in cooperation with the Defense Ministry and official government bodies. The Jerusalem memorial, located near the government quarter, is the central memorial for soldiers killed in action in the capital."


The architecture is so unusual, with pyramids and underground halls.


In an earlier post I tried to explain the symbolism.


Inside one pyramid are the names, so many names.
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At the afternoon ceremony Prime Minister Netanyahu said this:

We remember, we weep, and we hurt.
Each family has its own grief, and the grief felt by every one of us merges with the pain of the entire nation of Israel: pain over the life that has been cut short, pain over the fact that all that is now left is memorial day.
There is no real remedy and there is no full solace.
 But there is one deep and fundamental consolation: the knowledge that thanks to those who have fallen, the State of Israel was founded and the Jewish people’s stature took a turn for the better.    Thanks to them, we live here, forever.
. . . 
UPDATE: Today the wonderful blog The Real Jerusalem Streets posts a photo of Yad LaBanim covered over with "tents" for shade and security to the VIPs who spoke at yesterday's Yom HaZikaron ceremony.
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11 comments:

  1. Wow! This is very interesting and unusual. It's also quite awesome. I see you're having your Memorial Day in April while we have ours at the end of May.

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  2. Our neighbour's nephew was massacred in a car of boys driving north along the southern coast of Israel. You will remember the tragedy well.

    Our neighbour goes to Israel every year to spend time with him mum and to comfort his sister, but you are right. This is certainly the saddest day, year after year. It never ends.

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  3. Reading your earlier post about this monument, I realise that I missed this information three years ago. I am glad I could read about Yad LaBanim today. These pyramids are the best symbols for this occasion. They are modern and yet ancient. I wish Israel a lot of wisdom to solve its problems with the surrounding nations in a peaceful way.
    Thank you Dina! Shalom!

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  4. Oh, I've never been there, what fascinating architecture! Where is it?
    Yom HaZikaron is always so difficult, but I do actually find solace in Bibi's words, thanks for sharing them here!

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  5. Toby, I discovered Yad LaBanim by accident while wandering around on foot. It is around Kiryat HaLeom.
    If you look down from Jaffa Street, around HaTurim tram stop, you can see the shpitz of one of the pyramids, and behind it you can see the Supreme Court in the distance.

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  6. Your Prime Minister lost his elder brother in the Entebbe Raid and was a Sayeret Matkal himself...

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  7. VP, yes, Bibi speaks to the bereaved as one of them, having lost his brother Yoni.

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  8. This is a wonderful memorial, large and grand - a testament to the greater sacrifice of the fallen soldiers. A huge loss in numbers, the pyramid not large enough to hold the grief to the brave and the fallen that secured and independent nation...

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  9. I learn so much visiting distant blogs. Thank you.

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