It is Yom Hazikaron.. Memorial Day for the Fallen and the Victims of Terror since 1948, the existence of the State of Israel. It is a sad day... there are memorial services, people all over their country visit their loved ones in the graveyards, there are no television programmes.. instead they show all the pictures of those who were killed.
For me personally I will think of my dear friend Motti Schijveschuurder. He was killed, only 43 years old, together with his wife and three children during a terrorist attack in J’lem in 2001. We used to be in the same class at high school. And I will think of Maayan, who died, only 18 years young, during his army service, almost three years ago. He is the youngest son of our friends Mark and Elaine. He is still their youngest son... it is impossible for me to write.. he was! He is in our minds all the time. On memorial day we remember him even more, but with our thoughts we keep him alive every single day, as all those others who are not with us anymore. His picture hangs in our living-room. The frame of the picture will get older and older... Maayan will not. This is how we will remember him, young and happy.
First Anniversary, words said by Mark, Maayan's father: Nothing can compensate us or the thousands of other Jewish families who have suffered great loss in this fight for our lives to live free in our Homeland. We are reminded here today that freedom comes with a price, what we always seem to take for granted. When we celebrate Shabbat, our holidays, go to work and go about our everyday business, we owe it all to our sons and daughters that we can go on with our daily lives while they guard our borders, freeze in the cold and melt in the heat. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety is a miserable and selfish creature who has no chance of being free unless made and kept safe by the exertions of better people than themselves. What is deplorable, objectionable and dangerous about extremists is not their extremist views, but that they are intolerant of others. Yes, we are part of thousands of years steeped in Jewish tradition and values. Yes, if saving lives was the one decent thing we were able to do out of this mess then we can say that in spite of it all, we really and truly accomplished something in our lives. If we do that, we all earn the right to go home. Yes, we can say that in our existence on this earth, we counted for something, we did something not just for ourselves but for a higher cause – the Jewish people. We are the answer to the Holocaust. The Holocaust tells us nothing about Jewish identity. It only tells us about the rest of the world. We should not and must not be enchanted by odes to brotherly love or Utopian dreams, it is our right and responsibility to defend our Homeland. Because the notion of trusting the world with our destiny died in Auschwitz and Birkenau. Many of us have already forgotten this fact. We should ask ourselves, is my time on this planet adding up to anything? A lot of us are afraid of the answers. But that fear will translate into paralysis. We must commit ourselves to our goal, willing ourselves to the next step. We still haven't found the courage to recognize that security not peace is our goal. Only with secure, defensible borders can we even dream of some iota of peace. And until we do, we will be plagued by more war, more senseless death, destruction and bloodshed, but on a much more unimaginable scale. Will we step-up and be counted when we are needed or sit back and let others do the lifting for us? We must take action now because the first step in changing this country for the better is to fight for it, to believe in ourselves and take control of our own destiny. This is not the time to lose our nerve or the Free World to lose theirs. They will condemn us as they always have done, but never mind, because we will survive as we must, take back the initiative. All our children, yours and mine are infused with an energy of passion, hunger and drive to do what is right and what is just. We cannot and must not fail them. Maayan would say, I didn't die in vain and don't let my death divert you for one moment, be strong and courageous – make a difference! And with absolute conviction I can say that at least his life was about something significant.
It is Yom Hazikaron.. Memorial Day for the Fallen and the Victims of Terror since 1948, the existence of the State of Israel. It is a sad day... there are memorial services, people all over their country visit their loved ones in the graveyards, there are no television programmes.. instead they show all the pictures of those who were killed.
For me personally I will think of my dear friend Motti Schijveschuurder. He was killed, only 43 years old, together with his wife and three children during a terrorist attack in J’lem in 2001. We used to be in the same class at high school. And I will think of Maayan, who died, only 18 years young, during his army service, almost three years ago. He is the youngest son of our friends Mark and Elaine. He is still their youngest son... it is impossible for me to write.. he was! He is in our minds all the time. On memorial day we remember him even more, but with our thoughts we keep him alive every single day, as all those others who are not with us anymore. His picture hangs in our living-room. The frame of the picture will get older and older... Maayan will not. This is how we will remember him, young and happy.
It is Yom Hazikaron.. Memorial Day for the Fallen and the Victims of Terror since 1948, the existence of the State of Israel. It is a sad day... there are memorial services, people all over their country visit their loved ones in the graveyards, there are no television programmes.. instead they show all the pictures of those who were killed.
For me personally I will think of my dear friend Motti Schijveschuurder. He was killed, only 43 years old, together with his wife and three children during a terrorist attack in J’lem in 2001. We used to be in the same class at high school. And I will think of Maayan, who died, only 18 years young, during his army service, almost three years ago. He is the youngest son of our friends Mark and Elaine. He is still their youngest son... it is impossible for me to write.. he was! He is in our minds all the time. On memorial day we remember him even more, but with our thoughts we keep him alive every single day, as all those others who are not with us anymore. His picture hangs in our living-room. The frame of the picture will get older and older... Maayan will not. This is how we will remember him, young and happy.
It is Yom Hazikaron.. Memorial Day for the Fallen and the Victims of Terror since 1948, the existence of the State of Israel. It is a sad day... there are memorial services, people all over their country visit their loved ones in the graveyards, there are no television programmes.. instead they show all the pictures of those who were killed.
