Upon seeing the "Facebook" memory reminder of my wedding anniversary the first thing that came to my mind was how the wife Rena came into my life.
I had been released from my unit on a 72 hour pass from the IDF at 15:00 (3PM) near Tebnine in Southern Lebanon during "Operation Litani" in March of 1978.
In my desire to "get out" and reach my empty "single soldier" apartment, I had grabed the first "Tramp" (ride) out which took me to Biranit an Israeli army base just over the northern border in Israel. Another ride took me to the crossroads and bridge near the Druze village of Hurfeish.
In those days there was no means public transportation nor were there hardly any vehicles, especially at night! So in order to get "home" I walked in the moonlight for three hours along that very same long curving road from the crossroads near the Druze village of Hurfeish where just three years previously, the same three terrorists who committed the "Massacre in Maalot",walked and ambushed a Peugeot tender that carried eight Christian women back to their home in the Northern Arab Christian village of Fassuta murdering Hasibah Shalala and six women who had sat in the rear of the tender were severely wounded and according to the forensic report the vehicle was it by over 170 AK-47 rounds.
As I walked home in the darkness on the moonlit road I knew of the imminent threat that still existed at that time from Palestinian Terrorists and despite my exhaustion I forced myself to remain awake and ready,
I finally reached my darkened 42 Square meter one bedroom "Amidar" read subsdized Government apartment. Having no money to pay the rent or electricity bill the power was shut off. I opened the door- at 1AM and "crashed out" on my "signed for" immigrant bed.
Around 9AM I awoke- still exhausted- and took a cold shower and gathered up my dirty laundry and went to the "WIZO" run laundrymat for our development town.
The two women who ran the laundrymat Chassiya and Chana were two Holocaust survivors, some of the handful of "Ashkenazic" non Mizrachi Jews in our "development town" settlement "created from scratch" in the pherphical area of the Western Galilee in 1957 mainly for the tremendous influx of "Jews of Arab lands" who had been ETHNICALLY CLEANSED -deprived of all that that they owned and possessed by the vengeful Moslem world.
When I arrived in Ma'alot in March of 1976 before entering the IDF as a "Chayal Boded" -single soldier. I had met Chassiya and Chana and they "adopted me" and helped me greatly as I struggled with my period of immigration after the collapse of my Garin for Kibbutz Ketura.
Both of these women Chassiya and Chana went above and beyond to help me by allowing me to have my clothes cleaned. Before the IDF I found employment at several low paying jobs and did not have enough money for my bills -rent, city tax, water bill and electricity and food. There were many who tried to help and it was embarrassing to be poor.
On that morning as I was returning from WIZO I encountered Chaya Sklar z"l another recent arrival to Ma'alot an American divorcee who worked at that time as a secretary to Elaine Kopp -later Levitt, also an American divorcee who had also recently arrived in Maalot and was in charge of a Jewish Agency Volunteer for Israel program.
Chaya, the omnipresent "Jewish mother", told me that there was a new single American Olah (Immigrant) named Rena who had recently arrived in Ma'alot and urged me that I should "Make an effort" to meet her.
I waited outside the old Aliyah Center on Ma'ale HaBenim Street since Rena was working the evening shift as an RN at Nahariyah Hospital. I saw her get off from the transport that brought her "home" at around 11PM+ that night. Since I was on a short leave and time was of importance and though the hour was now very late I waited until she entered the apartment before I went and knocked on her door. She answered who is it? I introduced myself she opened the door slightly and she replied; "Very nice my name is Rena and I am tired" and she then closed the door. That is how we met thanks to Chaya.
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In this picture standing with me and the wife next to David's grave are the members of the IDF tank crew of David Sklar z"l who come to every annual Memorial Day ceremony for fallen soldiers |
I had written a previous post on David Sklar z"l who was the son of a divorced mother Chaya Sklar z"l who was mortally wounded on the outskirts of Beirut in 1982 in the "First War in Lebanon".
David was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the 4th of June 1962 and at the age of 9 his family made Aliyah to Hertzliya. David and his family his older sister Deborah and his mother Chaya, who was divorced, arrived in Maalot a very short time before I had entered the IDF as a "Chayal Boded" in September of 1976.
David and his family lived in the "New Binyan HaMalit"-"the elevator building" near today's Shouk (Marketplace) and it was the only multi (8) storied building in Maalot. It was located below my small one room 42sqm apartment on the hill side. It's saving grace one can say or novelty, was that it had an elevator.
David had only recently entered Yad Netan Junior High School near Akko and he was like a little brother to me.David would relate to me his experiences and secrets in life as any younger brother would to an older one. Our friendship was close since it was quite evident he was badly treated and ignored as a child by his father who abondoned them and divorced Chaya. David was in need of an "older" brother to be there for him. And yes my being there also alone with no family drew me close to him as well.
