A mountain of pain

A mountain of pain Emily Amrousi There are two hills in Jerusalem that are sacred to Jews. One is the Temple Mount, which contains elements of the past and future. The other is Har Hazikaron, or Mount of Remembrance. This hill embodies a torn and bleeding past, a sob-filled present and lessons for the future. The western slope of Har Hazikaron houses Yad Vashem, Israel's national Holocaust remembrance museum. The northern part of the hill is called Mount Herzl, and is home to Israel's national military cemetery. I don't know how many Israelis visit the Temple Mount these days as opposed to how many visit Har Hazikaron. I do know that both hills are equally sacred to the Jewish people and that a single thread connects both. The stone plaques on the tombstones, where details of the deceased are carved, have been left rough on the sides, in tribute to the rough stones of the Wailing Wall. Mount Sinai, where the Torah was given, is not a place we can visit, because no one knows its precise location. Instead, we have these two hills in Jerusalem. It is hard to walk on Mount Herzl. The air feels heavier than normal. Amid the pine trees, which people say do not need to be watered because they are watered with tears, we can discern the saga of the Jewish nation in recent generations. The hill is full of monuments to those who fell defending the land, as well as to victims of terrorism. The tragedy on Wednesday, in which an Israeli soldier was killed after a lighting rig collapsed, may have been due to negligence, or it could have been a random accident. I love this nation too much to join the chorus of blame against "careless Israelis" before the facts emerge. It is enough to shudder at the disturbing coincidence: This is the place where, next week, we will remember fallen Israeli soldiers, and suddenly another soldier dies here, of all places. Hila Betzaleli almost fell straight into a grave. Who can fathom the depth of this tragedy, whose symbolism resounds in our hearts? It occurred on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, within walking distance of the Yad Vashem ceremony. It happened to an Israel Defense Forces officer wearing her khaki uniform, on Mount Herzl, the hill that has grown in stature through grief and pain, while she was rehearsing for the official national Independence Day ceremony. Between Mount Herzl, where Hila died, and Yad Vashem, the symbol of the day when she fell, there is a hiking path carved out by youth groups. Along this path is a monument called "The Last Shoot," created by sculptor Micha Ullman, to the memory of 275 lone Holocaust survivors who fell in Israel's wars, erasing the last living traces of their families. This single monument tells the entire story: the Holocaust, the IDF, bereavement. A beautiful 20-year-old woman who died during her military service represents another tributary in the river of Israeli pain. This symbolic day, this symbolic hill, the uniform, the flag. A mosaic of pain. http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=1751