Eyal Meir Berkowitz’s talent for explaining complex Mishnayot was recognized by rabbis and experts in the field. On December 7, 2023, Eyal fell in an IDF operation extracting the bodies of hostages abducted to Gaza. His family decided to cherish his memory by handing his work over to the National Library of Israel.
Freedom Under Siege: The Last Seder in Kfar Etzion
How can one celebrate the festival of freedom, with the clear knowledge that your life or liberty will be taken from you in just a few days? The Seder night of 1948 was one of the last nights of freedom for those in besieged Gush Etzion, but this fact did not prevent the isolated group of men from creating the most celebratory atmosphere possible under the circumstances.
Yom HaZikaron: A Light in the Darkness
Memorial candles are woven into all aspects of Yom HaZikaron: lit during public ceremonies, by bereaved families at gravesides on Har Hertzl, and of course in homes up and down the country. But why do we use a candle to commemorate the fallen heroes of Israel? What inspires us to shed light in a day full of darkness?
A Farewell Letter From the Besieged Jewish Quarter
“Remember me in happiness”: The last testament of Esther Cailingold, a soldier and teacher who fell in the battle for the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City during Israel’s War of Independence
Israel, 1948: Vidal Sassoon in Combat
Not long before becoming the world’s most famous hairstylist and building a business empire, Sassoon fought for Israeli independence. He lost friends, gained confidence, went weeks without a shower, and literally never learned the Hebrew word for ‘retreat’…
The Story of the Daring Pilot Zahara Levitov
Zahara Levitov was a Palmach fighter and among the first women to fly planes in the newly established IDF, but her service was cut short by a tragic crash
The Cry
A lamentation for Nechama, mother of Alec
The Surrender of the Old City’s Jewish Quarter
The tragic circumstances that led to the surrender of the Jewish Quarter’s defenders in Jerusalem’s Old City during the War of Independence
How a Map Torn From a Newspaper Helped Decide a Critical Battle of the Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War of 1973 was utter chaos. Armored corps soldiers who joined the battle in the Valley of Tears on the Golan Heights were not familiar with the terrain and couldn’t find a proper map to guide them, so they improvised…
Blood of the Maccabees: How a Little Red Flower Became the Symbol of Israel’s Memorial Day
Every year on Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, many of us wear the famous Dam HaMaccabim sticker; the connection between the flower and the occasion was made in the early days of the state
