Niot was a soldier in the Golani Brigade when he died in a diving accident ten years ago. The piece appears in the Jewish Review of Books for Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day.
The ninth day of Tevet this year would have been Niot’s 30th birthday. We lost him when he was 20; our last night with him was the Seder. The fog descended three days later, on Friday morning, a day after his diving accident in Eilat, when the doctors at the hospital told us that we had lost him. On Shabbat, his death was officially certified, and we signed the documents to allow his organs to be donated. His funeral took place on Sunday, early afternoon, the eve of the last day of the holiday. When he died, he was a soldier, so two weeks later we found ourselves again at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl, marking our first Yom HaZikaron as bereaved parents. … continue reading at The Jewish Review of Books
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Niot’s memory helps Israeli teenagers with learning difficulties through The Niot Project .
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Previous meditaitons about Niot:
The Anemone’s Smile
Meditation: A flower remind me of my son’s smile, nine years after his death.
Black Hole
Meditation: Remembering my son Niot z”l
Four Waterfalls, One Hidden
Meditation: Seven years without my son, Niot.
Third Day of Spring
Meditation: Planting flowers at my son’s grave.
The Day of His Birth
Meditation: On the death of my son.
A Him to him
Meditation: A letter to Bach on the loss of my son.
Other Nights
Meditation: The Seder, chamber music, and the death of my son.
Fireflies
Meditation: Mourning my son, four years later
Desertion
Meditation: When a child dies, he becomes incessantly present.
Grasping the Void
Meditation: Five years without my son