Each year on Memorial Day, a Jewish cultural hub in Jerusalem brings together animators with personal stories of remembrance about fallen IDF soldiers and victims of terrorism.
Although the artistic memorialization project has existed for over a decade, this year, Beit Avi Chai’s “A Face. The Day. A Memorial” is more special than it ever has been.
As bereaved families are unable to visit cemeteries where their loved ones are buried, due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country, even remembrance will have to be conducted using digital means.
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The Music of His Life by Inbal Ochayon for Beit Avi Chai
(Photo: Inbal Ochayon for Beit Avi Chai )
The short-animated films eternalize moments in a person’s life as told by their loved ones. Bereaved families meet with the animators in order to bring to live shards of memory using state-of-the-art animation technology.
Ynetnews brings you two of the stories revived through animation this year. The first one is the story of Tzachi Itach, who fell at Beaufort Castle and was the last IDF soldier to have died in Lebanon before Israel pulled all its forces out of the country in 2000.
The second is the story of Ehud and Chagai Gordon, twins who were killed only 13 days apart in the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
“The Music of His Life” by Inbal Ochayon tells the story of Tzachi, who from age six expressed his love of music and proved to be a gifted musician.
As a young boy he volunteered to play at musical events, including school and city ceremonies. As he grew older, he volunteered to play at events for families in need.
Later on, as a combat soldier during Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, he always brought his keyboard to the military post and on many occasions played for children in Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel, who would spend many days in bomb shelters.
One Friday, Tzachi’s mother tried to call his cell phone. When he did not answer, she left him a voice message with one of Tzachi’s favorite songs playing on the radio. After his death, when his family received his cellphone, they found that the song was recorded exactly at the moment of his death.
"All About Honey" by Mariana Raskin tells the story of Ehud and Chagai Gordon, who were killed only 13 days apart during The Battle of the Chinese Farm in October of 1973, between the Egyptian Army and the Israel Defense Forces, as part of the Yom Kippur War.
When Ehud and Chagai were young they showed an interest in bees. They lived in Shadmot Devorah, a moshav in northern Israel, and when they were 18 months old, Chagai went out into the yard naked, pushed his foot into one of the hives and was badly stung.
The incident made Chagai feel that he was immune to bee stings. He turned his love for bees into a profession and became a beekeeper.
His twin brother Ehud, specialized in technology and innovations, but still retained his love of bees. Alongside his work as a developer for Elta, he also worked as a beekeeper and even combined his two loves when he developed a new technology that revolutionized beekeeping.
With the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, Ehud and Chagai were called up to the same unit, in the same military area in Sinai, and were killed 13 days apart.
The project is headed by: Yotvat Fireizen-Weil and Liran Lipschitz / Artistic accompaniment: Osi Wald. The new films will be available on Yom Hazikaron at: http://www.bac.org.il/memory.