At home
By Jonathan's Bar Mitzvah, Luba had obtained a driving license. Another life has begun.
In 2001, the Arabs here were not so much throwing stones as shooting.
Under our settlement, below, on the main road, people were killed four times by shots from a passing car.
People from the settlement, including us, went to the demonstration, We did not let cars with Arabic numbers pass. The army immediately set up a post on the road and the shooting stopped.
In the same year, 2001, I spent a month in the army. Not far from us, in Har Gilo, was the base where I served. One day, I arrived home for few hours. And in the evening Luba took me back. It was necessary to go through the Arab village named Valaje. At first, everything seemed to be fine. We arrived to Har Gilo, Luba dropped me off at the gate. And she went back.
Three minutes later I heard a burst from the darkness, and then a real shootout from many automatic weapons. I was sure that the first turn was shooting at Luba. I grabbed my M-16 weapon and ran to the gate. I thought that I would skip through the gate and just run along the road to Luba.
Fortunately for me - her car was standing near the main gate of Har Gilo - and she was in the car. It turned out that the soldier at the crossroad told her to turn back. She did not want to listen to him - just to get home. And under the bullets overhead, the soldiers at the post turned her car back.
And so I ran to the gate - and then Luba - as if nothing had happened - calmness itself, does not understand why I was so worried. Simplicity and tranquility. It was something incredible.
I remember her at that moment when I thought I had lost her and now I got it back.
I started working in Kyiv at the invitation of Shlomo Neeman, who was the messenger of the Jewish Self-Identification agency, and Luba was most of thr time with me. She helped, edited my articles, hosted on Saturdays...
When we first arrived and had to go through border control, Luba felt uneasy. The uniform of the Ukrainian police was the same as that of the Soviet Union police in our time.
In Kyiv, Shlomo Neaman created an institute, called "Midrasha Zionit". They published a newspaper, conducted lessons, there was a group of students who studied Judaism and Zionism constantly.
Luba tried not to be part of the activities but helped me a lot.
On one of our visits, we met the family of Herman Gold, an artist who painted on Jewish themes. Also, Ira Klimova, a wonderful artist in her own right, took us to Olga Rapay's studio.
For three years I had a program on the first channel of the central television at the rating time. I spoke about the Torah, about Israel, even about Christianity - cautiously, but frankly.
The regime was - twenty days in Ukraine, ten days - in Israel.
On the last day of my work, few businessmen offered me to write a commentary on the books of the prophets in Russian.
During my work in Kyiv, Luba and I had compiled and published a commentary on the book of Zkharya. I tried to assure the businessmen that their idea to write a commentary on all the books of prophets was impossible, but then I gave up. We returned to Israel and began to work on the project. After a couple of years we finished the commentary on the book of Yehoshua.
And then a new period of life approached for all of Israel and, of course, for us.
In 2005, Ariel Sharon, head of government and former hero of the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War, decided to save himself from trial for financial crimes by playing along with the leftists, which controlled the judiciary and other levers of power. He decided to fulfill the long-held dream of the left to get rid of the Jewish settlements. First of all, it was decided to forcibly evict the inhabitants of the Gaza sector and Northern Shomron.
Here is a list of settlements: Netzarim,Kfar Darom, Morag, Atzmona, Bdolach, Gadid, Gan-Or, Ganei Tal, Kfar Yam Neve Dkalim Netzer Khazani Peat Sade Qatif Rafah Yam Shirat ha-Yam, Shalev, Tel Katif, Nisanit, Eley Sinai, Dugit. Settlements of Northern Samaria: Ganim, Kadim, Sa Nur, Homesh. Ten thousand inhabitants...
A tense struggle began in Israel: demonstrations, blocking roads, explanatory work.
But the left, and even the right, did not understand what a tragedy this would lead to.
The main attempt to stop the criminal actions of the government was made on 11 Tamuz or 18 July 2005. A mass procession was organized with the intention to reach Gush Katif and stay there in order to prevent the eviction of the inhabitants. More than forty thousand people took part in it.
Luba said that we would go. I was a little surprised: with her health… But we packed up and left.
Soldiers blocked our way. It was possible to slip past them and continue towards Gush Katif in the dark on our own. And I offered to do it. But Luba said that it makes sense to go only with all the people. One person won't change anything. Finally, the soldiers let the demonstrators to continue going.
We reached Kfar Maimon and spent the night near the village. There were tents. We, as I remember, slept under the open sky. At the same demonstration, with all his yeshivah, was our son, Jonathan, aged 18.
In the morning, a grand government scam came true. Some people began to announce over the loudspeakers: "Come to Kfar Maimon". The government is preparing a grandiose action against the demonstrators. Only in the village can it be avoided.". People believed, doubted, however, and began to move into the settlement. We, too. With doubts, but we went with the croud.
Further, the epic is known: corrupt leaders kept people in the village until Thursday. On Thursday, a false attempt was made to march to Gush Katif.
We got together, went along with everyone. The mood was such that the sea parted. I told Luba that we were going in the opposite direction from the gate leading to the road to Gush Katif. She didn't believe it. But when it became clear that we had been deceived, she was disgusting at heart, and her only desire was to get back home. We found our car, and left the place.
