ואלו שמות

Dov Rozen - Shabbat Bi-shabato

 

There are times when a name perpetuates foundational events in the life of a person or of a nation.

One day, while the chemist Yitzchak Pelet was running an experiment in his laboratory in the Hebrew University, an explosion took place that left him blind.

 

"In 1968 it seemed that there was no hope he would ever see again. Yitzchak decided to try his luck in the United States... 'Everybody helped us – El Al, the consulate, Bituach Leumi, and the Jewish doctor who operated for free... The operation was a success, and it became a classic case in medical education. I came back home with perfect vision, and with a son – Lior.'" (Lior is from the root Or, meaning light.) [Yamim V'Leilot December 1977].

 

In the summer of 1976, the entire world held its breath when it heard the fantastic story of the rescue in Entebbe of the hostages who had been kidnapped.

 

Four years later the following story appeared.

 

"There is a Jew who lives in Canada by the name of Louie Meizel. He is a big fan of the IDF and specifically of Yonatan Netanyahu, who was killed in Operation Entebbe. Recently he came to Israel, bringing with him a Jewish boy of 19 who returned to Judaism as a result of a talk with General Dan Shomron, the commander of the operation... The boy, Christopher, didn't know that he was Jewish, and he regularly attended church as a non-Jew. Only later in life did he learn from his neighbors that he was a Jew... In the university he met Dan Shomron, who had come there to study. He was impressed by his meeting with Shomron and started to look into his own roots. Louie Meizel recently came to Israel to participate in a memorial service for Yonatan Netanyahu, and he brought Christopher with him. While he was here Christopher celebrated his Bar Mitzva, and he decided to take on a Jewish name – Yoni Netanyahu." [Hatzofeh Tammuz 5740].