We still go to a doctor in Jerusalem, even though we live in the mountains to the north in Ma'ale Levona. It's a 2½ hour trip and a pain in the neck, but being the old codgers we are, we stick with folks we know and trust.
In spite of having gone to the same family doctors for nearly eight years, it still took me a while to realize that the male half of this practice likes good music from the '40s and '50's. The female doctor comes in and there is silence.
Behind the round, seemingly placid face of the Frenchman who is our doctor on duty today lies a painful tale. Like any good parent, he poured his love into his daughter. But one day, she was in downtown Jerusalem and a terrorist bomb ripped her to shreds. I'm not sure of the exact attack where she was killed. He never mentions this and we only found this out from (now former) neighbors who use him as a family doctor as well. But no matter which particular Arab bastard murdered his daughter, she is still just as dead, just as lost to her father and mother.
I only thought about this because today is Remembrance Day in Israel. We remember the soldiers who fell defending this country — and we remember the innocents blown to bits by our bloodthirsty neighbors.
I don't know if my doctor will go to a public ceremony — or merely visit his daughter's grave-site tomorrow. But I can bet my bottom dollar (we still have five of them, in fact) that he'll burn a memorial candle for the girl he lost eight years ago.
Twenty two thousand, five hundred and seventy souls sacrificed themselves for this land. And this young girl, cut dead in her youth, was one of them. May G-d comfort all those grieve in Israel, the sons and the daughters, the brothers and the sisters, and the mothers and the fathers.
???? ???? ????
barúkh dayán ha'emét Blessed is the True Judge
Article comments
1 - Joanne Huspek
Any Remembrance Day should be observed with respect.
(I would have commented sooner, Ruvy, but I couldn't figure out the new site.) :-)
2 - Ruvy
I'm having a hell of a time figuring out the new site myself, Joanne. I see that the new format does not support Hebrew text at all (the old one did); my photo is gone (how are all those folks who want to kill me going to recognize me? I look like two big round letters walking down the street?)
Seriously, this new site design needs some work.
Anyway, Joanne, thanks for the kind words. Here Remembrance Day is not celebrated; it's a day to visit cemeteries, march in parades, and hold public prayers. There are NO barbecues here today!
This morning, I took the 6:00 a.m. bus to J-lem to march in a parade of the police volunteers I serve with. We marched, with military precision into a square, facing a squadron of young kids in military uniform, and a bunch of high-schoolers off to the left in white shirts and blue pants or skirts. The ceremony held at Saffra Square was to honor all the fallen heroes of Israel, and all of her martyrs in terror attacks. The new mayor gave a speech honoring a kid who died with while fighting with him in Lebanon 25 years ago. At 11:00 the air raid sirens went off, and we all stood to honor our dead. A bunch of us were sitting in a coffee shop discussing retirement options when the siren blew. Every single person in the coffee shop rose, stood at attention in absolute silence for the entire minute.
3 - Ruvy
This video was made in memory of the soldiers fallen in Lebanon in 2006. But it it the true face of war in Israel.
That is why we need victory over our enemies. They have to cry over their fallen children as we do, and until they come to us on their hands and knees begging for peace, we will not know that they have reached the level of humanity we have - that we cry over the sons we send to defend us.
So long as our enemies want war and call for our deaths, we must be willing to fight on and face the awful pictures in this video. The alternative is our own massacre and extermination.