Last year I had a very intense and emotional Memorial Day. I spent the day driving all over to be at as many places as possible in an attempt to try and experience what veteran Israelis go through on Memorial Day. This year, my friend and I, probably unconsciously, took a totally different approach.
Instead of being in the southern plains and jerusalem area, we went straight to Tel Aviv. We had both really wanted to experience Memorial Day in the big city. In the end, it turned into a walking memorial to our past heroes than a day spent crying over our current losses.
We started in Yaffo. We walked around the old port area just to walk. It used to be the gates to Israel. All new immigrants and pretty much all of the maritime trade passed through the port. Until the Arabs, in 1920 decided that they'd had enough of the Jews and shut down the port. Thanks to them Tel Aviv and Haifa ports were built/flourished, and the flow of Jews to Israel wasn't too badly affected.
From Yaffo we took a walk along the beach to the Etzel Musuem. The Etzel was a national milita that broke from the more mainstream Hagana. They were the ones to capture Yaffo during the War of Independence and the museum stands in the remains of an old arab house that they used as their base during the assault. It was a fierce battle, but also one of the most successful during the War.
From there we headed by bus to the old Trumpeldor Cemetery. We were sitting on the bus about to pull out of the terminal when the siren went off. We almost couldn't hear it because of all of the engines. As always the siren pierced my heart and it took a few minutes after the world started moving again to calm down.
The Trumpelor Cemetery was opened in 1902 when a wave of cholera spread through Yaffo. In an attempt to stop the plague, it was ordered that bodies were not allowed to be buried inside the city. A plot of land in the middle of sand dunes was chosen for the Jewish cemetery. It stood alone until Tel Aviv was founded over 20 years later. During the Arab riots of 1920/1921 the Jews killed were buried in this cemetery.
The cemetery currently holds 5,000 graves and is maxed out. It is the final resting place for many of Israel's famous leaders, including: President Moshe Sharet, Eliyahu Golumb- founder of the Hagana, Dov Hoz- head of the Histadrut, H.N Bialyk- the author and poet, Chaim Arlozorov, Zeev Jabotinsky, the Chissin Family- founders of most of the early settlements in the holy land, most of the founders of Tel Aviv, and many many others. It is a fascinating cemetery that only in the past few years has undergone renovation and restoration.
When we got there, we walked in to a tiny ceremony with no more than 20 people. It was organized by the Organization of Former Hagana Members and there was a small presence from the army and the police. They explained the history of the cemetery and of many of the people buried there, especially the victims of the arab riots. The most striking thing was that as everyone was leaving, we heard the older people grumbling that within a few years there would be no ceremony there because there would be no one left to do it. The common thread between this year and last year's Memorial Day was that then we had also been to a ceremony in danger of "extinction". My friend and I decided that we believe it's more important to make an effort to be at these ceremonies: to learn from what these people have to say and to show them our support in their mourning and that we care about our past and the sacrifices made so long ago. Everyone goes to the main military ceremonies, but do people even know that these smaller ones take place? I learned so much during that half an hour, it would be a shame to miss out on similar opportunities.
From there we went to Independence Hall and the Hagana Museum. Surprisingly, I had never been to either and we felt it was apropos to the day to head there of all places (it was the real date of Independence Day, but because of Shabbat everything was pushed over by one day). The entire day highlighted for me how amazing of an accomplishment creating the state was, and how all of the sacrifices were worth it despite the pain. Without our brave soldiers and civilians, we could never even have come close to building what we have today. With that said, we also must strive to live up to the example of our forefathers and let nothing get in the way of building and maintaining our home. May G-d give us the strength and foresight to do so.
