The responsibility to preserve belongs to all of us
Yonatan Shmeriz, brother of Alon Shmeriz who was murdered in the October 7 massacre, writes three years later about the grief, longing, and fear that the memory will fade. He calls for national responsibility to preserve Memorial Day, demands a state commission of inquiry, and describes the national ceremony as an act of memory and love.
Yonatan Shmeriz, brother of Alon Shmeriz who was murdered in the October 7, 2023 massacre at Kfar Aza, writes three years after the disaster. He describes the first year in which he tried to understand how to breathe within the disaster, the second year in which he realized the magnitude of the void left behind, and the third year in which he feels fear that life will go on and the names will become numbers. Yonatan returns to Alon's last message: "I love you. You are strong," and seeks strength in it. He describes the national ceremony he helped establish, a ceremony that brings together people who think and vote differently and stand together before the same fracture. Yonatan calls for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry as a duty to those we lost and to the children, and demands to know how it happened, who bore responsibility, and what needs to change. The article concludes with a call to take the love that remains without an address and build from the inferno a better country, one that protects its citizens and takes responsibility.