At eleven o clock this morning I stood in silence on the road between Masu'ot Itshak and Kafa Etzion as the siren sounded reminding the whole country to stand reflect and honor the members of the Israeli defense forces who gave their lives for the country.
As I stood in the sun listening to the silence and stillness all around, I saw three military airplanes fly past in formation; whether it was this sudden unexpected act, or looking around at the cars parked at the entrance to the Kefar Etzion cemetery, or the people standing by their stationary cars on this country lane,I felt the enormity of the situation:
Here in Israel there is hardly a family that hasn’t lost a son or daughter, mother or father, cousin or friend in the fight for our country. Too many mothers have lost sons too many fathers have said Kaddish for their own gibor…hero.
Unlike the UK whose soldiers are honored on a cold blustery November morning when the royal family dressed somberly in black gather at the eleventh hour to unassumingly and somewhat in a detached manner honor the dead ,Here in Israel, the day before we celebrate the countries birth, we take time out to remember, honor and salute the people who made it possible.
For that one minute, as the siren wails the country stops still, as if we are all joined in one enormous nationwide circle, each with their own private thoughts, we stand proudly and painfully in silence morning our countries dead.
I was just one person on the roadside, I was just one person with tears pricking their eyes sending up my personal gratitude to the unbeknown to me heroes of the country,
I pray that we lose no more lives in our struggle to survive.
