It represents a human hand ("yad"), and is used to point to the place in the Torah scroll which is being read.
"yad" is the Hebrew name for yad. It's spelled יד and it simply means "hand".
Yad Mordechai's population is 710.
Yad Vashem was created in 1953.
The population of Yad Rambam is 1,028.
Yad L'Achim was created in 1950.
The population of Yad Binyamin is 3,200.
Yad Binyamin was created in 1962.
Yad Yisroel was created in 1990.
Yad Natan was created in 1953.
Yad Hana was created in 1950.
Yad Sarah was created in 1976.
Yad HaShmona was created in 1971.