Remember Alex Singer

April 18, 2010 - 9:22 PM by

The city is very quiet right now, just about two hours after Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, began with a one-minute siren at eight o’clock pm. There’s something almost comforting in knowing that many people are doing the same thing right now, watching documentaries about those who have fallen in Israel’s 62 years of existence. And yet, as you listen to the family members — the widows, siblings, parents and children of those who died — you know that a very wide gulf exists between you and those who have lost someone in a war, in a terrorist attack, in an event that had tragic circumstances.

One of the few families I know personally that has experienced this kind of tragedy is the Singer family, Max and Suzanne, and their sons, Saul, Daniel and Benjy, whose son and brother, Alex, was killed on September 15, 1987 in southern Lebanon. Alex was a very gifted guy, a Cornell graduate, a former gymnast, an artist, a thinker. I never knew him; he was serving as an officer in the paratroops when I was in college. But like many families seeking to create a lasting remembrance of their loved one, the Singers have created The Alex Singer Project, a non-profit organization that seeks to continue the work that Alex was doing when he was alive.

When reading Alex’s letters or looking at his art, both of which are in video and book format, you gain a sense of this person, who he was, and who he would have been. I’ll let Alex’s words and art tell you who he was; there are photos and letters as well, and even directions to his grave on Mount Herzl.

May his memory be a blessing.

Tags: • Category: General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life 

Comments

3 Comments on Remember Alex Singer

  1. Yom HaZikaron « Pragmatic Attic on Tue, Apr 20th 2010 2:14 AM

    2. [...] Remember Alex Singer from Israelity [...]

  2. Rabbi Laurence Edwards on Wed, Apr 21st 2010 6:23 PM

    3. Thank you, Jessica. Alex was one of the truly outstanding individuals I was privileged to know during my years at Cornell Hillel. I have read his poetry and meditated at his grave with students from the Bronfman Youth Fellows. His memory remains a blessing, always.

  3. John B. Spitzer on Wed, Jul 21st 2010 1:44 AM

    4. I came across Alex’s book during my recent first trip to Israel. The combination of love for life, love for the country, love of the land, talent, and sense of humor, are, together, overpowering. His intensity, purposefulness, drive, inner strength, and balance profoundly challenge all who read his work. May his memory be for a blessing.

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