Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
Tomorrow is Memorial Day. Yael Shevach, the widow of Rav Raziel Shevach who was murdered in a terrorist attack two years ago, writes as follows:
"On Memorial Day, do not remember us. Do not think about me and my children. On Memorial Day, do not have compassion for me, do not have compassion for us. No more than on any other day. Because the memory for us is constant. Every day. We have no special days to remember him since we do this every day of the year. On Memorial Day you should remember him. Memorial Day is not a holiday for those of us who remain, but for those who have fallen. Remember him. Them. Remember, learn, read about them. Remember how great they were, and in their merit - how great we are.
Memorial Day is not meant for compassion for those who remain but rather to remember the lives of the fallen and thus to remember ourselves. Because they were and are no more, but left their mark. And now we remain and on Memorial Day we will ask: Have we improved ourselves? Is their mark now visible upon us too? So on Memorial Day I will commemorate gloriously and with pride that I merited and continue to merit to bear his mark, forever. And I will hear stories about others who have fallen, that they too left their marks on the living. And I will push aside mourning and bereavement for the days to come."
