The painting that touched life and bereavement

In a previous article we brought The story of Maggie Rom, a multidisciplinary artist who is, among other things, a gifted painter. Today we will tell about one of Maggie's paintings, which deeply touched the lives of bereaved parents.

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Ilan Alexandrovich was born on September 1.9.1961, XNUMX in Haifa, to Ella and Abraham, Holocaust survivors. He attended "Ma'ale Ha'Carmel" elementary school, and from there he continued to "Basmat" high school, majoring in electronics. Ilan was a Tamir boy, handsome and pleasant in his manners, who also excelled in his studies and won hearts with his humble demeanor.

He was active at school, loved to travel around the country, listen to music and dance folk dances. He also devoted a lot of time to activity in the Scout tribe "Meshotetti BeCarmel". As a natural leader, Ilan was a guide and later a charismatic tribal center.

Before his enlistment, Ilan joined the Nahal "Ma'ouf" core of the Scout movement. The core was organized for the purpose of establishing a new kibbutz called Toval, in the Mashgav regional council in the Lower Galilee. Ilan spent the early leadership of the "Ma'ouf" core in Kibbutz Beit HaEmek, where Loved everything. In his young kibbutz, Toval, Ilan became a central axis.

He went with an informational delegation of young Israelis to England, where he lectured to young Jews. Some of these young people were convinced to immigrate to Israel and settle in different kibbutzim. In January 1980, Ilan enlisted in the Parachute Army, and after a parachuting course and an anti-aircraft course, he was assigned to one of the paratrooper battalions.

During the Middle Slate period, he returned to his kibbutz, Toval, to continue his work and guide a new scout group called "Ird". Very quickly, Ilan found his way to the central group in the farm, and became a central figure in it.

In June 1982, the period of the Israel Defense Forces was about to end. Ilan was a candidate for an officers' course. But due to the Galilee Peace War, he was assigned to an infantry brigade and participated in battles in Lebanon. This week marks the anniversary of his death.

On the 8th day of Tammuz 7 (1982/XNUMX/XNUMX) Ilan fell while fulfilling his duty in the Galilee Peace War, and was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Haifa. He left behind parents and a sister.

His family published a book in his memory, with the words of friends, teachers and relatives about his character. In addition, his parents and friends established a room named after him in the tribe "Mashotti in Carmel" and a sports facility on the grounds of the summer camp of the "Scoops" movement in the Ofer forest. Every year, the "Mashotetti in Carmel" tribe dedicates the opening ceremony of its year of activity to Ilan's memory.

The parents

Four years later, Ilan's parents, Ella and Abraham Alexandrovitch, went on a sabbatical year in New York (Abraham is a professor in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Technion).

In New York, the couple received a photo booklet called "Best of photo journalism 1982". They opened the album to a random page, and to their astonishment, they saw there a photograph of an APC, on which was emblazoned the name of the Nahal nucleus "Flight". Their son, Ilan, was sitting on the APC. This was the last picture of Ilan, and it was taken a day or two before he was killed.

The picture was taken by Bob Foyle, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983. The explanation below the photo was:

The Alexandrovich couple, who have a daughter and grandchildren living in the center of the country, decided not to leave their apartment in Haifa, and will continue to live there. They decided to keep Ilan's room for them.

commemoration

A few years ago, Ella and Avraham came to the "Yad Labanim" house in Haifa, for a meeting with a group of artists. They were one family out of 15 families, who came to enlist the help of artists for a commemoration project for their fallen children.

Each artist introduced himself, and then a connection was made between the artists and the families of the fallen. The first artist to present herself was Maggie Rom. Maggie is a pianist, actress and painter, whose works are shown in exhibitions in Israel and abroad.

Ella says that when she heard Maggie's words, she immediately felt a deep connection to her, and immediately knew that Maggie was "their" artist. She also heard other artists introduce themselves, but her decision had already been made - Maggie is the artist with whom she would like to immortalize her son in a work of art. Maggie willingly complied.

She visited the couple at his home, to get to know Ilan, the fallen son. She sat in his room, read his letters, saw photos and video clips, heard his parents talk about him and was very impressed by Ilan's last picture.

"Afterwards," says Maggie, "I got up and told them: 'Your son is now in my heart. I already have enough information and emotion towards him, so that I can draw a picture that comes from my heart.'"

The touching painting

And she did draw a picture that came from the heart.

Maggie:

Ilan was a member of the Nahal nucleus 'Ma'of', which founded Kibbutz Toval in the Western Galilee. In the painting I wanted to integrate his image into the landscape of the young kibbutz, Toval, which Ilan loved so much.

Maggie did incorporate Ilan's last photograph of the kibbutz landscape into the painting. Ilan is sitting, suspended between heaven and earth, on his "Ma'uf" APC, near the anemone plot, not far from the rock he used to sit on with his friends.

The painting was given to the parents in a small ceremony at Beit Yad Labanim in Haifa, in the midst of the Corona days, and it touched their hearts very much. They framed the original painting and hung it in Ilan's room, which they still keep. Another copy of the painting hangs in the living room of the house.

Ella used to say excitedly that Maggie brought light into their lives. Maggie Rom and her family became Ella and Abraham's extended family.