As a 12 year old fatherless boy growing up in Ma'alot, David also drew close to me as though a "big brother" because of our background as Americans and of course the ability to converse in English. I also had a fairly extensive collection of books. David would come to visit, to talk and listen to my "extensive" album collection that I had brought from the USA.
Upstairs in the same Amidar apartment building 431 Jabotinsky lived Ilana Black-the painter and her teenage daughter Sharon. Ilana would invite Kenny and me to share Shabbat evening meals with her.
On Shabbat our very small "Anglo -Saxon" community would meet for a football, softball or baseball game near the water tower (symbol of the township) of Ma'alot near the infamous Netiv Meir Elementary school -scene of the horrific Massacre in Maalot in May of 1974.
In April of 1982 the wife and I decided to go back to the USA for me to complete my University degree that I had stopped when I supposedly left for six-months as a volunteer for Israel in Sept. 1974.
The Shabbat before we left David came by our apartment he held our oldest son also named David on his knee, he loved the fact they had the same name and he once told me how he could not wait to play games like a "big brother" with him. Rena and I knew that "tensions were high" and we Israelis were embittered by the apparent failure of UNIFIL to prevent terrorist incursions into Israel. It was only a matter of time that something serious would occur because of the constant threats and intermediate mortar and artillery shelling from what was euphemistically called "Fatahland" the area south of the Litani river. The UN force failed in their mandate to prevent "Fatahland" and it had become a PLO "no-go zone" as Lebanese residents fled and the neutered Lebanese Government had given Fatah free run over the area.
As David Sklar z"l sat there on our couch with our son David, I could feel his deep sadness of our upcoming departure. My last words to him were like those of any "Older big brother" to watch out and I warned him to make sure and promise me that he would wear his body-armour vest!
As I mentioned we left Israel with our oldest son David in April of 1982 and moved in with my parents in Birmingham, Alabama, so I could restart University to complete my degree. We choose to go to Birmingham because of the expense of University and available housing. Rena was able to find employment as an RN in the Children's Hospital in the large Medical Center. And we were looking for an Apartment -which we finally did and moved in. I had just started classes at a local Junior College and was not at home when the wife Rena received a phone call that June day. The call came from an ex-American friend Daphne Even-Zohar who was living in her father's apartment on the floor below in our old apartment building 327 Keren Hayesod. Daphne called to inform us of the sad news about David's death. I had just started my first semester in a local Junior College to "get back into the rut of learning" when the conflict began. At first, I had thought of going back to my unit, but my commanding officer said for me to stay in the USA. So when I came home from school and Rena told me that David was killed. At first I wanted to rush back but I realized that to do so would overturn all the plans we had made to improve our family. We stayed and we of course missed the burial and the"Shiva- mourning period" in Israel but I mourned together with Rena his passing.
The Palestinian "Alphabets"-various terrorist organizations- had been raining down mortar fire all day and all night. The tank crew was exhausted. They had been "buckled up" inside their old stifling humid modified US Made M-60 Abrams tank. Evidently the PLO terrorists had exhausted their supply of mortar rounds and they had to resupply. The firing suddenly ceased for several hours so the soldiers began to relax.
It was hot and very humid the soldiers became too lax. They opened or removed their old heavy Viet Nam War vintage surplus -read US AID - body Armor vests.... suddenly they could hear the echo of the "thump" sound as a mortar round is fired. David who was wearing the VRC helmet of the communications didn't. The round landed nearby throwing a long piece of shrapnel from the 122 Soviet made mortar round that pierced his body as he unsuspectingly sat there.
His fellow crew members rushed him across the crossroads underfire to the IDF medic unit casualty station the doctor immediately saw the long shard and how it had seared and cauterized in David's chest. He called for immediate air evac to Rambam in Haifa. A helicopter special medic evac that had been on standby in the air arrived.
David lingered on for another 24 hours or so...his mother and sister were able to see him before he died...and was buried in the Military part of the cemetary of Ma'alot which is between Tarshiah and Moshave Meona where the photo of his tank crew, Rena and I was taken.
Chaya angered over David's death argued with Debrorah the daughter and she left for America. Chaya died of cancer not long after and is also buried in the civilian part of the cemetary.
Because David has no family to represent him I notified the Organization for Fallen soldiers that I and my family would gladly "adopt" him and represent him at the ceremonies on Rememberance Day. All our children who have also served in the IDF have participated in the evening memorial day for the fallen ceremony by lighting his candle on the stage over the years. We did not want David's sacrifice to be forgotten and we as fellow American Immigrants took the mantle with pride to be his family.
