Sunday morning we said farewell to Yerushalayim. After davening and breakfast, we moved our suitcases onto the bottom of the bus with great speed. Our first stop was Latrun, which is a highly recommended place to visit. Latrun is a place that is emotional as it serves is a commemoration to soldiers who died defending Israel. Latrun is educational as it teaches the history of Israel and the armored corps. Latrun is fun since you can climb real tanks.
Our Latrun Tour Guide was John, who serves in the Armored Corps and lives in the Christian section of the Old City. John told us to be observant as we walked around Latrun, since everything has a symbolic reason connected to the armored corps. One example is the 36 steps to walk up to Latrun. These 36 steps are representative of the 36 steps that are by the Chulda gate to enter the Temple.
We will begin with the history. Laturn was originally a prison that was built by the British under the British Mandate. Many Jews who were part of the Hagana, the illegal Jewish defense force that pre-dated the IDF, were arrested. Rivka Kulek’s grandfather, Tzvi Chai Kedmi-Mizrachi of blessed memory was one of such men. We hoped to find him in the data base, but that portion of the museum is being updated.
Laturn was then taken over by the Jordanians after the War of Independence. The Israeli government understood in 1967 that they could not re-take Yerushalayim without Latrun. Amazingly when they came in 1967, the Jordanians had already fled Latrun. In 1986 Latrun became the site where the soldiers have their induction ceremonies, which were originally held on Masada. Moshe Green a retired military officer is instrumental in this move and becomes the 2nd head of Latrun.
Latrun is a solemn site as there is a large memorial wall with all the names of soldiers who died in defense of the state of Israel. The names are listed by war. Each name is in alphabetical order and names are listed without rank. This shows that all are equal. Every life that defends Israel is a precious one. The colors of the memorial are symbolic as well. Names are etched in black, as black is a color of the armored corps. The stone is a silver color, since it symbolizes that Israel is not handed to us on a silver platter. We spent time at the Wall in Names in remembrance and reflected that because of this wall, we can safely visit Israel.
Now, we had some fun climbing on tanks. First we learned about how tanks work. A tank is dependent on its armor that is reinforced steel, its fire power and mobility. At Latrun there is a split tank that allows you to understand how the tank works. We viewed and climbed on many different types of tanks from different years. The newest tank is the Merkava, which is a tank exclusively designed and constructed in Israel for the IDF armored corps.
In the museum we enjoyed a tour of the shul, where we learned that every army base by law must have a synagogue. This one is very special. We watched an amazing movie about the armored corps. There is an amazing 3D virtual exhibit that shows a tank in action. All in all it was an action packed morning full of activity and reflection.