We promise not to forget • Students in Haifa moved the families of the fallen

The students of "Hogim" school wrote letters to the 1,780 fallen buried in the city of Haifa and delivered them to their excited families.

The students of the six-year grade school decided to give a symbolic meaning to the promise "to remember and not to forget" in preparation for the Memorial Day for the Fallen of the Israeli System which took place this week. As part of the program for social involvement, which is led by Merev Winokur, all the middle school students located the 1,780 fallen sons and daughters of the city of Haifa, who were killed since the establishment of the state until today.

As part of the education lessons, the students learned in the classrooms about the stories of heroism, about the sacrifice and the heavy price that the wars took over the years. After that, the 9th grade teachers went with the students on a tour of the cemetery, under the guidance of educator Giora Smolensky, to learn about the structure of the cemetery and to hear stories of heroism. At the end of the tour, they met near the graves of Nadav Cohen and Benny Weiss Weistoch, graduates of the school who fell in Gaza in the "Iron Swords" war. The students met with Michal Lerner, Nadav's mother, who shared with the students Nadav's biography and read a letter he left before his death to his friends at the military training school. Afterwards, the educators held discussion circles with the students in which the families and friends of the fallen participated.

Every space has a story

Each student was given the name of a space and was asked to read about his life story and the circumstances of his death on the Yazkor website. After learning about the martyrs, the students wrote personal letters for the families of the martyrs and their relatives, and placed the letters on the graves of the martyrs on the eve of Memorial Day for the martyrs of Israel's systems and the victims of hostilities, so that the next day they would be opened by the families.

"thanks to you we are here"

In the last few days, dozens of comments have arrived about the special initiative. A woman from Haifa named Galit Shalu put up a post on Facebook under the title "A story about a letter": "This morning I received a call from Australia. On the line was a family friend, Eva Nemer, whose son, Sergeant Assaf Nemer, died in the Second Lebanon War, in the summer of 2006. She was excited , and asked me to help her locate a XNUMXth grade student from a school in Haifa. The student left a letter on her son's grave in the military cemetery in Haifa. The letter read, among other things: "Thanks to you we can live here in the country." The soldier's mother wanted me to find the student so that she could talk to her, thank her, and tell her that she warmed her heart."

"We were moved to tears"

Another Haifai, named Barak Rimon, sent a letter to the school's principal, Milena Miron, in which he wrote: "As usual on Independence Day, I visit a childhood friend, Oded Govrin, who fell in 1991 when he was 21. We meet every year at his grave with representatives of the unit and the Navy." to those who come to pay their respects. His only brother lives in the USA and his parents passed away 5 years ago. This year we were moved to tears by seeing letters from students consoling the family who were waiting for his grave. I sent them to his brother in the USA and he was also very moved. Please convey my thanks to the students and tell them that they touched our hearts very much. Congratulations on the project."

Naomi Dori, mother of the late Nir Dori, wrote:

"On Memorial Day, we found a moving letter on our son's grave, written by Moore from the 9th grade. First - thank you and congratulations for the creative and valuable thinking, second - please pass on a special thank you to Moore, a sensitive girl, who I predict will have the skills of an advanced psychologist based on her writing."

promise to continue

The dozens of responses received moved the students and the educators who initiated the project, and they promised to continue to besiege the fallen in their hearts.

Milena Miron, principal of the "Hogis" school:

"This is a unique project led by Merev Winokur and is part of a commemoration and remembrance program led by the school. The school has 57 fallen in Israel's systems, not all of them have families left to remember them. It is very important to us that the Haifa fallen do not remain names on the wall, but that we learn and remember the story of each and every one of them I am proud of the school's students who wrote letters with great sensitivity and maturity and managed to comfort the bereaved families to some extent."