I try to take time to look at their names, read the message on the stickers, take pictures of them, and fulfill the Biblical dictum of: יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בְּאָזְנֵי וְשִׂים ,בַּסֵּפֶר זִכָּרוֹן זֹאת כְּתֹב, and Hashem said to Moshe, write this chronicle (the war against Amalek) as a zikaron - a remembrance - in the book, and place it in the ears of Yehoshua (ibid.,17:14, Parshas Beshalach), so that Yehoshua shall transmit this remembrance throughout the generations.
עֲמָלֵק לְָ עָשָׂה-אֲשֶׁר אֵת זָכוֹר... you shall remember what Amalek did to you... תִּשְׁכָּח לֹא, you shall not forget (Devarim 25:19).
On motzei Shabbos we visited (for lack of a better word) the Gevurah Forum tent, where there was a memorial ceremony being held for Capt. (res.) Ariel Mordechai Wollfstal, 28, from Elazar HY”D, on the occasion of his first yarzheit. Ariel Mordechai fell in Gaza on 12 Shevat 5784, in the incident that claimed the lives of 21 soldiers. Amongst others, his father and sister spoke, and there were songs of emunah, hope, prayer and longing being played in his memory.
When we left the tent, we passed by another plastering-of-stickers-turned-memorial location, with a sticker in memory of Yisrael Sokol HYD. The warm, smiling face of the soldier, with glasses, a trim beard, and a white kipa seruga, looks out at us. The caption reads:
“תחיי לעד בדמי - את ,הריך בחיק אלין ראשי - אני” - As if he is speaking to the Land of Israel and the nation of Israel, Yisrael says: “And I - my head shall lay in the embrace of your mountains; and you - in my blood you shall live forever.”
And then, it says: ישראל תורת ,ישראל ארץ ,ישראל עם (Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael, Torat Yisrael), הי״ד סוקול ישראל -Yisrael Sokol HY”D.
Sergeant First Class (res.) Yisrael Sokol, 24, from Karnei Shomron, fell in the same disaster in Gaza that claimed the life of Ariel Mordechai Wollfstal. Monday, 12 Shevat, was the yarzheit of both of them. Some months after Yisrael fell, there was a tree planting ceremony in Karnei Shomron, where seventy trees were planted in his memory.
Yisrael was 24; Ariel was 28. With their whole lives ahead of them, they fell in defense of Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and Toras Yisrael.
The pasuk in Parshas Yisro tells us that before Matan Torah, Moshe was to warn the nation that no one was to break through the perimeter of the mountain, lest they break through to see the glory of G-d, רָב מִמֶּנּוּ וְנָפַל, and many of them shall fall (Shemos 19:21). Suppose only one person would break through the perimeter, and only one shall fall? Rashi (ibid) says: מַה כָּל רָב לְפָנַי חָשׁוּב ,יְחִידִי הוּא וַאֲפִלּוּ ,מֵהֶם שֶּׁיִּפֹּל, however many shall fall from them, even if it is only one, it is considered before Me as many.
Even if it is one... it is considered before Me as many.
עולם עד ,ולארצנו לעמינו טובות בשורות בברכת
