From the Liveblog of
Sunday, April 23, 2023
Iconic Jerusalem windmill commemorates 1873 death of Jew who was guarding it
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The sails of Jerusalem’s iconic Montefiore Windmill are placed in a mourning position to commemorate 150 years since the killing of Aaron Hershler, a young Orthodox Jewish man who was reported to have been guarding the site during an attack.
On the night of January 1, 1873, Hershler, 23, a resident of the Mishkenot Sha’ananim neighborhood, was guarding the windmill when a group of Muslims from Silwan tried to carry out a robbery, according to family testimonies.
Hershler is thought to have chased after the suspects after they had broken into homes in the neighborhood, when he was shot 12 times. He was taken to a hospital where he died five days later.
He is recognized by Israeli authorities as one of the first who fell in service to the country — which was formally established 75 years later — and is buried at the civilian cemetery atop the Mount of Olives.
The company that manages the windmill, JLM TIM, has set the sails in a mourning position (with the bottom sail pointing down and angled to the right) ahead of Israel’s Memorial Day, set to begin tomorrow night. There are four main positions of windmill sails: regular halt, long-term shutdown, joy, and mourning.
“We were surprised to discover that the first fallen of Israel was a Haredi Jew who was killed during the defense of Jerusalem in general, and the windmill in particular, and we decided to commemorate him at the place where he fell in a special and original way, to salute the personal price when he sacrificed his life for the sake of the country,” says the CEO of JLM TIM, Yossi Greiber.
