The Untold Story of Ruth Ben-David and the Yossele Kidnapping

In 1950, a French tourist named Madeleine Los Taferri visited the Kingdom of Jordan. Her mission was to reach the Old City of Jerusalem, which remained under Jordanian control after the War of Independence. Madeleine, a history teacher educated at the University of Toulouse and the Sorbonne, had been active in the French anti-Nazi underground and served as a spy during World War II. Now, she was reflecting on her life and its meaning. Upon arriving in the Old City, instead of heading toward the Dome of the Rock or the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a deeper impulse drew her to search for "El-Buraq," the Jewish Wailing Wall, which was abandoned and neglected in those days when Jews were forbidden to approach it. She found it behind the Mughrabi Quarter (the current location of the Western Wall Plaza and the police station), a narrow, desolate alley. As she stood before the wall adorned with colorful tourist graffiti, a young Arab boy tugged her sleeve. He chipped away a piece of the massive stone and offered it to her for ten Jordanian liras.

The visit left a profound impression on her. Fighting against the Nazis had shown her that despite the Nazi regime's immense power and determination, the small and frail Jewish people ultimately prevailed, surviving and returning to their holy land. Similarly, the small wall's eternal presence surpassed the grandeur of the Muslims' golden mosques.

Madeleine returned to Paris and sought to convert to Judaism. Rabbi Shmuel Yaakov Rubinstein guided her through the conversion process until she became a bona fide Jewish woman, adopting the name Ruth Ben-David, after Ruth the Moabite, the great-grandmother of King David. Ruth Ben-David started attending Torah lessons and learning from renowned rabbis, one of whom was Rabbi Itzikel from Pshevorsk, who resided in Antwerp post-war.

In 1960, the somber affair known as the "Yossele Kidnapping" unfolded. Ida Shtraks, a young woman from Jerusalem, had married a Soviet immigrant named Alter Schumacher. Due to their dire financial situation, they placed their son, Yossele, in the care of his grandfather, Nachman Shtraks, a devoutly religious Jew. However, when they wanted him back, the grandfather refused: “You don’t observe the commandments, and I won’t have him exposed to a secular life." An acquaintance linked to Rabbi Itzikel sought his advice. Rabbi Itzikel recommended that they turn to Ruth Ben-David, skilled in espionage and underground activities, to smuggle Yossele out of the country. Ruth took on the task, forged passports, and transported him from one hiding place to another until he disappeared without a trace. Some rabbis opposed this action, as forcibly taking a child from his parents risked sowing discord.

Through the affair, Ruth became acquainted with Jerusalem's radical factions, and their ideology resonated with her. She later shocked the world by deciding to marry Rabbi Amram Blau, the leader of the Neturei Karta sect. From then on, Ruth Blau, the former Parisian socialite, became known as the homemaker who hosted meetings for the radical leaders and members of Neturei Karta.