Families lament ignorance of Lamed Heh's heroic sacrifice <br><br> - Haaretz

Subscribe to Print Edition

Mon., January 14, 2008 Shvat 7, 5768

Israel Time: 11:31 (EST+7)

web haaretz.com

Back to Homepage

Rosner's Domain

Diplomacy

Defense

Jewish World

Opinion

National

Print Edition

Advertising

Books

Arts & Leisure

Business

Real Estate

Easy Start

Travel

Week's End

Anglo File

Last update - 03:45 14/01/2008

Families lament ignorance of Lamed Heh's heroic sacrifice

By Nadav Shragai

Tags: Israel, Lamed Heh, IDF

On the third anniversary of the deaths of the 35 soldiers who were ambushed on their way to the besieged Etzion Bloc on January 14, 1948, prime minister David Ben-Gurion wrote that he did not know "if there was in the Israel Defense Forces or in any army in the world, a platoon of such magnificence of humanity, heroism, innocence and richness of soul as was this platoon." Ben-Gurion said at the time that he believed the 35 - known by the Hebrew letters equivalent to that number, "lamed" and "heh" - should not be commemorated necessarily with stone monuments, but rather "in the true and ongoing will to be as much like them as possible."

On the 60th anniversary of the fall of the Lamed Heh, half of whom were students or scholars at the Hebrew University and the other half military scouts and experienced hikers, their surviving relatives Sunday visited their graves on Mount Herzl. Brothers and sisters, now in their 70s and 80s, said they feared that one of the most heroic stories in Israel's history, by whose values generations of IDF soldiers and commanders were educated, would be forgotten with time.

U

	Advertisement

ri Kushnir, brother of platoon member Tuvya Kushnir, said he found increasing signs that people were ignorant of the story. "At best they remember it as the name of a street or a kibbutz," he said. Kushnir, who edited a literary anthology about the Lamed Hey published recently by the Defense Ministry, said he believes the concept of "purity of arms" is the main legacy of the famed platoon. To this day he strongly believes the version of the platoon's fate that says that an elderly Arab, or as some have it, two women collecting kindling, encountered the unit and reported their presence to nearby villagers, who attacked and massacred them.

Ehud Kutik, whose brother Yaakov was also killed in the battle, wants people to remember that this was a "group of educated young people, many the only children of 'Yekke' families in Jerusalem, who came to the aid of Orthodox mountain pioneers," referring to the residents of the Etzion Bloc settlements between Bethlehem and Hebron. "They fought to the last bullet," he said.

The anthology about the Lamed Heh is one of consensus; from a ballad by the Communist poet Alexander Penn, who was blacklisted by the establishment for many years, to an old poem by Haim Gouri. Representatives from across the religious and political spectrum will take part next week in the march to commemorate the battle: Members of both the left-wing Hashomer Hatzair youth movement and Bnei Akiva, the Orthodox youth movement, will be in attendance, along with a large number of soldiers.

The mixed background of the participants stems from the fact that the settlements of the Etzion Bloc consisted of three Orthodox communities and a Hashomer Hatzair kibbutz. The names of the public figures who will attend, among them Education Minister Yuli Tamir, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, Minister Ami Ayalon and former chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon, may well demonstrate that the story of the Lamed Heh is a kind of "national adhesive."

"It's hard to find signs any more of the kind of spirit the fighters of that time had," Shlomo Doron, 81, whose brother, Holocaust survivor Alexander Lustig, was in the platoon. Doron says he remembers the funeral of the Lamed Heh, which took place in the Etzion Bloc, being secured by the British, who still ruled the country, and the sight of the bodies, which had been mutilated. A year later, the bodies were reinterred on Mount Herzl. "My comfort," Doron said, is the existence of the State of Israel, for which the Lamed Heh gave their lives, and in my son, who bears my brother's name."

Bookmark to del.icio.us


	Iranian rhetoric
	Iranian boats threaten, so the U.S. candidates step up rhetoric.


	A new citizen
	Israeli pianist Daniel Barenboim takes Palestinian citizenship




1.	Families of the Lamed Heh`s may want to recheck and correct any	05:30	\|	avigdor	14/01/08

2.	They were the heroes	11:05	\|	Margie in Tel Aviv	14/01/08

Today Online


	Sources: Barak and settlers reach deal on outpost evacuations
	Responses: 52


	Akiva Eldar: We must strengthen Abbas, not invade Gaza
	Responses: 8


	Haaretz probe: Shin Bet count of civilian deaths in Gaza is low
	Responses: 52


	Zvi Bar'el: The Arabs should stop whining
	Responses: 7


	AJ Congress slams 'Ms'. for rejecting ad on top Israeli women
	Responses: 20

Rosner's Domain

Iranian boats threaten, so the candidates up the rhetoric

The way to war with Iran (WTR)

From 'The year of change' to 'The year of the comeback'?

Rosner's Guest: The Jews are best prepared for a "flat world"

Poll: Who is the candidate that will have better policies for Israel?

More Headlines
11:01 Sources say Lieberman gearing up to quit gov't


11:21 Barak and settlers reach deal on outpost evacuations, sources say


08:20 IAF strike kills three Palestinian militants near Gaza City


11:22 Haaretz probe: Shin Bet count of Gaza civilian deaths is too low


11:23 Internet giant Yahoo! to follow rivals Google, Microsoft to Israel


08:44 Court won't issue back-to-work orders for striking lecturers


07:07 Court to hear petition against segregation of sexes on buses


10:33 Israel, PA to negotiate core issues in Jerusalem meeting Monday


03:45 Families lament ignorance of Lamed Heh's heroic sacrifice


03:50 PM aide: We'll fire rabbis who refuse to recognize legitimate converts