For me personally I will think of my dear friend Motti Schijveschuurder. He was killed, only 43 years old, together with his wife and three children during a terrorist attack in J’lem in 2001. We used to be in the same class at high school. And I will think of Maayan, who died, only 18 years young, during his army service, almost three years ago. He is the youngest son of our friends Mark and Elaine. He is still their youngest son... it is impossible for me to write.. he was! He is in our minds all the time. On memorial day we remember him even more, but with our thoughts we keep him alive every single day, as all those others who are not with us anymore. His picture hangs in our living-room. The frame of the picture will get older and older... Maayan will not. This is how we will remember him, young and happy.
First Anniversary, words said by Mark, Maayan's father: Nothing can compensate us or the thousands of other Jewish families who have suffered great loss in this fight for our lives to live free in our Homeland. We are reminded here today that freedom comes with a price, what we always seem to take for granted. When we celebrate Shabbat, our holidays, go to work and go about our everyday business, we owe it all to our sons and daughters that we can go on with our daily lives while they guard our borders, freeze in the cold and melt in the heat. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety is a miserable and selfish creature who has no chance of being free unless made and kept safe by the exertions of better people than themselves. What is deplorable, objectionable and dangerous about extremists is not their extremist views, but that they are intolerant of others. Yes, we are part of thousands of years steeped in Jewish tradition and values. Yes, if saving lives was the one decent thing we were able to do out of this mess then we can say that in spite of it all, we really and truly accomplished something in our lives. If we do that, we all earn the right to go home. Yes, we can say that in our existence on this earth, we counted for something, we did something not just for ourselves but for a higher cause – the Jewish people. We are the answer to the Holocaust. The Holocaust tells us nothing about Jewish identity. It only tells us about the rest of the world. We should not and must not be enchanted by odes to brotherly love or Utopian dreams, it is our right and responsibility to defend our Homeland. Because the notion of trusting the world with our destiny died in Auschwitz and Birkenau. Many of us have already forgotten this fact. We should ask ourselves, is my time on this planet adding up to anything? A lot of us are afraid of the answers. But that fear will translate into paralysis. We must commit ourselves to our goal, willing ourselves to the next step. We still haven't found the courage to recognize that security not peace is our goal. Only with secure, defensible borders can we even dream of some iota of peace. And until we do, we will be plagued by more war, more senseless death, destruction and bloodshed, but on a much more unimaginable scale. Will we step-up and be counted when we are needed or sit back and let others do the lifting for us? We must take action now because the first step in changing this country for the better is to fight for it, to believe in ourselves and take control of our own destiny. This is not the time to lose our nerve or the Free World to lose theirs. They will condemn us as they always have done, but never mind, because we will survive as we must, take back the initiative. All our children, yours and mine are infused with an energy of passion, hunger and drive to do what is right and what is just. We cannot and must not fail them. Maayan would say, I didn't die in vain and don't let my death divert you for one moment, be strong and courageous – make a difference! And with absolute conviction I can say that at least his life was about something significant.
First Anniversary, words said by Mark, Maayan's father: Nothing can compensate us or the thousands of other Jewish families who have suffered great loss in this fight for our lives to live free in our Homeland. We are reminded here today that freedom comes with a price, what we always seem to take for granted. When we celebrate Shabbat, our holidays, go to work and go about our everyday business, we owe it all to our sons and daughters that we can go on with our daily lives while they guard our borders, freeze in the cold and melt in the heat. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety is a miserable and selfish creature who has no chance of being free unless made and kept safe by the exertions of better people than themselves. What is deplorable, objectionable and dangerous about extremists is not their extremist views, but that they are intolerant of others. Yes, we are part of thousands of years steeped in Jewish tradition and values. Yes, if saving lives was the one decent thing we were able to do out of this mess then we can say that in spite of it all, we really and truly accomplished something in our lives. If we do that, we all earn the right to go home. Yes, we can say that in our existence on this earth, we counted for something, we did something not just for ourselves but for a higher cause – the Jewish people. We are the answer to the Holocaust. The Holocaust tells us nothing about Jewish identity. It only tells us about the rest of the world. We should not and must not be enchanted by odes to brotherly love or Utopian dreams, it is our right and responsibility to defend our Homeland. Because the notion of trusting the world with our destiny died in Auschwitz and Birkenau. Many of us have already forgotten this fact. We should ask ourselves, is my time on this planet adding up to anything? A lot of us are afraid of the answers. But that fear will translate into paralysis. We must commit ourselves to our goal, willing ourselves to the next step. We still haven't found the courage to recognize that security not peace is our goal. Only with secure, defensible borders can we even dream of some iota of peace. And until we do, we will be plagued by more war, more senseless death, destruction and bloodshed, but on a much more unimaginable scale. Will we step-up and be counted when we are needed or sit back and let others do the lifting for us? We must take action now because the first step in changing this country for the better is to fight for it, to believe in ourselves and take control of our own destiny. This is not the time to lose our nerve or the Free World to lose theirs. They will condemn us as they always have done, but never mind, because we will survive as we must, take back the initiative. All our children, yours and mine are infused with an energy of passion, hunger and drive to do what is right and what is just. We cannot and must not fail them. Maayan would say, I didn't die in vain and don't let my death divert you for one moment, be strong and courageous – make a difference! And with absolute conviction I can say that at least his life was about something significant.
« Back to the overview