Moran sang to her grandmother Esther on the phone • At his grandfather's funeral, Sgt. A. had a hard time seeing his grandmother isolated • Lt. Col. Yuri was allowed to visit his dying father only last night • And Jonathan could not attend his mother's funeral in the US • Four IDF servicemen tell On dealing with the plague away from their loved ones
Treatment of Corona patients in Israel // Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"Understand that there is no longer any way to take care of Grandpa"
Sgt. A. | lost his grandfather
One of the most difficult moments for Sgt. A. (21), a fighter in a special unit of the Artillery Corps, was to see his grandmother isolated at the funeral of his grandfather, Hari Yitzhak. Only two and a half weeks ago, the family accompanied the grandfather, who died after a battle with the corona virus. , On his last journey.
The grandfather was hospitalized at the age of 81 with pneumonia and then apparently contracted from one of the family members who came to visit him. With him the grandmother, queen, aunt and two cousins contracted. The whole family went into isolation. In an unusual move his grandmother fought to stay in the corona ward with the grandfather. To support him in his difficult moments.Although she could have vacated for insulation in her home, she chose to help him in the last weeks of his life.
"The deterioration was rapid. At one point he was released from the hospital because they realized there was nothing more to treat.
On the last day of his life he was with a grandmother at home and two cousins.
His fever rose and they sat around him.
"Then he lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital. Two hours later he died," says E.
"One of the hardest moments was when I saw Grandma far from everyone at the funeral. Seeing her cry when you can't hug her, like she's a leper. People who haven't experienced this situation don't understand."
"The hardest thing was the distance"
Against Jonathan Haim Lost his mother in the US
Two weeks before his mother died, Sergeant Yonatan Haim, 26, spoke with her against a rabbinate in the 769th Brigade on the northern border.
"It was her birthday, and I talked to her for half an hour. I told her how much I love her, how important she is to me. It was a very moving conversation, and in retrospect greatly strengthened me to know we had our say before she went to the world of truth. So she only had symptoms. "Easy, so I did not know she was sick in Corona. The family did not want to worry me."
In mid-May, when Deborah Friedel, Jonathan's mother, passed away, the United States was in real chaos when it came to Corona.
In contrast to Israel, which conducted epidemiological tests at the time and worked to cut off the chain of infection, there were too many corona patients in the United States, and in some cases patients even had to wait at home until a hospital bed became available due to congestion.
Jonathan knew the situation, but remotely.
After his family moved to the United States when he was 13, he returned to Israel and enlisted as a fighter in the Eternal Judea Battalion. He then went on to serve as an anti-rabbinate, married and had two children.
"After a week, the mother had difficulty breathing and was evacuated to the hospital and forced to put her to sleep and feminize her. Then God made his choice and chose to take her close to him.
Probably its time, we do not do sky calculations.
It's hard, I will not lie, but we are going through it.
"The frustrating thing was the distance. Thousands of miles. Every death of a person from this first proximity strikes, and here it is a huge distance. To my delight, the army and the house strengthened me. It moved me greatly, knowing I was not alone, from the base commander to the chief military rabbi and other commanders who spoke to me. ".
"You need to know this is a war"
Lt. Col. Yuri Ben Hur | lost his father Shlomo
Lt. Col. Yuri Ben-Hur will not forget the date his parents returned from Spain. "It was March 8," he says, "my father did not feel well, and at the same time the army understood that the corona was a story that should bother us, that should change the direction of thought.
The personal and the military have come together. "
Lt. Col. Ben Hur, 43, chief of the Operations and Home Front at Central Command, lost his father, Shlomo, at the beginning of the first wave. “The corona was literally in its infancy.
Dad, who is not feeling well, turns to Sheba in Tel Hashomer.
He was the first serious patient in the hospital, the 53rd patient in the State of Israel.
Everything was new, all the experiments were done on it. "
For a month and a half, Shlomo fought for his life, and Yuri found himself in a double battle - at home he had to watch the virus attack his father, and in the army he was responsible for treating Corona in Judea and Samaria as part of his role in Central Command.
At the same time, Yuri's mother also fell ill with corona, but was defined as asymptomatic and therefore not hospitalized.
"It was a very complex situation. Mother was sick at home, alone, in uncertainty, and we could not go in, come and hug her. Everything was through the zoom. Functioning in the army gave me the strength at home, doing helped me do something to save people who were in my father's condition. ".
Last night, just before Shlomo passed away, Yuri and the other family members were allowed to enter it.
"We said goodbye to him on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning he passed away. Afterwards, the funeral was also challenging. Ten people had to be chosen who were closest to him, and everyone else watched Zoom. This is an impossible reality."
Yuri wants to convey the message to the general public: "Although my parents were infected when the corona was in diapers, we did not take it seriously enough. You should know that this is a war, the most important thing to do today. It is a shaky experience that is not easy to get up from."
"Cynicism was Grandma's weapon"
Lieutenant Moran Manor Lost her grandmother
"Grandma was the most optimistic there was. Even when it was painful and difficult, she always found it appropriate to tell a funny joke. Cynicism was her weapon, a good kind of weapon, not one that hurts but one that saves and encourages," recalls Lieutenant Moran Manor (20), the commander-in-chief. To my brigade in the Yoav Brigade.
At the age of 95, Esther Manushari became infected in Corona.
She was evacuated to the hospital a month ago and released the previous weekend to her home when her condition was reasonable, but her body was unable to resist the virus.
"Due to her advanced age and various background illnesses, her body did not withstand the burden. She was released to her home on Friday, and light for last Sunday she passed away in her sleep."
Due to the virus the funeral was limited.
Married had five children, 15 grandchildren and no less than 41 great-grandchildren, so not everyone was able to attend the funeral.
"The grandchildren who came to the funeral eulogized her and said goodbye on behalf of the whole family."
Moran remembers her grandmother, with whom she spent quite a bit.
"Grandma taught me basic words in Persian: fruits, foods, songs and verbs. I really enjoyed learning and watching her shine every time I repeated the new word I learned."
"Lately she's forgotten a few things, and to remind her who I am, I would sing her songs to her on the phone and that's how she would recognize me."
