I am familiar with the feeling when an airplane takes off, making your heart skip a beat. During my work at national institutions, I have often traveled to thriving Jewish communities worldwide bringing the warmest of regards from brethren back in Israel.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
This time, I travel again, but with a heavy heart. I am setting out to visit a community in Kiev, Ukraine, that used to thrive, but was wiped off the face of the earth. I will visit the Babi Yar site, the mass grave of a Jewish community that 80 years ago Nazi murders gathered and killed in a ravine – 10,000 men, women, and children slaughtered in just two days.
I thought to myself what I should bring on my trip. Usually, I take a small suitcase, clothes, my tefillin and a book to read. This time, I thought, I will also bring along a photo album with pictures of Israel in honor of those Jews who lost their lives never having made it to the Promised Land.
It will include photos of Jerusalem, our capital, one of the most ancient cities in the world. Perhaps, it will be two photographs, one from the Western Wall – wrapped in the silence of worshipers – and the other from the Machane Yehuda Market – full of cheerful shoppers. Another picture will show Tel Aviv's skyline with its towers and skyscrapers. I will whisper to them, "Would you believe that the Jewish state is a hub of technology and innovation?" I will also add photographs of orchards, green fields and of Israel's bustling streets, so they can see what we managed to create despite everything.
I will also show them pictures of IDF soldiers, commanders and fighters who protect Israel, so they should be proud of our sons and daughters and be assured that we remember the lesson of Babi Yar: to stand up to our enemies and uncompromisingly fight antisemitism, which spreads more and more darkness in the world each year. To make sure this darkness does turn into another Babi Yair, we must get rid of it now and call on the entire world to take immediate action against Jew-hatred as well.
When I stand at the ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the massacre – as a member of Israel's official delegation – I will hold the photo album of Israel in my hand. I will stand there firmly, with one eye crying over the lives that came to an end and another laughing because 80 years later we are not coming to Babi Yar as mourners alone.
We are coming to remember and stress that the journey of the Jewish people did not end, not even at Babi Yar. As Jewish partisans across Europe sang during World War II, "Our marching steps ring out: 'We are here!'"
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
