In the civic heart of Jerusalem, along Ruppin Boulevard near the state institutions, a ceremony was held this week where the names of fallen Jerusalem soldiers were added to the Iron Swords memorial. The event intertwined the personal grief of bereaved families with the collective memory of an entire city. Among the participants were Mayor Moshe Lion, the municipality’s director-general Ariela Regouan, deputy mayors, city council members, and high school students – underscoring that remembrance is not only a duty of the past, but also a commitment for the next generation.
Jerusalem’s duty of remembrance
Since the last Memorial Day, new families in Jerusalem have been touched by loss. The ceremony commemorated Captain Ido Wolloch, Sergeant Yosef Yehuda Chiraq, Staff Sergeant (Res.) Noam Shemesh, First Sergeant Neve Leshem, Sergeant Moshe Nissim Peresh, First Sergeant Noam Aharon Masgedian, First Sergeant Meir Shimon Amar, and Lieutenant Colonel (Res.) Yitzhak Haroush, who was killed in the Allenby Crossing attack. Their names were inscribed in stone, weaving their stories into the city’s memory.
Mayor Moshe Lion said at the ceremony: “This is a day of both pain and pride. Jerusalem bows its head and carries its heroes’ names with gratitude. Behind every name lies a world entire, and a city that promises to remember and continue their path.” His words reflected the tension between personal loss and national duty.
The presence of Jerusalem’s high school students emphasized the responsibility to pass on remembrance to the younger generation – not as a hollow ritual but as part of the city’s living identity, where struggle and memory are inseparable.
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The gathering brought together city leaders, grieving families, and the education system, turning the memorial into a space of human encounter where Jerusalem’s collective resilience was made tangible.
The ceremony at Ruppin Boulevard once again showed that the city’s memorials are not only markers of loss but pillars of its social fabric. Each added name builds a bridge between painful past and enduring present, between private mourning and shared resolve.
