The heaviest price the Pollards paid for their total devotion to the State of Israel could be seen this week on the days of Shiva. There was no family mourning the death of Esther Pollard, after a long illness with cancer that was joined by Corona. There were no children, and no condolences. Only one sat in the room: the grieving Jonathan bitterly for his wife, who had been so loyal to him for so many years, who turned every stone to bring to the front of the public stage his story, who worked tirelessly against the injustices done to him over the years, for him and for justice. He is now sitting on a low plastic chair, wearing a white shirt with a mourning tear, and black slicks that have become his trademark in recent years. crushed.
I arrive at the apartment in Kiryat Moshe on Rosh Chodesh Adar. 2,500 years after the words of Queen Esther, which now meet in the daughter of her character Esther Pollard: “When I was lost I was lost.” In my eyes a picture: a couple whose roots are deep deep in the ground, but whose branches are stunted.
The steady stream of critics and comforters. There must be some consolation in this, even if little. “Jonathan feels the support he receives from the people of Israel,” an ultra-Orthodox critic tells me. The women, who are pushed into the stairwell every time the men pray, offer to streamline the business. “Maybe it would have been nice if there was a notebook here where the many critics would write their names,” someone suggests.
The bond between Esther and Jonathan Pollard began to forge through an exchange of letters. Esther, who was living in Canada at the time, came across an ad published in a Jewish newspaper requesting letters of encouragement to a Jew who was in prison. She wrote him a letter, and got two back. In one letter Pollard provided details related to his incarceration affair, and in another he wrote personal words. Presumably from the first moment a spark ignited between the two, as Pollard was limited in the number of letters he sent, and yet chose to dedicate two letters to an anonymous girl who wrote to him. During their correspondence, the two discovered that they had met in the past at a Weizmann Institute youth camp, during Pollard’s first visit to Israel. They continued to correspond until we got married within the prison walls, despite the sweeping ban imposed by the authorities.
“We made a formal request to allow us to get married. Basically it is something that should be allowed, but the request went to Washington and from there came a refusal,” Pollard recounts their experiences in front of the comforters who crowd the house. “Two people who were on the standard of religion came to the prison, together with Esther. They managed to get a glass of wine, and since rings were not allowed in the prison, Esther put a ring that was hung on a chain – to perform the consecration through them. The Americans were furious. And he said that because I broke the rules and did the wedding and the consecration would transfer me to ‘Diesel Therapy’ – a common expression in prison for torturing inmates from prison to prison. He told me ‘you will never see your wife again.’ When he said yes, I told him that I promised him that if he punished me for not seeing my wife again, I would make sure Washington knew he was not suitable for the job, no matter what prison I was in. Back, “Pollard says with a smile, taking out from under his shirt the necklace with the ring that Esther gave him.
Pollard, who was an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy, was jailed in 1985 for thirty years for espionage for Israel. He was released in 2015, and for five years was placed under restrictions regarding freedom of movement and contact with the press. On December 30, 2020, Pollard landed in Israel, and has since lived with Esther in Jerusalem. One year the two managed to live as a free couple on the good land of the country they loved and showed special devotion to, even though they did not receive the same treatment back.
“She was my spiritual teacher,” Pollard says of Esther. “She had two missions. One, to release me from prison. The other, to get me out of jail. And the second mission was more difficult.
“She would set a mirror for people,” he continues, “even for MKs and politicians who did not like to see themselves in the mirror she set for them. She did not make any assumptions. She also set up a mirror for me. She told me: ‘Imagine you are holding a mirror. What do you see? ‘,’ Myself, ‘I said. ‘Look deeper,’ she asked. ‘What do you see?’, ‘What am I supposed to see?’ I asked, and she answered: ‘You are your father and your grandfather and all the generations that preceded you up to the status of Mount Sinai’ “.
Rabbi Moshe Hagar, who came to comfort Pollard, gave a short lesson and paid tribute to Esther: “The people of Israel look at you with admiration. Your devotion lasted for years. It was not a moment of heroism. It was a whole life of devotion, and this spirit that you and Esther The late Saritam on us accompanies the entire Israeli society. “
“We called her ‘the commander,'” says Efi Lahav, who was active for many years in the struggle to restore Pollard. “From the first moment you hear Esther and see her, you realize that he is not a human being who can be treated with indifference.” He turned to Pollard and said: “When I joined the activity, only the national-religious public participated in the events for your release, Jonathan. We said it was not possible, because when you risked our lives you did it for all the citizens of Israel. We built strategies with Esther to connect audiences to this story More, and slowly, under the dedicated direction of Esther, who was like a maestro, we moved from community to community, from group to group, and saw the parts begin to connect.
“With all due respect to us, the activists and volunteers, Esther was the dominant living spirit who worked tirelessly to do justice and release you from prison. There was not a single minute that we did not believe you would be released. We believed with all our might that you must be out of prison. Gives us.
“In life you meet all kinds of people. Rarely do you meet special people. Esther was a special woman, loves the country, loves our people, and most of all loves you,” Lahav said, turning to Jonathan. “I heard things from her that I wish could be said about the relationships of all spouses. This week Esther said goodbye to us in her body, but her heritage, energies and faith will remain forever.”
One can see in Esther Pollard’s life a tragic story, but one can also see in them the story of a woman, a freedom fighter and a fighter for justice, who got to see the fruits of her war for the rest of her life. Rest in peace, dear woman.