Jewish Heroes and Heroines

↑ Motek ↓

Fri, Aug 03 2007, 4:37 pm

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For me, the most remarkable aspect of Sarah Nachshon's very remarkable life is the way in which her "why," the mission to rebuild the Jewish community of Hebron, has enabled her to keep a smile on her face throughout "whats" that would have brought most of us to our knees.

While I heard her story, I could not help but imagine myself in the situations she described. I imagined myself pregnant, sharing one room with seven children, living without electricity, and carrying twenty-five liter jerry cans of water long distances in order to fill my baby's bottle.

I don't think I would have lasted more than an hourI don't think I would have lasted more than an hour or two. In contrast, Sarah Nachshon's absolute clarity of purpose and unwavering sense of mission have enabled her to repeatedly sacrifice her own personal needs with love and even enthusiasm. Her rare clarity, together with her tremendous humility, have caused many admirers to refer to her as "a modern-day Sarah, our Matriarch."

...
In 1968, the Nachshons and their four young children moved with this group of activists into an Arab-owned hotel inside Hebron. Nachshon recalls, "An army official came to meet with our group, and told us that we were a big pain in his neck. But he told us that because the government feared for our safety, they had reluctantly agreed that a group of seven families and fifteen yeshiva students could stay in Hebron if we would move into an army compound overlooking the city.

"They thought that our dream to live in Hebron would die""They assumed that we would not be able to tolerate the terrible conditions for long - living in one room with all of our children, only one kitchen for all of us to share, and with the only bathrooms outside. The army saw us with our little children and thought that within a few weeks we would give up and leave. They thought that our dream to live in Hebron would die right then and there."

...
In 1980, she and her children joined a group of fifteen other mothers and thirty children who cut through barbed wire and defied government orders by entering the abandoned Jewish hospital Beit Hadassah in Hebron. The army and government had assumed that if they prevented the husbands from entering Beit Hadassah, the women would not be able to make it on their own. But weeks turned into months and not only were the women not leaving – but they succeeded in establishing a school within the building, and other programs to keep the children occupied and happy. They lived without electricity, running water, and in substandard conditions, forbidden to leave the building lest the army prevent them from reentering. But they weren't budging. These women were stronger than anyone could have imagined.

read the entire article:
http://www.chabad.org/theJewis.....43887

↑ Motek ↓

Wed, Aug 15 2007, 9:03 pm

someone posted this in the thread about Nachshon Wachsman hy'd

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Towards the end of HS they had Esther Wachsman come speak in school. She is one of the most, if not the most unbelievable, moving speakers I have ever heard... and obviously that is not what her original calling in life was. The principal used to chase speakers off the stage (not literally) after their allotted time if they were just parve. Esther spoke for 2 2/1-3 hrs and had everyone spellbound - the principal let her speak a lot more than her allotted time. And the assistant principal- a man - was crying like a baby. And I never saw that before. I so wish I had taped it.
For a person to have such emunah and dedication - wow! I really need to work on my emunah and religiousity and so wish I could be in regular touch with her (though I am too shy anyway). I live pretty close to her... or relatively at least. She is really an amazing person. Hey it isn't everyone that Hashem gives a test comparible to akeidat yitzchak (losing a son). She must be very special.

↑ Motek ↓

Thu, Nov 15 2007, 6:14 pm

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... Our excited hostess declared, "We are honored today to host Mrs. Avital Sharansky, the woman who, along with her husband, defeated the Soviet Union. This is the couple who single-handedly defeated Communism!" ...

Avital described what it was like growing up in a small village in Siberia, not even knowing she was Jewish until her older brother had to fill in his nationality on his Soviet identity card when he turned 16. Avital's parents wanted him to take advantage of their connections with the local Communist officials and write that he was Russian, but he told them, "No, I am a Jew!" And young Avital, only 14 years old, stood beside him and piped in, "Yes, and I am a Jew too!" even though Avital did not even know what a Jew was.

Very slowly, over the next few years, Avital began questioning atheism, despite the first Soviet astronaut's mocking assurance to the world in the late 1960s: "I went up into the heavens, and there definitely wasn't anybody up there."

... A few weeks later, some of Avital's friends told her in hushed voices that they had found an elderly man who, would you believe it, still remembered the Hebrew alphabet! So she went with her friends to the apartment of this man who lived right outside of Moscow, and once inside they pulled down all the curtains and put the chain on the door.

The man taught them the Hebrew letters and he explained to them, "These are the letters with which the Holy One created the Universe." Avital told us, "At that moment, it was as though half of the Soviet Union simply collapsed. This man was telling us that God actually did exist, and not only that, that He created the world in a language that it was illegal to even study in the Soviet Union." Avital understood that learning Hebrew was the way to free herself from the lies, emptiness, and hypocrisy of Soviet society.

Avital returned several times to this old man to learn more Hebrew, and she also began visiting the Moscow synagogue on Shabbat. The first time Avital went to the synagogue was a gray, snowy, awful October morning in 1973, but when she arrived, she was amazed to discover hundreds of young people standing outside the synagogue discussing something with a lot of excitement.

... Avital was in awe of all these young people who were so unafraid, who just kept on talking and laughing when the KGB came to photograph them. She had never seen anybody like these people in her whole life, and she sensed that this was what Israelis were like as well. She envisioned a country filled with brave people like her new companions, grasping a Bible in one hand, and a hoe in the other.

One Saturday morning outside of the Moscow synagogue, Avital met her future husband for the first time. Within several weeks they were engaged. They married the night before Avital left on a plane for Israel, not long before Natan was sent to prison for the next decade.

From Israel, Avital traveled to many countries, met with world leaders, was interviewed by the press, and coordinated demonstrations. She and her husband were separated for nine years -- nine years during which Avital fought tirelessly for Natan's release from prison.

http://www.aish.com/jewishissu.....n.asp

↑ Motek

Sat, Feb 09 2008, 10:10 pm

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Gisella Perl was a Jewish gynecologist who lived in Sighet, Hungary until 1944 when the Nazis invaded Hungary and deported its Jewish population.

She was deported along with her family to Auschwitz concentration camp where she lost both her husband and only son, as well as her extended family and parents. She was given the task of working as a doctor within the camp, helping the inmates through their disease and discomfort, which she had to do without the bare necessities: antiseptic, clean wipes, even running water.

She is most famous, however, for saving the lives of hundreds of mothers by aborting their pregnancies, as pregnant mothers were often beaten and killed or used by Dr. Josef Mengele for vivisections.

After leaving Bergen-Belsen, her final destination, she found out both her husband and son had died. She tried to poison herself and was sent to recuperate in a convent in France until 1947. Upon her arrival in New York (March 1947), she was interrogated upon suspicion of being of assistance to the Nazi doctors of Auschwitz in carrying out human rights abuses. She was finally granted citizenship in 1951. She began work as a gynecologist in New York's Mount Sinai Hospital and delivered around 3000 babies in New York alone, becoming an expert in infetility treatments.

In June 1948, she published the story of her life in Auschwitz, detailing the horrors she encountered there (being an inmate doctor). She was later reunited with her daughter, Gabriella Krauss Blattman, who she managed to hide during the war, and they both moved to live in Herzliya, Israel.