A memorial event for Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard’s wife Esther will be held on Sunday evening in Jerusalem.
Pollard will speak at the event in her memory, as will notable rabbis and public figures.
Esther, 68, died on Monday after being rushed last Saturday to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital’s COVID-19 intensive care unit suffering from septic shock (sepsis). Thousands attended her funeral at Har Hamenuhot Cemetery in Jerusalem, including Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata (Blue and White).
Many top politicians have paid respects by coming to the shiva for Pollard’s wife, including former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky, and MKs Nir Barkat (Likud), Yitzhak Pindrus (United Torah Judaism), Moshe Abutbul (Shas), Bezalel Smotrich, Orit Struck and Itamar Ben-Gvir of the Religious Zionist Party. The chief rabbis of Israel and Jerusalem also came.
“Her last words to me were that she was born with two missions: To get me home to Israel and to teach me to be a Jew, and that after she succeeded at both of her goals, her life missions were done,” Pollard told The Jerusalem Post at the shiva.
Pollard expressed his gratitude to former ambassador to the US Ron Dermer for helping him receive permission to move to Israel in December 2020.
“I will never forget what you did for us,” Pollard told Dermer. “Esther said she could sleep better at night knowing there was someone she could trust to do everything possible to help us.”