Gush Etzion Revisited

Activities II-III: LAMED HEY

Using a map of Israel, draw a map of the area from Jerusalem to Hebron, indicate the main Jewish locations in 1948 and work out a map of the battles, as well as the route of the Lamed Hey. If you can get hold of postcards of the various sites, stick them all round the map. Go now to: LAMED HEY article

III. The LAMED HEY - A Poem

The history of the Lamed Hey can provide a basis for the Yom Hazikaron ceremony. The story will be told in a dramatic form, using several voices and in the first person. For example, a member of the expedition will tell his/her story, while a member of Gush Etzion will relate how he is awaiting impatiently for the convoy to arrive. The story can be interspersed with reflective Israeli songs (eg Lu Yechi, Haderech le- Caesarea). Slides can be shown of the various sites through which the Lamed Hey passed. You can read this poem, written by Haim Guri, in memory of Danny Mass and the Lamed Hey:

To Danny and his Friends - Behold, Our Bodies

by Haim Guri

Behold, our bodies are laid out in a long, long line.
Our faces have altered, death looks from our eyes, we do not breathe.
The last rays of daylight; evening glides down the hill.
Behold, we shall not rise to walk the roads by the light of the far
							sunset.
We shall not love, not pluck the strings with delicate whispered 
							sounds,
Not shout in thegardens when the wind stirs through the wood.

Behold, our mothers are bowed and silent, our firends choking with
							tears.
Bursts of grneades nearby. Firing... And signs presaging storm.
Will you bury us now?
Lo, we shall arise and press forward again as of old, return to life.
We shall march, formidable, resolved to b ring aid,
For all still lives within us and floods our veins.

There was no betrayal, our guns are still strapped to us empty of
							bullets.
They tell of our fight till the end, their barrels are still aflame,
And our blood spattered the path with every step we took.
We did all we could till our last man fell and lay still.
Are we guilty if we were left dead at eventide,
With our lips pressed to the hard, rocky ground?

Behold, how wide and spacious is the night...
How the stars blossom in the dark!
Sweet smell the pines. Now you shall bury us with clods of earth on
							our faces.
Where the barbed wire is nailed, in ditches, here all of us together.
A new day, forget not! Forget not!
For we upheld your name till death closed our eyes.

Behold, our bodies are laid in a long, long line; we do not breathe,
But the wind is now on the hills, the wind breathes,
Morning breaks, and the shining dew sings.
We shall return again, we shall meet, shall return as scarlet flowers.
You will know us at once, our silent "mountain platoon" -
Then we shall blossom, when the last shot has been silenced in the 
							hills.

Conclusion

Following these readings, the participants will be asked whether they can identify with members of the expedition, and their reasons.

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