A Quiet Yom Hazikaron

Yom Hazikaron, a day where 10 million people stop. A day where 10 million people stand in silence for 2 minutes at 8 PM the evening before, and 11 AM the morning of. A day where it doesn't matter if you know someone who fell, because you certainly have a friend who knows someone, and you've heard your friend talk about them a lot. A day where 10 million people realize that the 24 thousand plus who fell for Israel, is the sole reason Israel still exists. A day where 10 million people understand the significance, a day unifying all parts of the country as one.

As a soldier, everything is different. You get to experience all these unique moments in the Israeli calendar in a unique way. Every Yom Hazikaron, thousands of soldiers are given a task, stand by a grave of one who has fallen. Each soldier is given the name, date of death, grave location, and details of the family member who fell. The morning of Yom Hazikaron, thousands of soldiers stand side by side with family members by the grave of the loved one they lost.

These placements are not done randomly. Every soldier is placed by a grave close to where they live, as if a simple reminder that those who fell grew up next to you. Furthermore, every soldier is placed with a fallen soldier from not only their unit, but usually more specifically from their battalion. A soldier in Golani is placed by the grave of a Golanchik who fell. A soldier from my battalion 890, stands side by side with the family of a fallen 890 soldier.

All of this is as if to say that the legacy lives on. I, a soldier, stand next to the grave of a fallen soldier. I show the family, the fallen soldier, and the entire country, that my presence will live on. Not my presence as myself Ira Kohler, but my presence as a soldier in the IDF, the same essence that this fallen soldier embodied when he took his final breaths. The soldier stands by the fallen soldier to show that the soldiers will live on, the same soldiers who continue to ensure this country continues to exist. A powerful message, there are many ways to look at this.

This tradition, of standing next to a fallen soldiers grave on Yom Hazikaron, is one I've known for a while. However this year I learned of a new tradition. As we received the list, my entire team starting looking through the names and locations of where we had to travel this Tuesday morning. Each grave had assigned one younger soldier (like me), and another more veteran soldier such as an officer or a non-commissioned officer. As I was going through the names on the list, I finally found mine. I allowed my eyes to shift to see who was the soldier listed on my row, and where I had to be. I read the name and it says Ariel Sharon. My immediate reaction was "the Ariel Sharon?" can't be. I check the date of death, and it matches what it says online. I check the buried site, and that too matches. So yes, my assigned grave was Ariel Sharon, former Prime Minister of Israel.

At first I was super excited. "What an honor" I thought to myself. "I get to be the representative soldier at former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's grave!" This isn't nothing, this I thought was a big deal.

Then I started to think to myself that this is a little weird. Ariel Sharon sure was Prime Minister and all, but he didn't pass away as a soldier. He wasn't killed in a terrorist attack like Rabin (ironically and tragically a Jewish terrorist attack). Sharon lived until the old age of 85, served as a politician and most notebly as Prime Minister. So why was I going? Despite all his accolades and dedication to this country, this day isnt a day for him, right?

Well that's what I thought. I arrived to his grave site near the city of Sderot, called Givat Ha'calaniyot (גבעת הכלניות). Givat meaning a hill, and calaniyot referring to the special red flower that sprouts throughout the Gaza envelope region during the late winter months. Sharon's grave site was off the side of a road, with then a dirt trail about 200 meters up a hill to his grave site. Buried next to his wife Lily, the two sit on a hill surrounded by flowers and shrubbery, with a view of sderot and the neighboring Kibbutzim and Moshavim in the area. Queit and peaceful.

*Ariel and Lily Sharon buried side by side

Myself and this other soldier, an officer in my battalion named Gavriel, arrived at 9 in the morning as was demanded by the army. When I say demanded, I mean it. "Whoever shows up late will receive 28 days straight on base" they said. So yes, it was a demand. A little weird because the siren is only at 11, and any small ceremony only occurs after. Furthermore, any family is not arriving more than half an hour before. So telling us to get there at nine was just an exaggerated way to make sure nobody was late.

As we were waiting on the hill, Gavriel mentioned that he doubted anyone will come. A little confused at first, he then started explaining. Sharon's parents are long gone, his wife is buried next to him, if he has any siblings they have either passed away or are really old, and any kids he has probably won't come. "This isn't the day" Gavriel said. I'm sure his kids and families come to this grave many times to pay their respects to their parents, and I'm sure tourists and visitors who want to visit the grave site of a former prime minister, also come. However not today. Gavriel said that he's sure that Sharon's kids are going to the grave of someone who fell as a soldier, someone who they know. They are probably going to some ceremony, who knows. In short, he doubted anyone would come. As 11 AM neared, it became clear that it would only be us, but why were we even there?

Gavriel told me that while Yom Hazikaron is indeed for soldiers who fell or those killed in a terrorist attack, the army does something a little different. They send current soldiers to not only stand by the graves and families of fallen soldiers, but any soldier who became an Aluf (the second highest ranking in the army) or Rav-Aluf (the ranking given to the Chief of Staff alone) also had a current soldier standing next to them as well. But why? For a little context, at any given time, there is only one Cheif of Staff. As far as those who reached the ranking of Aluf, such as Ariel Sharon, there are 22 currently. I am not sure if this number was higher, lower, or the same throughout Israel's entire existence, but the important part to realize is that this number isn't a lot. To become an Aluf means to give your life to the army, something that not many do.

So why was I here? Well I might have just answered that. At 11 AM, despite the fact that just Gavriel and I stood side by side next to Ariel Sharon's grave, we rolled down our sleeves, placed our beret on our head, and stood in the respected army stance for two minutes as the siren wailed. Around us there were birds chirping, the wind howling, and the silence of the surroundings. No one else was there. While thousands were standing at Har Herzl, and hundreds of thousands more spread out around Israel at different cemeteries, it was just the two of us standing at this grave of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, former Aluf in the Israeli Defense Forces. A man, just like many others, who may not have fallen in uniform, but he certainly gave his life to this Country. And for that the army placed us there, and because of that we stood there. It was a quiet Yom Hazikaron.