Tonight is the start of Yom Hazikaron, remembrance day for Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of enemy attacks. It is the most heartbreaking and depressing day of the year. The IDF is not made up of professional conscripts known to only a small section of society. Israel’s army comprises our fathers, husbands, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, cousins, friends and neighbours, and our wars aren’t fought on some remote battlefield, they are right here on our own doorstep.
Tomorrow morning I will go to the memorial ceremony in Ra’anana’s military cemetery. It is just one cemetery in one city, but the brutal and painful history of Israel can be charted just by walking through. The first graves date back to British Mandate times, when a group of Jewish immigrants established Ra’anana as an agricultural settlement. Arabs from neighbouring villages murdered some of the pioneers while they guarded the new settlement.
Soldiers from Ra’anana were killed in the War of Independence, which began on the first night of Israel’s existence as a state, and they have died in every war (except the recent Operation Cast Lead in Gaza) ever since. In the Yom Kippur War in October 1973 alone, more than twenty local soldiers were killed.
Yosef Fink was missing in action after being kidnapped and ambushed by Hizbollah, while serving in Lebanon in 1986. His body was finally returned for burial in 1996. Daniel Muller was killed, aged 21,in the infamous “night of the hang-glider” terror attack on his army base near Kiryat Shmona in November 1987. Ital Adler and Ran Arman died in the twin helicopter crash which killed 73 soldiers and aircrew over northern Israel in February 1997. Amit Meir was killed in Lebanon in February 2000, a few months before Israel withdrew its forces, and Eyal Zimmerman was killed in Jenin in April 2002. Ari Weiss was killed in Nablus in September 2002, aged 21. In July 2006, Benji Hillman was killed in Lebanon, just three weeks after his wedding. In September of the same year, in the week he turned 18, Aharon Tzarfati died during a pre-army evaluation for Shayetet, the elite naval commando unit.
Many bereaved families establish community projects in memory of their loved ones to perpetuate their names in a positive way. During the shiva mourning period for Benji Hillman, a company commander in the elite Egoz unit, an endless fund of stories emerged about the unstinting efforts he made on behalf of all his soldiers, particularly “hayalim bodedim” (lone soldiers) who are here from abroad or who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Although his family was grappling with the overwhelming tragedy of his death, they decided almost immediately to establish a project in his memory and the idea of building Benji’s Home – “Habayit shel Benji” - was formulated.
Habayit shel Benji will be built in Haprachim Street in Ra’anana. It will be – literally - a real home for 50 lone soldiers, where they will have everything they need - meals, a laundry service, access to computers, etc. Above all, they will be living in a warm and supportive environment.
I am helping to organise the third annual community walk (2k, 8k or 12k) in aid of Habyit shel Benji. The walk will take place on May 8 at 08. 30, beginning from the amphitheatre car park near Park Ra’anana. The two previous walks between them raised hundreds of thousands of shekels for Habayit shel Benji and attracted almost 3,000 walkers. We hope this year’s walk will be equally successful.
The ceremonies on Yom Hazikaron provide a stark reminder that the bereaved families’ pain is an ever open wound which never truly heals. Danny Hillman, Benji’s father, believes that it is important nonetheless to focus on building something positive for the future: “We can’t change what has happened, so we are concentrating on making sure that Benji’s legacy of caring for all the soldiers in his command is continued.”
If you would like to support this project either by walking, or by sponsoring one of the Egoz soldiers who will be taking part, please email David Rurka: rurka@zahav.net.il
A film about the life of Benji Hillman will be shown at 4.40pm, Tuesday April 28 on Israel’s Channel 2. I will add a link to the film when I get it.
For more information about the Benji Hillman Foundation: www.benjihillman.org
