Peres tells IDF orphans 'you are worthy of pride'
Two months after recognizing Captain Asaf Ramon as outstanding soldier in IAF pilots' course graduation, President Peres speaks at customary ceremony for IDF orphans celebrating Bar-Mitzvah. ‘Spirit of parent who fell lives on in you,’ says Peres to youngsters
“This is a very emotional day for all of us. One of the best of our sons fell, son of one of the greats among us. We feel united and proud. Another great family joins the population that sits here today,” said President Shimon Peres Monday at the Bar-Mitzvah ceremony for IDF orphans, which is held every year at the President’s Residence.
Some 50 IDF orphans attended the emotional ceremony, but the absence of one of the community's members, 12-year-old Noa Ramon, Captain Asaf Ramon’s younger sister, was particularly prominent. Peres will attend Ramon's funeral later Monday, where he will eulogize the fallen pilot.
Peres and the orphans (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
In his speech, Peres appealed to the orphans: “You are the sons and daughters of those who sacrificed their lives for the country in order to save lives – all of our lives – in order to build a one-of-a-kind country, the State of Israel. You grew up in homes that are familiar with pain and that are worthy of pride. You grew up wrapped in love and worry all at once, embraced by the entire nation.
“In each and every one of you, the spirit of your fallen parent lives on,” said Peres.
Alon Zohar, whose father Amir, a company commander in the Engineering Corps, was killed during reserve duty in clashes near Jericho nine years ago, gave a speech: “A few days before you died, I turned four years old, and you took me to nursery school like you did every day.
Peres with Asaf Ramon two months ago (Photo: Haim Hornstein)
"Three days later, we woke up to a different morning. What can a four-year-old boy understand or know? I stayed with my dad, but he wasn’t alive. I have grown up since and people tell me that I am very much like you. And this is good, because you are inside me.
“I wish you could see me now. I have so much to tell you, but more than anything I want to run to hug you, for you to lift me up onto your shoulders like you did when I was little.”
'Absence greater today'
In a special article he wrote for Ynet in honor of becoming a Bar-Mitzvah, Alon Zohar wrote, “It is difficult to describe in words what it’s like to grow up without a dad. The immense absence becomes sharper today in reaching adolescence and becoming Bar-Mitzvah.”At the end of the ceremony, the president and the children had their customary picture taken in the yard of the President’s Residence.
The president encouraged the children with these final words, “Try to be the creators of a good society, hard-working and tolerant at once. Adopt mutual consideration (for one another) and make certain to help your fellow man and the weak. Steer clear of wanton temptations, the dangers of the street and violence. Be generous of heart, courteous, and broad-minded.”
