Hadas, the widow of Rabbi Elisha Levinshtern who fell last week in Gaza, shares the belief in goodness despite private pain, something which she learned from Rabbi Haim Druckman.
Master Sergeant (res.) Rabbi Elisha Levinshtern, a combat soldier in Battalion 8104, fell in Gaza on the seventh night of Hanukkah - the one-year anniversary of Rabbi Druckman’s passing.
Levinshtern shared her feelings on her way to identify her husband's body - between the personal pain and the great miracle called the State of Israel.
She said that they learned the perspective of seeing the big picture from their rabbi, Rabbi Druckman, who was a Holocaust survivor and a great lover of the people of Israel and the State of Israel.
"My teacher and rabbi, Rabbi Druckman, was our rabbi and was very significant in our lives," Levinshtern said in an interview to Galei Zahal. "He would tell us about the dark days, when he was a Holocaust survivor and arrived in Israel thanks to miracles."
Following the story of his life, she shared the great lesson she learned from him: "He kept saying that because most of us were born in Israel into the reality that there is a country, it's a little difficult for us to get excited about it. We lit eight candles yesterday and sang, 'Al Hanisim,' and we really do live in a miracle."
She also applied Rabbi Druckman's view to her personal life, saying, "There is a very human tendency to get caught up in difficulties, but we are a superhuman nation, there is no other nation that has survived thousands of years and returned to its country and established itself in it, therefore it gives us strength."
"Of course, there is pain, I lost the man who loved me like no other person in the world loved me. We were blessed with six children, we were supposed to celebrate our wedding anniversary in two weeks. The private pain is very great - but the national story gives strength."