Most years, One Family’s moving memorial ceremony, held in the courtyard of its central Jerusalem headquarters, is overflowing with hundreds of participants. This year, the program will be broadcast on Israel’s Channel 7, the Hebrew Srugim news site, and the organization’s Facebook and Youtube pages. It will also appear Tuesday afternoon at 12 pm on Israel’s Channel 20. The ceremony will take place in Hebrew and English and will be adapted for the hearing impaired.
Among the speakers who will tell their story: Rabbi Eitan Schnerb - the late Rina's father, who was murdered in a terror attack near Dolev in August 2019 and last Wednesday celebrated the birth of their daughter with his wife Shira; Nea Ansbacher, the late Ori's mother, who was murdered in a terror attack Ein Yael in February 2019; Ariel Imas-Yurfan, the son of the late Talia and Yitzhak Imes, who were murdered together in August 2010; Orit Mark Ettinger, daughter of the late Rabbi Mickey Mark, who was murdered in July 2016; Ricky Marsheh, sister of the late Major Gad Marsheh, who was killed in December 2000; Linoy Basson, sister of Sergeant Gal Basson, who was killed in Operation Cliff Eitan, in July 2014; Zach Ajami, the son of the late Joseph (Yossi) Ajami, who was murdered in September 2002 and Omar Kit, father of Sgt. Ofir Kit, who fell beside a fisherman in the Gaza Strip in June 2001.
"Family’s can’t touch and cry on the piece of ground where their loved one lies still," said the association's CEO, Chantal Belzberg. "But maybe even more importantly, the one and a half million strangers, friends and relatives of the bereaved families who would otherwise come to the cemeteries and their homes to embrace them with love and compassion, will not be with them on this most difficult of days. Those warm hugs give them the strength to live on, one more year. That’s what the bereaved families need the most today .
"OneFamily wants to do everything we can to fill that need; a virtual embrace," she continued. "Every click, every view, of the OneFamily on-line ceremony tells each family of the soldiers and the victims of terror - We are there for you now; just not in person. We care about you. We have not forgotten your loved ones. We have not forgotten you, nor the pain you carry inside you every day. This year, that’s how we can comfort the bereaved families."OneFamily is also asking that people register on its website to make a short phone call for the bereaved families, "helping us hug them from afar," Belzberg said. To participate, click here.
