An especially emotional event took place Wednesday on April 30, at Jerusalem’s military cemetery of Mount Herzl: The Defense Ministry laid the cornerstone for a National Memorial Hall for Israel’s Fallen Soldiers. The edifice will be 18 meters (some 20 yards) in height and built in the shape of a torch; in its center an eternal flame will burn. The names of all the fallen soldiers will be engraved in the magnificent hall, and memorial candles will be lit on the anniversary of each, next to his name.

It is surprising that a country like Israel, which sanctifies the memory of its fallen soldiers, still does not have one monument to commemorate all its military casualties. True, it has innumerable, specific sites for IDF (Israel Defense Forces) brigades, for the fighters of the various underground movements, and for specific battles. But there isn't one single site to assemble the names of all the fallen.

All of Israel’s distinguished personages gathered for the cornerstone ceremony. President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon, Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and other notables were there, alongside the representatives of the bereavement organizations. “Here, in this place,” said Ya’alon, “a site will arise in a few years that will be a central ‘memorial house,’ … a house for communal pain.” It is no coincidence that Ya’alon and others avoided citing an exact date for completion of the memorial hall.

The government began working on a national memorial site back in the early 1980s; the plan was to construct it on Mount Eitan, northwest of Jerusalem. Fundraising difficulties and the opposition of green groups prevented the project’s advancement until the plan was finally shelved. In April 2010, Defense Ministry representatives announced that on the eve of the Remembrance Day for the Fallen, then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak would officially announce the establishment of a national memorial hall. A year later it was publicized that the Defense Ministry had submitted the plans for the hall to Jerusalem’s municipality, including special memorial stones from Switzerland that would be inserted by a sophisticated robot. It was estimated that the hall would be opened to the public in 2013, but that did not happen.