Sabba, You're a Hero????

I just came back from visiting my friend's parents (here for Chanukah vacation from their home in the US). Sabi is 80, bli ayin hara, and his children and grandchildren made him a fabulous memory book in honor of the occasion.

On my visit, they showed it to me.

Wow! A personal book of history of Israel and Diaspora Jewry.

A shiny vanilla building in the once-new Hatikvah neighborhood took center stage of one photo. "I built that building with my two hands when I was 17." Since then he's built, shuls (synagogues) and shopping centers and colleges.

There was a photo of Sabi in an Israeli Army uniform. "Oh, yes, here I am in the Haganah (Pre-State Israeli Army). I was the commander of equipment upgrading."

That's a wierd thing to be commander of. "Well, Israel in 1948 could not get weapons from too many places, and what they could afford was usually reject-grade equipment, so I made it Grade A."

He took guns with broken sites and realigned them, binoculars with blurry glass and refocused them, etc. etc.

Sabi fought the war, married and raised a family, started a profession and gave years of his life to his synagogue, his community, and the Jewish people.

He doesn't wear a uniform anymore, but he still looks like a hero to me.

Beware the grandfather/grandmother you see walking slowly down the street. S/he might be a hero too.