The previous night, young people were taken out of the yeshivas, ostensibly in order to secretly sneak into Gush Katif. But the man who led them, after thirty kilometers march, disappeared, leaving the guys in an open field. They returned on their own to Kfar Maimon.
Luba always remembered the rabbis with orange ribbons on their jackets or shirts, who walked in front of the column "heading for Gush Katif", and compared them to the communists, Lenin's comrades-in-arms. Among these rabbis was our neighbor. He still did not realize that he was an accomplice in crime.
Our eldest daughter, Miryam, was also in Kfar Maimon. Two years before the disengagement, she settled with her husband and six children in Sa-Nur, a settlement in northern Shomron. She was active in clarifying the situation in SA-Nur and other settlements. She was called the"Queen of Shomron".
Her work has been quite successful. This led to her arrest a month later for eviction from Sa Nur. She was arrested at our house in Neve Daniel when she and her husband came to us from Sa Nur late in the evening. A special police department to detain terrorists burst into the house. They beat Miriam. Yaron, her husband, was also arrested.
The children were left unattended in Sa Nur. The youngest is a year old. Jonathan, our son happened to be in Sa Nur and the children were left under his care. We went to Sa Nur and stayed there until the army threw us out.
Luba looked after all the children, did laundry, cleaned the house, cooked. She remained in the caravan in which we barricaded ourselves, and she was taken out only after the doors were broken.
The injury was huge.
The fight seemed useless.
Jonathan was selected for the Naval Special Forces Shaetet-13.
But they did not want to take him into the army at all. Since he was detained by the police while resisting eviction from the settlement of Amona, after the disangagement. And although no indictments were made - he was simply - released - he was told that he would not be called. Our neighbors turned to the commander-in-chief of the Israeli army, Halutz, and he gave the order to take him to Shaetet-13.
Even in Kyiv, Lyuba felt not so good - she breathed heavily when walking. After we finished our work there - we went to the doctor, and Luba was not released from the hospital. They said she needed an operation. After the tests, it became clear that the valves needed to be changed.
The operation was supposed to last two hours, but it lasted six. After the surgeon's work was completed, and he invited the cardiologist to make sure everything was done correctly, the heart failed to start working. Despite the successful work of the surgeon, it did not want to return to its activities. The surgeon took out pieces of veins from both legs to make bypass vessels, but while he was busy with work, the heart suddenly started to work, and we got Lyuba back. Yosef Mendelevich and his wife Katya were with us in the hospital and prayed - I'm sure that their prayers were very helpfull...
After the operation was not an easy period.
But after a while Luba felt good.
Yonatan began serving in Shaetet 13. Luba drove him after every Saturday to Modiin, from where it was possible to get to his base in Atlit by train.
Once, when Yonatan had to get to the south of the country, Luba took Yonatan to Arad and returned home. All as a matter of course. No resentment or reproach. She wrote letters to Yonatan, forwarded him parcels, despite the fact that he came home quite often.
Constantly, we worked on the commentary to the books of the prophets.
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The second heart surgery (2016) was terrible. Careless attitude of doctors, that din not put their attention on very important details. It felt like we were living among so strange people. Dr. K. looked at Luba's cardiogram and was frightened, apparently, that he would be responsible for such an obvious neglect of the patient's state of health.
The operation was performed by the same surgeon. The report stated that two valves were fully open and the surgeon was unable to determine the anatomical lines of the heart.
Thank God. Luba Survived. Lived. And even everything was somehow not bad. She even worked...
We worked on Melachim (Book of Kings), published in 2012. We started to work on Yehezkel.
I must say that our main sponsor abruptly abandoned us because of dissatisfaction with the fact that I help people to convert to Judaism. His wife, who herself converted, had her own opinion on this matter.
Then, Yosef Vilensky supported us, and we continued to work for several more years. We completed the first part of Yechezkel. The funding ended , but since we agreed, it seems, to write the commentary on the whole book, we continued to work.
We did noy succeed to complete it together.
In 2021, Luba fell in the bathroom and broke her arm. In Ein Karem hospital it turned out that she needed another operation.
It took a long time to decide whether to let her go home, or to do the operation right away. Finally, she was eleased.
The high dose of "Clexane" she was prescribed caused severe blood thinning.
Luba asked me if she could skip taking it sometimes, otherwise she will bleed from every little scar. I agreed, and it was a terrible mistake that led to a blood clot that caused a stroke.
Miraculously, she got out of it.
Luba could celebrate the Bat Mitzvah of Michal's eldest daughter, Maya, with all the family.
After Shavuot we went to the hospital for an operation.
The operation was done well. The recovery on the first days was perfect.
But on the fifth day, when we were transferred from intensive care to a regular ward, something happened. First with the brain - it was not essential - then with the lungs.
We went through six months of struggle and suffering, which, unfortunately, did not lead to the desired result.
Luba passed away on December 23, 2021 or 9 Tevet 5782.
The funeral took place on the same day.
Since then, we have been trying to make sure that the light that she left does not just dissipate, but continues...
