March 10, 2008
Only the best go there
Report from the memorial at YICC
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Dickerman's own son is in Israel now. He is a paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces, part of an elite unit. A graduate of Yeshiva University, he chose the army over a fancy job he'd been offered. I asked Dickerman if she worries about him; she shrugged."I have three boys," she said, "I raised them on love of Israel."
Death cannot faze us, was the theme of the day. The loss of our boys is to be mourned, but the connection we share with Israel cannot be broken. There was comfort in standing shoulder to shoulder, in reciting the ancient prayers, in singing and hearing rabbis talk. There was comfort in the closeness of community and in seeing the long view of history:
"We say to you, the terrorists, and your supporters," Rabbi Hier said, "like Hitler and Stalin before you, you will be deposited in the dustbins of history, while the Jewish people and the State of Israel live on and thrive."
Quoting the Jews in the Kovno Ghetto, whom the Nazi's forced to sing on their way to extermination, Hier said "Mir velen zey alla iberlebin."
"We shall outlive all of them."
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