May 6th, '03
My Memorial Day

Today is Yom Hazikaron - Israel's memorial day for its fallen soldiers. With all the suffering this country has endured over the 55 years of its existence, nearly everyone has someone to remember. And with the constant losses we have suffered, the news media has to search every year for a new way to tell the same old story.

But I wanted to honor the memories of two very different soldiers, both related to my family: Sam Lipsky and Gilad Deshe.

My eldest son, Sam, is named after my late father-in-law. Although Sam Lipsky did not die in one of Israel's wars, he volunteered in the Israeli War of Independence in 1948. During World War II, two separate ships on which Sam served were torpedoed and sunk. He could have gone back to New York City and lived out his life quietly after the war, but instead chose to use his expertise to help create what would become the Israeli Navy. He is credited with translating Morse Code into Hebrew for the first time.

Although Sam died after an extended illness when my husband was still a child, I recently read a beautiful testament to Machal - the Foreign-born Volunteers for the Israeli War of Independence. In Sam's memory, I'd like to share it here.

The Forgotten Heroes

Gilad, my youngest, was named after my husband's cousin. Gilad Deshe, the only child of my Aunt Sue, was killed on the first day of the Yom Kippur War. Every year since that time, a small group of people, including my husband, make their way to Mount Herzl cemetary in Jerusalem to pay their respects to Gilad, and to Sue, who is now in her mid-80s. Standing shoulder to shoulder with tens of thousands of other mourners, they stand at attention as the siren rings out at exactly eleven o'clock.

We only have one picture of Gilad. He is a handsome young man...smiling, relaxed, and playing the guitar - the same guitar that later became my husband's. I would have liked to have known him.

One more article, this one in honor of Gilad, and his mother Sue. It is by Rabbi Stewart Weiss, who writes about the loss of his son Ari this year.

I share it with you because not long after Ari's tragic death, I played a concert in Raanana, where the Weiss family is well known. There had been thoughts about cancelling the concert. But the organizers decided to go on. Because in Israel, that's what we do.

The Search for God - and Ari Weiss

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