“Green memorial candles.” Planting forests as environmental memorials

The Defenders Forest and the Martyrs Forest were the two largest forest commemoration projects of the early statehood years, recognising the urgent necessity for public remembrance of the victims of two major events in the developing Jewish-Israeli collective memory. This chapter investigates the distinct afterlives of these memorial initiatives, tracing their impact on the social and material aspects of memory culture during the past 75 years. Examining the early stages of their creation reveals examples of blurred boundaries between individual motivations to honour the deceased and collective expressions of ideology facilitated by the institutional framework of JNF donations. Forests are examined as environmental memorials; the symbolism of nature employed in their promotional narratives is reviewed, revealing both universal and Israel-specific symbolic motifs of green commemorations. Further, trees are approached not merely as symbolic representations but as living entities, highlighting the challenges involved in using organic matter for memorial purposes. Examining the two forests allows for reflections on the possibilities that environmental memorials provide in their lifespan as organic-memorial assemblages.