As for our wedding in January of 1979:
Prior to our "big day" I had been on duty 24/7, four days before our wedding as second in charge of the Civil Guard in Ma'alot. I had left my bride to be Rena in our apartment and had answered the call for duty as a volunteer to help protect the residents as I had over the years since my arrival in Ma'alot.
Initially we were not told of terrorists in the immediate area by the police or the army because of the psychological effect that many residents had from the horror of the previous incident just five years before in May of 1974.
Two days before the attack, my in-laws Chaim z"l and Esther Brownstein boarded an EL AL flight from New York to come for our wedding, unknowing of the incident in progress.
I stayed at the roadblock at the single entrance to Ma'alot until around 6:45AM then I took the jeep and drove to the Synagogue, which at that time was located in the mid-sized building of the original "Yehiva Hesder" near what was then the edge of the townlet near "Schunat" Cohen. I had been invited for the traditional "Aufruf"- Yiddish for “calling up” by Cyril Atkins and several young religious men affiliated with the new Ashkenazic Synagogue. The "Aufruf" is a pre-wedding "Aliyah" to the Torah by the groom to be on the Sabbath before a wedding.
Just as we finished the reading of the Torah we could hear the sound of rapid machinegun fire (M-16s and deep throated AK-47s) and then a massive explosion. I grabbed my M-1 carbine and ran to the jeep and sped to the Guest House.
During the previous evening most of the Hotel guests were told to evacuate and they did so in buses to another in the chain of guest houses. Only the IAI group refused to leave.
During the night the three heavily armed terrorists from Naif Hawatmeh’s Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine entered the Histadrut guest house just before dawn.
Pictured here -above left- is the contents of the backpack of the terrorists. Notice the amount of RPG shells and grenades they carried.
As they had in previous incidents the terrorist seized hostages for the release of other terrorists imprisoned in Israel. Regretfully, the only casualty in the attack was Miriam Alfasi, 31, of Beersheba who was killed while trying to escape through a window.(see the photo below)
At about 6:30AM the excutive officer of the battalion entered the local townlet Army post (HaMaarbach) and received the notification, of a sighting of shadows of figures that had crossed in the lone street light of the road that led to the Guest House from 02:30 that morning.
Angered by not being informed sooner the excutive officer ordered the "alert force platoon" to "mount up" on their truck while his jeep driver together with him and Ravivo raced up to the Guest House.
Upon arrival the executive officer had gone to a lower level of the rooms as Ravivo and the driver ascended to the hallway of the upper floor of rooms.
Upon entering the lower hallway the executive battalion commander noticed a dark faced man with a large handbag, and had asked him who he was and for his ID. The terrorist mumbled something in Arabic and drew the Kalatchnik of AK-47 he had over his shoulder. The excutive officer scuffeled with him and grabbed the rifle from him.
Simultaneously as this occured:
The two other terrorists luckily both came out of one of the rooms in the upper hallway where the hostages were being held and opened fire on Ravivo and the driver. who immediately returned the fire.
The first terrorist who was closest to them threw a hand grenade as he and his accomplice turned and fled. Ravivo smacked the grenade in mid-air with his hand back towards the fleeing terrorists.
It exploded near the attackers who had been racing downstairs and out of the building. Just as the two terrorist exited the stairwell and managed to get some meters from the building. They were gunned down by other soldiers about 150 yards from the door. One had an explosive suicide belt which he either set off or it was hit by the Alert force. That explosion was the explosion we heard in the Yeshivat Hesder.
Later that day exhausted I rode in the Subaru station wagon of Ron Soloman- an immigrant to Ma'alot from Australia, to Ben Gurion Airport to pick up my in-laws, who had been totally unaware of the drama that occured in Ma'alot until they saw the headlines of the Jerusalem Post; "Terrorist Attack in Ma'alot"
My parents had not come, so the Atkin's Cyrill and Flora kindly volunteered to stand in for them.
The two "Ashkenazic women" Hanna and Hasiyah, survivors of Aushwitz-Berkinau, who managed the WIZO center and had assisted me during my Army service like two doting Aunts by doing my laundry in the laundry center. They lovingly helped prepare the small hall of the center into a real "wedding hall".(As can be seen in the photos)
I had purchased the flowers and much of the food and decorations but it was
My good young neighbor and friend Avi Peasch was the "DJ".
The Hupa was held outside the hall as the evening drew into night. It was an unseasonably warm January and a very pleasnt evening as our friends held candles Rena and I were married by HaRav Kaufman -a young English Rabbi from the all new Kiryat Chinuch religious boarding school and it was "watched over" by HaRav HaRashi of Ma'alot Yoseph Gabai.
Chanah and Hasiyah had planted a pine tree where our chupa stood but a disease that effected several pine trees in the area killed it and all that remains is the stump.
Thus we began life in our new old home...some 41 years ago.
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