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"This was his home": The librarian Avraham Lev, who won the battle to save the Kiryat Shmona library, passed away.

From the age of one, Avraham Lev lived in Kiryat Shmona, which he loved with all his heart.

His additional love for books was realized in his work as a librarian at the municipal library, where he worked for most of his life.

When he was informed 11 years ago that the place would close, he struggled with the decision, and after many months was a success and the place remained open.

This week he died at the age of 71

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• Books

• Library

• Kiryat Shmona

• Yom Hakkipurim War

Eli Ashkenazi

Saturday, October 23, 2021, 12:30 p.m.

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In the video: Aryeh Lev The mythological librarian of Kiryat Shmona has passed away (Eli Ashkenazi)

Precisely during the book week, which was a holiday week for him, 11 years ago, Avraham Lev announced the closure of the municipal library in Kiryat Shmona where he worked. Lev not only grieved the loss of his private workplace, but also was unable to come to terms with the closure of the place he considered an educational and social institution necessary for city life.

Despite the closure of the library, Lev used to secretly lend books to devout readers, and openly launched a public struggle that resonated across the country. After many months the struggle was successful, but he was no longer returned to work. Last week, Avraham Lev passed away at the age of 71.

Lev was born in 1950 to Ilana and Emanuel Lev in the town of Blaj in Romania, ten years younger than his older brother, Yaakov. Their father was religious and observant. When he was one year old, the family immigrated to Israel. The parents' couple and their two sons were sent to the Halasa transit camp, near the northern border, as were other immigrants who arrived at the time from Romania and Morocco. Later in the year, the name of the settlement was changed to "Kiryat Yosef" and later to "Kiryat Shmona".

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Lev at work in the Kiryat Shmona library (Photo: courtesy of the family)

Who lost his brother in the war of Joachim - and struggled to enlist

His nephew, Doron Rosenblum-Lev, said that "Avraham was a faithful son of Kiryat Shmona." He loved the city with all his heart and according to his nephew "the campus and his friends were all his life". Lev was hard of hearing and already as a child suffered from various health problems, which did not relieve him in the company of children. However, the small family unit was warm and supportive and Avraham studied and integrated with his peers. "His life was not easy, accompanied by challenges and personal wars," his nephew concluded.

His older brother, Jacob, was a role model for him. He was revered and received support from him. Yaakov, who was an outstanding athlete and a key figure in the "Working Youth" movement in Kiryat Shmona, left the city after his release from the IDF, and later started a family and worked in the IAI. During the Yom Kippur War, when he was only 33 years old In the southern Golan Heights.

It was a severe blow to the family.

Abraham found it difficult to digest the heavy loss, yet he mobilized his forces and supported his parents.

Then the decision to enlist in military service also came to his heart, despite the IDF's refusal to enlist him, due to his health problems. His struggle was successful and he was drafted into an anti-aircraft unit.

"Knowledge to direct each student to the appropriate book"

From a young age he was immersed in the world of books. He was thirsty for knowledge and was interested in many subjects including history, knowledge of the country, politics and literature and also engaged in photography. He studied geography and Eretz Israel for a bachelor's degree at the University of Haifa, and after graduating his dream was to work as a librarian. A few years later the dream came true and he found expression for his great love and began working in the municipal library of Kiryat Shmona and was in charge of the reference library.

In view of the extensive knowledge he has accumulated and due to his recognition of the importance of studies, deepening knowledge and love of books, he saw great importance in instilling this in the students of the schools in the city. Moshe Stroll, one of the library's devout subscribers and a friend of Lev's, said that "Avraham knew how to direct each student to the reference books that would help him in his work. He lived the library and found a purpose in it."

Lev, like his mother who would declare that she was "revolutionary" (revolutionary) had strong opinions in the fields of society and politics.

He believed in the values ​​of equality and socialism and would express it aloud, even if these views were considered outlandish.

Among the characters he admired was Arie Luba Eliav.

When Eliav passed away right during the struggle for the library, Lev went to the funeral and asked to attend to cover the grave.

He made sure to wear a "Mao Tse Tong hat" and wear a shirt with a Che Guevara character print.

Heart at the funeral of Aryeh Luba Eliav (Photo: Uri Lenz)

The library where he worked noticed, was part COMMUNITY CENTER city encountered so financial difficulties. As a result, it was decided to close the library. Note interviewed by the media, protested against the closure and made waves when he stands at the forefront of the fight against the closure of the library.

"Even for cuts, there are things that must not Touch: Would the municipality have agreed to close a synagogue - one of many? Whereas a library has only one. Not only is it unpleasant to see it closed, it is outrageous, "Yossi Sarid wrote in the Haaretz newspaper at the time. "If I had to choose between a city that has a municipality and no library, and a city that has a library and no municipality, I would choose the latter option," added Sarid, who had visited the city where he lived twenty years earlier.

Lev did not only fear the loss of his livelihood and meager salary and said then that "the library is my home, when I am sick - I come to the library to recover. Beyond the existential fear I am afraid that Kiryat Shmona will be left without a library. A library is not a bank or a post office, it is a more important institution. Without wisdom and without knowledge, there will be neither a bank nor a post office. "

"One of the group": a member of the Romanian synagogue community

Avraham Lev did not start a family and it hurt that he did not have a spouse. A bright spot in his life was the community he belonged to. It was a group of the "Ben Zion" synagogue in Kiryat Shmona known as the "Romanian synagogue".

After the death of his father, Lev began to come to the synagogue to recite Kaddish for the upliftment of his father's soul who was a regular synagogue supervisor. Slowly he began to approach the group of worshipers and religion. The synagogue was then joined by new residents who came to the city - teachers and freelancers, who filled the ranks after most of the worshipers, from Romania, passed away, merging with the veteran worshipers.

"Abraham became one of the synagogue community and was one of the group," said Moshe Meir, a synagogue attendant who became Lev's friend. He added that "Abraham also expressed in the synagogue his social and political views, sometimes also as a defiance of his fate. He would say that he has his own ways of talking to God and he talks to him directly,Like a friend and sometimes sharing difficulties with him. "

In the tradition that took root in the synagogue, it was customary to read the Haftarah on Simchat Torah.

At that time his birthday fell and his brother was killed close to that day.

"He read the Haftarah in a style identified with the Jews of Romania, a different style than usual," Meir said.

"Everyone already knew it was Abraham's haftarah," he noted.

"The Campus and his friends have been his whole life."

Lev with his nephew, Doron Lev Rosenblum (Photo: courtesy of the family)

Every Saturday night, Lev would be hosted by one of the families of the worshipers and even had a kind of two adoptive families: the Melchior and Glidai families.

In recent years his health condition has deteriorated and they have taken care to feed him and support him.

His nephew Doron said that he tried to persuade Avraham to move to live close to his family in the center of the country, but he refused and said he would not leave Kiryat Shmona.

A week and a half ago, Lev passed away.

Many of the city's residents came to pay their last respects to him, and during the funeral procession his friends went after the coffin and sang the piyyut "Praise of Jerusalem" which became identified with Lev, who used to walk past the box in the synagogue and sing it on many occasions.

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