Yad Kennedy

Yad Kennedy brings together a presidential memorial and a forest planted in Kennedy’s honor, with an eternal flame and a sculptural likeness of the president inside the monument.[1] Opened in 1966, it gave Kennedy a distinctive place among American presidents commemorated in Israel: although several presidents had Israeli streets named after them, Kennedy alone was honored with a memorial.[5]

The monument stands on the western summit of Mount Aminadav, above Moshav Aminadav and near Hadassah Ein Kerem, southwest of Jerusalem.[6][3] Road 3877 provides the approach toward Ora, Aminadav, and Yad Kennedy.[6] From the site, views extend over Nahal Sorek, Mount Eitan, and Tel Tzova; the monument also lies on the route toward Aminadav Forest.[7]

The surrounding landscape is integral to the memorial’s design: narrow openings between the columns frame views of the Jerusalem hills from the shaded hall.[2] Trees planted around the building extend the commemoration beyond the enclosed memorial space.[1]

Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 prompted the Jewish National Fund to raise substantial funds among American Jews for a new forest and memorial west of Jerusalem, near what was then the Jordanian border.[2] Kennedy had been admired by American Jews and Israeli leaders, and the project commemorated him in the Jerusalem hills three years after his death.[2]

Max Bressler, president of the Jewish National Fund and a former president of the Zionist Organization of America, conceived and initiated the Kennedy Peace Forest and Monument project.[8] By 1965, ZOA districts were supporting the undertaking as part of their work on behalf of the JNF.[8] Bressler died before the dedication, which became a major event in the organization’s activities during 1966.[9]

Architect David Resnick won a limited competition to design the monument.[2] Also known as David Reznik, he had immigrated to Israel from Brazil in 1949 and lived in Jerusalem for most of his life, designing much of his work in the capital.[10] Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1923, he worked with Ze’ev Rechter and Heinz Rau before establishing a private practice in 1958.[11]

Prime Minister Levi Eshkol inaugurated Yad Kennedy on July 4, 1966, the anniversary of American independence.[2] The dedication activities for the Kennedy Peace Forest and Monument extended over July 4–5, with JNF president Herman L. Weisman presiding and a large ZOA delegation participating.[9] Robert Kennedy was invited to the dedication but did not attend.[2] Film footage of the July 4 ceremony also survives.[12]

The memorial became a destination for organized visits soon after it opened. A 1968 University Study Mission itinerary included a visit to the John F. Kennedy Memorial, while a photograph from 1976 shows young Israelis posing in front of the monument.[13][5]

Tree planting has remained part of the site’s commemorative role. Senator Edward Kennedy and his wife planted a tree in an adjacent plot during the 1966 dedication activities.[2] On September 4, 1977, American author Alex Haley planted a tree in the Kennedy Memorial Forest while visiting Israel to become an Honorary Fellow of Hebrew University.[4] At the ceremony, he called Israel “the root of all roots” and spoke about its significance to the three major monotheistic faiths.[4] He also recalled that, as a boy in the American South, he had known of the Sea of Galilee before hearing of the Mississippi River.[4] Members of the Kennedy family, U.S. presidents, and governors have likewise planted trees in the forest surrounding the memorial.[3]

The memorial’s defining form is a tree stump, evoking Kennedy’s life cut short at the age of 46.[2] Its 51 U.S.-representative columns stand for the 50 states and the District of Columbia.[1] The combination of a felled-tree image and a surrounding living forest connects the building’s commemorative symbolism directly to its setting.[2]

Resnick initially worried that the tree-stump idea might be too simple, and developed the visitor’s approach as an important part of the design.[2] The monument could be recognized as a landmark from a distance, but its full form would emerge only when visitors reached the plaza.[2] This approach made the transition from landscape to building part of the experience of arrival.[2]

The elliptical plaza has alternating light and dark strips of granolithic paving.[2] These strips rise gradually to become the columns and dark window openings of the memorial hall, giving the impression that the building grows out of the plaza.[2] Inside, the largely empty hall contains a low concrete partition bearing an ornament by artist Dov Feigin and a bronze relief of Kennedy’s face.[2]

A memorial lamp burns at the center beneath a skylight intended to suggest smoke rising toward the sky.[2] The flame and Kennedy’s likeness form the principal commemorative elements within the hall.[1][2] Around them, narrow floor-to-ceiling windows alternate with the columns, creating interrupted views of the Jerusalem hills rather than a continuous panorama.[2]

Resnick’s work on Yad Kennedy reflects the influence of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.[14] Resnick began working in Niemeyer’s office as a student in 1944 and maintained a close professional and personal relationship with him for decades.[14] The memorial uses concrete in a lighter, more open manner than the heavy, dark memorial architecture associated with other Israeli projects of its period, including the memorials at Nitzanim and Giv’at HaTahmoshet.[2] Resnick later received the Israel Prize in architecture in 1995.[11]

The surrounding Aminadav Forest covers approximately 7,000 dunams and contains walking and cycling trails, springs, antiquities sites, and viewpoints.[15] A JNF information booth has also served visitors beside the monument.[7] In July 2026, improvements to the forest’s visitor area had been completed, while conservation and restoration work on Yad Kennedy itself was expected to begin in the near future.[15]