The Weekly Portion: Exodus remembered

Holocaust Remembrance Day left its indelible mark on the whole of last week. At the beginning of the week, Yossi Harel was brought to rest - the commander of the ship carrying 'illegal immigrants' under the British Mandate period called 'Exit Europe' more commonly knows as the 'Exodus'.

This ship set sail in the summer of 1947 with 4,500 Holocaust survivors to the shores of Israel. The British prevented its arrival by force and after commandeering the ship still at sea, a battle broke out between the British forces and the 'illegal immigrants' and these people, after a long and difficult journey in which they wandered at sea for two months, were sent back to Hamburg port in Germany.

The story of the struggle of the 'illegal immigrants' aboard the Exodus is only one of many heroic and magnificent stories of Holocaust survivors' journey to the State of Israel in the years between 1945-1948.

At the time that these survivors were at the French Port-de-Bouc on the decks of the three British deportation ships (the French refused British orders to deport them from France), a small boat sneaked in among the ships. On that boat was my father, Moshe Sneh, who was responsible in the years 1946-1947 for all Aliyah Bet missions - the illegal immigration of Holocaust survivors to the State of Israel. In order to boost their morale , he spoke by megaphone to the 4,500 survivors.

To this day, when people who were there in that French Port, whether the survivors or Palmah personnel who escorted the ships, meet my father they know to quote whole sections from his speech that day. Last week, at a ceremony on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day that took place at Tel Yitzhak honoring that very ship, I was asked to read out the following excerpt from my father's speech to the besieged survivors:

The eyes of the Jewish people turn to you, to the three deportation ships in which you are prisoners. Millions of Jewish hearts all over the world beat as one with yours, full of pain and pride. Pain for your fate, our fate, and pride in your resistance. Thank you for your strong spirits, for your firm decision to seek for yourselves and for us our only homeland - the State of Israel. This is a story that will be written with sweat, blood and tears. But it must end in victory.

In that same ceremony, one of the survivors from that ship - Fruma Galant - lit a torch accompanied by her son, OC Southern Command Maj-Gen. Yoav Galant. This, like the reading of the excerpt, moved me very much. The sight of this survivor with her son the General who has served in the past as the commander of the naval commando unit, also known as Shayetet 13, symbolizes more than one principle. It is a symbol of the strength of the Jewish people, the will to live of those who survived the scenes of horror and who rebuilt their lives and raised their children in this country. It is a testament to the country that rebuilt itself from the ashes of the Holocaust and swore that such a catastrophe would never reoccur.

However, military might alone does not necessarily ensure a future for the State of Israel. Social and moral strengths are also required.

Similarly, this past year, due to certain steps undertaken by the government, the shame of poverty among Holocaust survivors was somewhat alleviated. But it turns out that this governmental bureaucracy knows how to render worthless any show of genuine goodwill.

A perfect example of this was brought to my attention last week. It turns out that Finance Ministry clerks demand from Holocaust survivors from Tunisia, who just recently received recognition for stipend eligibility, to bring a certificate of confirmation from the Tunisian government attesting to their place of residence in Tunis at the time of the war. For one elderly woman aged 82, the demands became more complicated - she was asked to provide statements from witnesses attesting to the fact that she was indeed present at the concentration camp established by the Germans near the city of Sfax.

I hope that government members to whose attention I brought this matter, will remove this display of inflexibility and maliciousness from among us.