"I Made Aliyah at 95, I've Arrived Home"

It happened about two weeks ago. Leon, a 95-year-old Jewish man living in the USA, walked into a store in Manhattan wearing a shirt with the words "Kiryat Shmona Tennis". As an excellent tennis player (yes, despite his age) and someone deeply connected to Israel, this shirt was dear to him. However, another Jewish customer remarked to him: "In such times, it's better not to walk around with shirts that have Hebrew writing on them." Leon's response was surprising: "Now it's clear to me that my decision to make Aliyah to Israel is justified," he told the astonished customer, "because it's unacceptable to live in a place where Jews are afraid to walk around with Hebrew writing."

Leon didn't just talk; he did the unbelievable. At 95, he fulfilled his dream, with the help of his children and family living in Israel, as well as the organization 'Nefesh B'Nefesh' and the Jewish Agency. He boarded a plane that took him to the land of Israel. "To my home," as he describes it.

A Global Journey

"My father's origins are in Europe," says Rabbi Shaul, Leon's son. "He was born and raised in Belgium until age 12 when the Nazis invaded Belgium and reached Antwerp. The local Jews were torn on what to do; some stayed in the country, while others fled. My grandparents took only two days to decide to leave everything. They took what they could and started moving around Europe. Initially, they arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, but when it became apparent that the Nazis were on their way, they continued to Paris, and from there to southern France, where they stayed for a relatively long time. Father was briefly in a monastery, but my grandparents understood that this area wasn't safe either, and when they heard there was a way to reach the USA via Portugal, they decided to continue their journey. Father and his parents made their way along the coast to Portugal, only to find they'd been misled – there were no visas for the USA, and they couldn't continue to their destination. However, they learned there was a ship sailing to Cuba, and decided to board it. Although my grandmother didn't have money, she had diamonds. She sold them and purchased tickets for the three of them to Cuba."

Rabbi Shaul notes that in early 1941, his father and grandparents boarded the ship to Cuba, where they lived for seven years. "There was a small Jewish community composed of refugees there," he explains. "My father celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in Cuba, but at the end of 1947, after the USA opened its doors to new immigrants, his parents decided it was time to continue their originally planned journey to New York."

Rabbi Shaul pauses momentarily and wryly notes that by the time his father arrived in the USA, he already spoke several languages – French, Flemish, English, and Spanish, and was familiar with a wide range of cultures. "But he wanted just one thing – to find a job and live his life quietly," he explains. "In the USA, he indeed found his place as he had an uncle who ran a jewelry business and employed him in the shop. The uncle sent him to the west coast of the USA, where he connected with a youth group called 'Betar' and also began volunteering for the Haganah organization in Israel. Many years later, he told me that back then, he was convinced he wanted to make Aliyah but didn't because he felt he couldn't leave his parents alone.

"For years, my father moved between the west and east coasts of the USA," continues his son. "He mostly worked for his uncle, and later successfully built his own jewelry business, and *baruch Hashem* was well off. He then married my mother, and they settled in New York, where we, three children from a religious Zionist family, grew up. Father was very active in the community, playing a significant role in establishing a Jewish school in New York. Stories of love for the Land of Israel were always heard at home. Father would show us pictures from his honeymoon in Israel in 1961, and we also had several trips and visits to the Holy Land. Every time we, as children, arrived in Jerusalem, and even today as adults, father would take us to the area near Safra Square, show us the walls of the Old City from afar, and say: 'When I first arrived here, this was the closest we could get. We stood here and directed our hearts towards the Western Wall, and now look at the privilege we have – we can go and pray at the Wall itself.'

Rabbi Shaul recalls another special visit he had with his father in Israel. "It was in 1990; father promised me a trip to Europe, just him and I, but then the Gulf War broke out, and he announced we were changing course and flying to Israel because, at a time when Jews in Israel are at war, he wanted to be with them. I think we were among the very few who came to Israel in those days, and we have pictures of us getting off the plane wearing gas masks."

Without Documents, Without Certificates

Rabbi Shaul emphasizes that his father's desire to make Aliyah accompanied him throughout his life. "That's also what pushed me and my brother to make Aliyah decades ago and live here," he explains. "Despite that, my parents stayed abroad, as did my third brother. Meanwhile, my mother passed away, and father remarried a woman who passed away exactly a year ago. At that time, he said to me: 'All my life, I wanted to make Aliyah, and now the time has come.' Even then, he began to seriously work on it, and the most amusing thing was that when he was asked in Israel for his original birth certificate, he replied he didn't have it because he fled the Nazis. The officials asked for his American citizenship document, and he replied that he didn't have that either since he was considered a citizen there but didn’t have any documentation. However, in Israel's Ministry of Interior, they did a very courteous job, along with help from the Jewish Agency and 'Nefesh B'Nefesh', to produce all the necessary forms as a substitute for documents, enabling him to make Aliyah."

And so, he arrived in Israel just last week, during such a challenging and complex time...

"That's right, but it doesn't bother my father at all. He's so happy to be in Israel, with the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and he also clearly feels this is his home and the home of the entire Jewish people."

And where is he residing in Israel?

"Currently, he's living with my brother, but we are busy looking for a small rental apartment nearby. Father is also now looking for an appropriate place where he can learn Hebrew in depth, and he's pondering between an ulpan and private lessons. After all, we can understand he wants to spend the next 25 years he has, *b'ezt Hashem*, in the best possible way."