Appropos “Survivors.”  One thing that I remember most from the refugees I encountered when I was growing up was the need for a home.  The idea of of a homeland – a place of safety – a place that could be defended – was always in the air.  And Israel was the ideal – a place to go to if you need to, a place that provides you with a safety net.  

How would they feel on this memorial day I wonder – when there is the growing sense that the country has not been protecting its inhabitants, when the same dangers of the old world have returned.   Pogroms, hatred, shame…

We hung the flag on our balcony, and I thought of all the people we have lost in Israel, all the soldiers, all the children, all the people who came to this country to be protected from evil.