Words for Shimon Peres
The memorial service and tombstone unveiling marking 30 days since the passing of the late Ninth President of Israel, Shimon Peres, will be held today at the Great Leaders of the Nation’s Plot in Mount Herzl Cemetery in Jerusalem.
The service will be attended by family, friends, and State Leaders and statements will be made by the President of the State of Israel Reuven (Rubi)Rivlin, Prime Minister of the State of Israel Binyamin Netanyahu, and the grandchildren of Shimon Peres
President Shimon Peres Photo: Henry Benjamin
At his family’s request, the late Ninth President’s tombstone will be engraved with the following verse from the Bible: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2) and a quote from David Ben Gurion that describes the spiritual nature of Israel: “The continued spiritual nature and inner strength of Israel in the future will be the main factor in maintaining our security and international position” (David Ben Gurion, Stars and Dust), along with a selection from the poem After My Death by Chaim Nahman Bialik: “One more melody did he have, and now that song is forever lost, forever lost.”
During the ceremony, Peres’ life story will be commemorated, and as is customary at Mount Herzl, the following will be engraved at the end of his tombstone:
Shimon Peres, son of Sarah (Lavit Meltzar) and Isaac (Getzel) Perski Vishnive 02.08.1923, 20 Av 5683, Tel Aviv 28.09.2016, 25 Elul 5776.
Shimon Peres is one of the founders of the State of Israel, a nation he served all of his life. For more than 60 years he served the country in the highest positions, including as the 9th President, the 8th Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Foreign Minister, and Finance Minister.
He helped build infrastructures that enhanced the deterrence and defense capabilities of the country; founded the Dimona reactor and the Israeli Defense Industries; led Israel in its transition into a superpower in technology and innovation; and worked tirelessly to promote peace treaties between Israel and its neighbors and to strengthen coexistence and shared-living within the State of Israel. He was a graduate of the Ben Shemen Youth Village and one of the founders of Kibbutz Alumot. He was a statesman, a lover of poetry, art, and literature, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and a man of vision and action.
If I had ever been given the opportunity, I would liked to have asked him was why, in Heavens name, decades after Aetate Nostra and the Holocaust, there was no public outrage when the Argentine Jewish community were singled out during the dictatorship especially with the all the Jewish-Catholic advocates involved with interfaith relations.
I’m sure President Peres wouldn’t object to me asking him posthumously albeit through anothers intercession.