JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Former Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard announced that he is engaged to be married, less than a year after the death of his wife Esther who had canvassed for his release from prison for many years. Esther died from COVID-19 complications last January after suffering from breast cancer for many years.
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Pollard will marry Rivka Abrahams-Donin, a mother of seven and a member of the Chabad community. Abrahams-Donin’s grandfather, Karl Abrahams, was one of the British intelligence officers responsible for capturing the notorious commander of Auschwitz, Rudolf Hess. Abrahams succeeded in capturing Hess in 1946 after interrogating his wife for hundreds of hours until she revealed his hiding place.
“How much must I give to Hashem, all of what has done for me,” the couple wrote in a joint announcement. “With praise and gratitude to Hashem we are delighted to announce our engagement. We are full of thanks to you, our friends and family and to our dear children for the love and support. First and foremost to Esther A’H who in her infinite love even introduced us and allowed this miracle to happen. Her memory will never leave us.”
The announcement was set to be made Wednesday morning but the couple asked to postpone it until after the funeral of Maj. Bar Falah, the deputy commander of the elite Nahal reconnaissance unit. Falah, 30, was killed while leading his troops to arrest two Palestinian terrorists early Wednesday.
Pollard moved with his late wife, Esther, to Israel in December 2020, after he served 30 years in US prison for espionage, followed by five years of parole.
“This is not how I expected for us to come home to the land,” Pollard said at her funeral in January. The couple had married while Pollard served his prison sentence in the US.
The widowed Abrahams-Donin is an immigrant to Israel who lost her husband seven years ago, according to Haredim 10. The family lives in Jerusalem.
Pollard and his bride-to-be plan to wed in about two months, after the High Holiday period.
Mazel tov! He (and his soon to be wife) should have only happiness from now on.
mazel tov mazel tov, an amazing lesson after 27 years of isolation , an angel of a wife in gan eden , unfortunatly no children ..yet the optimism to keep on living , to keep on trusting…as suggested by the torah when possible ” la’erev al tenach …
Young at heart, much to learn.
Think there is a mistake here, it was not Rudolf Hess, but who was it?
Was she married to a son of the famous Mashpia Reb Reuven Donin? The Rebbe’s shliach on the tractor?