Event: Funeral of the three young men, Naftali Frankel, Gil-Ad Shaar, and Eyal Yifrach, the late
Date: 3rd of Tammuz
""I dare to call on every group, circle, small and large - let us remember the proverb that says: 'Two Jews - three opinions,' but one heart. We have one heart. If we decide not to return to a routine of bowed heads, we will direct the rupture to repair. Let us say every morning the commandment of the Holy Ari - 'I have taken upon myself the good commandment of loving your neighbor as yourself.'" (Rabbi Dov Singer - Funeral of the Three Boys Who Were Kidnapped and Murdered, Tammuz 5774)
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An unknown, ordinary life, in a strange place, a slightly strange country. None of the walkers knew a single significant detail about his life, his character, his family. Tens of thousands who heard on the radio, received on WhatsApp, on social media, and simply came. There were people of all kinds and genders, the diverse and divided people of Israel, their opinions and conflicts, all came to accompany the lone soldier who fell in Protective Edge, on his last journey. Gratitude, acts of kindness, love of neighbor, even the unknown, like you.
18 days when the entire country revolved around them. Every detail of their lives had already been revealed, pictures, stories, experiences. The country knew their family, their values, their character. The smiles, the studies, the friends, the rabbis, all of these reached and touched the hearts of millions, in Israel and abroad. The prayers of hundreds of thousands tried to tear down the gates of heaven for what, in those moments, was already sealed with a seal of blood.
Tens of thousands also attended their funerals, those who fell in love with the new young characters they met, those whose lives were cut short, whose studies were interrupted, whose bright future was darkened, tore their hearts and took them out of their routine lives and onto the final path of the murdered young men.
And again, as if there is no dispute, as if there is no anger, as if there is no deepening rift, as if we have not long ago gone through laws, shouting, demonstrations, hatred, and a sea of anger that overflows and rages, as if all of this, in a fit of kidnapping, in a fit of funeral, disappeared, was pushed aside, put into the correct proportion like some insignificant grain in the war of the people of Israel for its existence, being despite everything one brigade, one heart.
My year was a year of public funerals.
Starting with the funeral of the greatest of our generation that united everyone, through the funeral of the young men who had managed to get to know everyone, and ending with those funerals of the unknown soldiers that swept tens of thousands, who cried out, "Like you.".
Among these, we fought, quarreled, attacked and were attacked, but in the moments of truth, in the moments when God, the Almighty, placed us, as a nation, in the presence of the grace of truth and in the presence of moments of truth and faith, we remembered.
And at the beginning of a year, we should remember without reminders, we should internalize without beatings, we should learn, and not the hard way, that despite all the disagreements within and outside the sector, we are all one family, a family that in moments of mourning united in the past year, a family that deserves to be united even in moments of joy and routine.
And at the beginning of a year, as at the beginning of a day, it is good for all of us to say, "I take upon myself, this year, a positive commandment to love your neighbor - as yourself.".
