Moving odes to the fallen
The Zionist Council of NSW event saw candles lit in their memory, their stories told in person and via video, as well as musical tributes.
A sombre Yom Hazikaron commemoration on Monday night focused on the stories, hopes and dreams of Israeli soldiers killed in the line of duty.
Held at Moriah College, the Zionist Council of NSW (ZCNSW) event saw candles lit in their memory, their stories told in person and via video, as well as musical tributes.
Judith Lacey paid tribute to her former Habonim madrich Danny Goldberg, a “wonderful, young, vibrant, enthusiastic doctor” who grew up in Sydney before returning to Israel.
When she went on shnat in 1982, she was to be on the same kibbutz as the army medic. “Instead of meeting Danny on the kibbutz, the first time I met Danny was at his funeral. He had been killed in Lebanon,” she said.
JNF shaliach Yossi Eshed paid tribute to Col Pinky Zoaretz. “He was tough, but he was soft and gentle,” Eshed said.
In 2004, Zoaretz lost a leg in a Hamas attack. After rehabilitation he finished his service and later become mayor of Binyamina. In 2017 he died of sudden cardiac arrest, linked to his injury.
“Israel lost a legend. And I lost a friend, a mentor, achi [brother],” Eshed said.
Maccabi general manager Ori Danieli remembered Uri Friedman as “a quiet but assertive guy”.
“His wisdom, strong leadership and mentoring skills were beyond his years. He had an incredible attitude and passion for life,” he said.
“Uri was hit by a direct missile on the seventh night of Passover in 1996. He was just 21 years old.”
Accompanied by backing music, Bnei Akiva head Mor Lacob emotionally read Leila Tov, Shawn, a poem based on letters to Shawn Mondshein’s family found on his phone after he was killed in Gaza in 2014.
ZCNSW Israeli advocate Yifat Van Leeuwen honoured Israel’s 4176 victims of terror.
“Every time you hear about an attack, the heart skips a beat,” she said. “With each attack and every additional victim, the heart cracks a bit more. It just can’t bear any more pain and sorrow and the thought of another family that breaks apart.”
Advocate Daniel Shapiro, a major in the Israeli air force reserves, addressed Israel’s current political crisis.
“This wonderful state of ours … is not something we take for granted. We argue about it and we debate about it. But while doing so, both sides are waving the Israeli flag and that’s because we have only one Jewish state and it belongs to all of us,” he said.
“Our pain is your pain and our grief, as we see today on Yom Hazikaron, is your grief.”
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