* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
Ruchama Hershkovitz, mother of Yossi Hershkovitz, the highly esteemed principal of a Jerusalem high school who fell in battle in Gaza, told me that she received the following note this week:
“Ruchama,” her friend wrote, “I want to share an experience we had last week. Your husband Yaakov led a session of “Zikaron Ba’Salon” (a social initiative of informal gatherings in private homes on Holocaust Remembrance Day) speaking about his parents’ Holocaust experience. People from across the spectrum of Israeli society were in attendance that evening.
It was a very moving presentation. Yaakov spoke about the self-sacrifice and faith of his mother, who would give up her nightly cup of diluted coffee in the camps, so that she that could use it to fulfill the mitzvah of “Netilat Yadayim”—washing her hands—in the morning. His presentation was prepared by Yossi, who researched the Holocaust and was very close to this grandmother Chaya, of blessed memory.
Yaakov’s parents survived the Holocaust, married, and made aliyah to Israel. At the end of the evening, Yaakov showed the audience their ketubah and told how this couple, who had held onto their faith under horrific circumstances, had produced 254 descendants, including 43 great-grandchildren.
At the conclusion of Yaakov’s presentation, a young girl approached him and said: “I’m planning to get married in a month and had no intention of marrying in accordance with Jewish law. But now that I’ve heard about your mother and all that she endured, I’ve changed my mind and decided to get married as she did, with a ketubah.” Her mother then told Yaakov: “I’ve been dealing with this issue for several months in our home and it was very painful. And now, within an hour and a half, you solved this problem for me.”
Ruchama summarized this experience with these touching words: “My husband Yaakov’s mother survived the Holocaust and passed away. Our son, Yossi fell in the war. And now a new couple will establish another Jewish home - in their merit.”
Besorot Tovot.
