Dedicating the fallen soldiers' monument

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Here in Meitar, ceremonies for Israel's Remembrance Day  began at 6:30 tonight on the library  lawn.
Our new monument (still draped in black in the above photo) was unveiled by Mayor Avner Ben Gera. 

Meitar lost two of her sons in last summer's fighting with Gaza.
One of the bereaved fathers laid a wreath after giving a short and moving speech.

On the monument you see the symbolic Red Everlasting or Blood of the Maccabees flower we discussed in the previous post.
What worries me is the white empty space under the soldiers' names; please God, may it not be filled with new names any time soon.

The monument was placed next to the library and also in between our three schools.
As one of the speakers said (I think it was the town rabbi who made the point, or perhaps the mayor), the closeness to the library stresses that we are the People of the Book and only become the people of the sword when forced to.
And among the schools, why?  Because to this our youth are educated--to live for their country and if needed, to also die fighting for our home, our only home in this world.
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