Lucy Frenkel
Holocaust survivor fulfills aliyah dream before passing away
Some 100 people attend funeral of 94-year-old Lucy Frenkel, who took difficult journey to Israel from US to 'see soldiering praying at Western Wall.'
More than one hundred people accompanied 94-year-old Lucy Frenkel – one of the oldest women to make aliyah since the establishment of the State of Israel – to her final resting place on Tuesday.
Frenkel, a Holocaust survivor, asked to make aliyah despite her advance age, her declining health, and her disability. Her family undertook tremendous efforts to secure her aliyah; she needed to receive extensive authorizations from medical professional to approve her flight.
She fulfilled her dream of moving to Israel from the United States last year, at the age of 93. She passed away on Tuesday in Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center; many of those attending her burial service did not know her personally, but arrived after hearing the tale on social networks.
Changed Identity
Yoel Berkowitz was taught to hate Israel and Zionism, but a visit to Israel changed his entire worldview. He left his Brooklyn Hasidic community to make aliyah to Israel.
The day of her funeral, a relative posted on Facebook a message calling on the public to attend her service at the cemetery in Beit Shemesh. The update was also shared on a public page.
The relative, Moshe Zaretsky, wrote: "Lucy was a Holocaust survivor who made aliyah with total devotion. She has one daughter who is married to my father. Without you, there will hardly be 20 people at the funeral. Such a woman truly deserves more."
After the funeral, Zaretsky said he was overwhelmed by the turnout. "I was shocked by the response and the people who showed up. It was a cold day, 3 in the afternoon, at a cemetery in Beit Shemesh that is hardly accessible to public transport – and yet still more than 100 people arrived, including soldiers."
Frenkel was born in the Germany city of Kassel and survived both Treblinka and Auschwitz-Birkenau during World War II. Moshe's father, Yehuda, filled in some of the details of her life: "Her whole family was annihilated in the Holocaust and she made the tumultuous journey to the United States."
He recalled her passion for making aliyah: "She was a Zionist activist who wanted to fulfill a childhood dream and live in Israel, even wheelchair-bound. Together with Nefesh B'Nefesh, we succeeded. We made tremendous efforts to bring her to Israel in her twilight years."
Last year, Frenkel received her aliyah certificate. "She sang 'Hevenu shalom aleichem' (a celebration anthem) in her wheelchair together with the Absorption Ministry official at the airport," Yehuda recalled.
Zaretsky stressed the difficulty of the process. "Since it was hard on her physically, we needed medical authorizations. We worried she wouldn't survive the journey but she was tremendously motivated to get to Israel. She pulled through a far from easy flight and was taken off the plane with a crane."
Upon her arrival in Israel, Frenkel was set on visiting the holiest place in Jewish history. "She asked to be taken to the Western Wall to see it, to see the soldiers praying. This was a woman with a special message: a Holocaust survivor who, against all odds, raised a fine family and wanted to fulfill the dream of being in Israel."
