You must have heard of the horrific murder in the Florentine neighborhood of Tel Aviv, during which an officer and two detectives forced an unarmed man and shot him to death without trial.
This happened exactly this week 80 years ago, when the British Jeffrey Morton murdered the late Avraham Stern, "Yair", the founder of the Lehi underground, in cold blood.
Yair was buried secretly, accompanied only by his immediate family.
The following nights the underground fighters would secretly come to pay their respects to their commander.
Since then, for 80 years, the number of visitors on the anniversary of the murder has only increased.
Unlike other leaders, significant as they may be, who sometimes need to ask for a Kaddish minyan near their grave, Yair has the opposite situation: every year hundreds of people, old and young, members of the warrior family and those who did not know her come to the small cemetery.
Tomorrow - the anniversary of the murder - there will probably be more than a thousand of them, despite the corona and the restrictions, despite the extreme cold, despite everything.
I know this underground well. My grandfather, peace be upon him, Israel Eldad, took over its leadership, along with Yitzhak Shamir and Natan Yellin-Mor, after the assassination of Yair. I know this "despite everything", everything is so typical of her. It's in the DNA of its warriors, of their descendants, and of those who were captivated by its uncompromising doctrine. I know the rainmen who come to visit my grandfather's grave and Yair's grave. Begins to sing the anthem, that is, the song written and composed by Yair, “Unknown Soldiers.” Then there is no back that does not stand up straight, no heart that does not vibrate at the sound of the words and melody so familiar.
And so it is to this day. Although the British, as well as the people of the organized community, who did not hide their joy when those shots were fired at the roof on Mizrahi B. Street, believed with all their hearts that the murder actually sealed the Lehi underground - to this day Yair's essence prevents processes Like then, when the 18 principles of the resurrection he formulated took boys and girls to the streets, to fight with almost bare hands in the British Empire and expel it from the country. Because it is a foreign body. Because its place is not here.
As mentioned, Yair's teachings were uncompromising, as Sarah Rona Keinan (in whom the spirit of the Lehi also flows): "Do not give in to this idea, that it is impossible because it is impossible." Yair also knew that he would not last long. He walked around with a small suitcase with a field bed, persecuted, lonely and stubborn. He sacrificed his life knowingly for the sake of the kingdom of Israel. Of this collection of poems, my grandfather dedicated to Yair's son, also named Yair, after his father, who was born after the murder.
"When you get to see the Messiah King of Israel ascending the Temple Mount, come before him, bow your head respectfully, give him a book of songs of your father and also say: King of the Messiah! Here is the book of songs sent to you by Abba, Yair. "Very much. He gave you both his songs and his life, King of the Messiah of Israel. Respect my father Yair.
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