Israeli veterans found comfort in Pittsburgh — and returned it
'Two weeks in our home. Forever in our hearts'
For years, delegations of wounded Israeli war veterans have visited Pittsburgh for respite. This year, they were the ones delivering comfort.
Led by Wael Ibrahim, the cohort spent two weeks traveling, eating and being pampered like previous groups — there were citywide tours, meetings with elected officials and a trip to Niagara Falls. The tone, though, was different.
Shortly after landing in Pittsburgh on May 3, Ibrahim, 48, brought fellow veterans to meet Sandy Zelekovitz. Since 2018, the Point Breeze resident and his wife, Barbara, have headed 412 Friends of Zahal, a volunteer-led group that partners with Beit Halochem, the Zahal Disabled Veterans Organization, to ensure wounded soldiers experience two weeks of Pittsburgh calm.
Zelekovitz’s ability to oversee this year’s program was impeded by illness. Still, through detailed schedules, a near endless supply of food and drinks, and the help of friends and fellow supporters, volunteers maintained a standard Zelekovitz repeatedly articulated: “Two weeks in our home. Forever in our hearts.”
This year’s cohort heard the message even before landing in Pittsburgh.
Ibrahim, who counted this as his third Pittsburgh trip, said he told his fellow vets, “Every time I come here, I try to explain how warm the community is, and how much love they have for Israel and the soldiers and veterans who come to visit.”
Nowhere is that more clear than with Zelekovitz, Ibrahim continued. “I told them Sandy, Sandy, Sandy.”
After touching down in Pittsburgh, the vets traveled to the Zelekovitz house and met the man who tirelessly worked to achieve their relaxation.
“Everybody said to us that he was waiting to meet us,” Alon Michaeli, 51, said.
“He wanted a hug from every one of us. We felt him. He was in a very bad, bad, situation. We saw it, but he was so happy to meet us,” Shimon Enav, 63, said.
The visit prompted introspection, Ramiz Hamdan, 53, told the Chronicle. It’s “strange” how such a brief exchange can be so impactful, yet it was: “Sitting with him just this one hour, you see a special one.”
When Zelekovitz died days later, “I was in shock,” Hamdan, one of two Druze members of the delegation, said. “It’s trauma.”
Without hesitation, the seven-member delegation attended Zelekovitz’s funeral. Along with other mourners, the vets shoveled dirt into the deceased’s grave. Standing near the burial plot, the former soldiers raised their hands and offered a final salute.
Doing so was an “honor,” Shimon Enav, 63 said.
“He was a soldier of Israel. That’s how we felt, that he really was a Zionist, that his passion and love for Israel was overwhelming,” Ibrahim said.
“This delegation was his passion, and he worked so hard to make it the best way for us: to feel comfortable, to feed us, to take us to a beautiful place,” Enav said. “All these things, I appreciate.”
Since the early 1970s, Pittsburghers have opened their homes to dozens of wounded Israelis. Started by the late Sylvia Robinson, the project, now called “412 Friends of Zahal,” was spurred by a trip to Geneva, Switzerland. Robinson noticed that despite having only 5,000 Jewish members, its community could comfortably welcome 30 Israelis. In a 1996 recording with the National Council of Jewish Women, she said there was no reason why Pittsburgh, which boasted eight times as many Jews as Geneva, couldn’t do the same.
Squirrel Hill residents Judy and Bob Danenberg have hosted vets since 2000. In the interim, during trips to Israel, the Danenbergs and their children have been happily ushered into countless vets’ homes.
“We were blown away by the reciprocation of joy and love and gratitude,” Judy Danenberg told the Chronicle while seated at a table surrounded by vets, food and a detailed schedule.
This year, the Danenbergs helped the Zelekovitzes oversee the program.
“The personal rewards that we get are immeasurable,” Judy Danenberg said. “What we give we get back in spades.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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