Last Day
We went to Har Herzl, and started our tour in the cold rain. From the very beginning, we talked on how there is no difference between any of the graves and on how it symbolizes the 'togetherness' and the unique same role and effect that each soldier has. After visiting Michael Levine's and Yonatan Natanyahu's grave, we went on to section of the fallen soldiers from the last war, protective edge. There I told the story of Sean Carmeli, a lone soldier who made aliyah when he was 16 from Texas, and died in a war in gaza only few months before he was about to finish his service. In addition to Sean's story, we heard the story of Roy Klein, an Israeli commander who sacrificed his life to save his soldiers. The next story we heard, was about Ziv Mizrahi, one of Sapir's soldiers. He was killed in a stabbing incident when he was only 18 years old. To conclude this part of the tour, Maayan told us her personal story, about Arbel, her ex-boyfriend from high school, who died while she was in camp in the US.
After we finished this part, we continued to the second part of the tour, which was the graves of national heroes. We went pass by Levi Eshkol's, Rabin's and Golda Meir's grave. We finished with singing Hatikvah, leaded by us, the Israelis. To me, this experience was very emotional. In general graveyards are never a splendid adventure, but this time was different. I think that something in the way Maayan chose to organize and present the activity, in my opinion again, was brilliant. From the arrival to the cemetery, I think that the things she pointed out, such as the symbolism in the structure of the cemetery, the sharing of her story, really made me feel the experience more fully. If you add to all of this some rain and freezing cold weather, you get the perfect atmosphere for this kind of experience.
As a soldier, I think that to visit this cemetery, is one of the most exciting occasions in the whole service. It reflects our reality in the most real way and you can see a clear example to that in the comparison between the structure of Har Herzl to the remembrance day and independence day.
I hope that everyone of us had the privilege today to feel something, whether if it was by the Israelis stories or at the national heroes graves. I think that this cemetery is an important symbol that visiting it can and should unite each person and to think about how important the existence of Isreal is to them.
