"Since you left, a lot has changed here": Dedi Perlmutter writes about his late brother Amiram

Ami, "since you left, a lot has changed here" – indeed, almost 50 years since you left and did not return from that difficult and cursed war. 50 years is not a short time, and surely you wonder if the intensity of the pain, the longing fades and the memory fades. So the power only increases over the years, sharpens and goes deeper and deeper into the soul.

Chaya, whom you have never met, took me after we met a few months after your death to visit her parents, where I met her father, a brother who died in the War of Independence. I wanted to ask about the pain and longing, but there was no need – for him it was as if 25 years had not passed, the pain and longing were etched on his face. For me it was a big shock, I hoped that the pain and longing would diminish even a little. Dad, in his last years was no longer sharp, precise as you knew him.

He already forgot many things but he always remembered you, and mother, already 91 years old, mumbled your name in her last breaths. Such a memory is forever
The 20 years we were together, sharing a room and taking me with you almost everywhere you went, those are good memories for me. When the memories of the childhood and youth that we share pass through my mind, they bring a smile to my lips until the tears choke my throat and the smile disappears.

Dedi Perlmutter (Photo: Fini Hamo)

"Since you left, a lot has changed here." Lior and I are already almost grandfather's age, we have done quite a few things. Children and grandchildren were born, and it is still difficult for me to tell them about you. They brought us a lot of joy, and they also brought a smile to Mom and Dad Rav's face. "Since you left, a lot has changed here. This is a time of madness, endless turmoil." Unfortunately, the state of Israel, that you and many others, went to a terrible war without asking questions and did not return, is not something I am happy to tell you about. You did what was assigned to you out of righteousness, but you did not like your military service. You had a free spirit, and you loved life and wanted peace for everyone.

Unfortunately, the principle of equality, the mutual guarantee, the pursuit of unity and the aspiration for peace, and above all the training between the people and the government, began to be undermined even then, but are suffering mortal blows today. I hope that this day of remembrance will give a wake-up call to change direction. ,

With love, pain and longing, always your brother,
Daddy