A Double Romance
Love of Israel and Elaine
Letter Excerpts:
In Jerusalem they took me to Bet Hakerem where all the groups are staying. Guess who I met? Right. Elaine at 2:30 AM.
Somehow she had an idea I was coming and although still terribly surprised, it wasn’t as big a shock as I expected.
It seems Elaine recognized someone from the ZOA group & when the other girls asked how Elaine knew her, my name was mentioned. The other girl said ok that’s the boy that’s joining our group.
— July 21, 1957
Yesterday I said goodbye to Elaine on the boat SS Israel. It is beautiful.”
— August 23, 1957
From its beginnings, EL AL proudly flew the Jewish star on the tail of its aircraft.
The same factory years later in the bustling city of Ramat Gan.
Travel and touring as a group always creates a unique bond. Discovering new cultures, staying at a hostel together, encountering foreign points of view, learning to communicate in a different language draws people closer. And when it’s all over, after returning from such an adventure, the experiences and lasting memories shared, the life-changing moments experienced together. (I think here of your mother speaking to that woman under the tree in New Jersey, reminiscing about the trip)
When Bob Jacobs embarked on his voyage to explore Israel for the first time, he probably didn’t realize how much the adventure would nourish his relationship with his then girlfriend Elaine, who eventually became his wife. Life-changing experiences together are bonding, especially when a common ideology is already shared – a love and concern for Israel.
A travel buddy often becomes a friend for life. And sometimes your wife…
Travel nourishes a relationship in many ways. Discovering new cultures, encountering foreign points of view, and learning to communicate in a different language feeds your curiosity as a couple and draws you closer. Knowing you have someone to rely on in a foreign country really does strengthen your relationship, which is why couples seek out
life-changing trips to experience together
“One of the best parts of being in a relationship is having a built-in travel buddy, and one of the best parts of traveling with that built-in buddy is getting unobstructed one-on-one time while exploring unfamiliar parts of the world. Whether domestic or international, a trip with your significant other almost always guarantees sharing unusual experiences and learning something new about each other, like that your girlfriend gets a rush from cliff diving, or your boyfriend can make friends with anyone despite only being able to say “Where’s the bathroom?” in the local language.
It’s easy to uncover sides of your partner, and maybe even yourself, you haven’t seen before when you’re having many first-time experiences together, and travel allows couples to access a different kind of closeness than that of regular daily life”
18 Life-changing Trips for Couples Claudia Fisher January 30, 2020
From Comments page of July 21
The flight to Israel and surprising Elaine
My father, Bob Jacobs always talks about that special first trip to Israel sponsored by the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA). He would finally see the land of the Jewish People. He also looked forward to surprising his girlfriend Elaine, who arrived in Israel three weeks earlier on a Young Hadassah youth group tour.
“On the way I conversed with the driver in Hebrew. My ability to speak Hebrew made me proud”
Bob had learned Hebrew in Yeshiva of Flatbush as a child in Brooklyn. He was one of the few kids on tour who was proficient in Hebrew, which proved to be a big advantage to him while in Israel. His girlfriend and future wife Elaine, also had a background in Hebrew from her junior high school days earning a “certificate of excellence in Hebrew”.
“It seems Elaine recognized someone from the ZOA group…”
The ZOA plays a special part in my father’s life because it is where he met his wife Elaine. In 1951, at the age of sixteen, he was already volunteering for ZOA.
In 1955, he attended a meeting at the ZOA chapter in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn which was hosted by the President of the chapter, Isidore Mirwis. This particular ZOA meeting proved special, because my father met his future wife, Elaine, the daughter of Isidore Mirwis who was 16 years old at the time. My father recalls his thoughts: “She was drawing posters on the floor and serving drinks, and I knew I had to meet her”. It was love at first sight, and shortly after their encounter, they began dating.
Two years later in 1957, Elaine’s parents decided to send their daughter on a 6 week trip to Israel for the summer on a Young Hadassah tour. My dad who had never been to Israel before decided it would be a great time to go. He would finally get to see Israel and would get the chance to surprise Elaine.
“We arrived (in Jerusalem) at 2:30 am. Guess who I met? Right, Elaine”
Bob arrived in Jerusalem at 2:30 AM to try to surprise Elaine who was staying with the girls’ Young Hadassah group at the David Yellin School in Beit Hakerem, Jerusalem.
According to my father, the guard tried to stop him from going inside. My father answered that “the only way to stop me is to shoot me.” The guard obviously did not want to shoot my dad, so he let him into the girls’ dorm.
My dad found one of the girls. Her name was Doris and she woke up Elaine.
Elaine woke up and was surprised to see Bob. They started to talk. They stayed up all night and walked down Jaffa Road. They have taken many walks since and Elaine eventually became my mom.
From Comments page of August 15
“We are a convoy of 3 buses but separate when it comes time for lunch or tours of certain places.”
My mother recalls, “The youth groups had three buses and Bob always managed to get on my bus.”
From Comments page of August 23
“Yesterday I said goodbye to Elaine on the boat SS Israel. It is beautiful.”
Elaine traveled back to the U.S. with her Young Hadassah group on the luxury SS Israel ship which Israel obtained from Germany in 1955 as part of German reparations. The ship departed from the port of Haifa, stopped in Piraeus Greece, Naples Italy, Gibraltar, Funchal Portugal and finally arrived in New York. The trip took two weeks. As of 2020, there are no cruises or trips by boat from Israel to the U.S.
After Elaine left Israel my father continued his tour of Israel with his ZOA group and also toured alone. He returned to the U.S. by plane ten days later, stopping in Europe.
Bob Jacobs’ trip to Israel was just one year after the Sinai Campaign of October, 1956 and there were many references in his letters to this war. The military operation, also called “Operation Kadesh”, sought to put an end to terrorist incursions of the “fedayeens” into Israel. Adding to this was the tension created when Egyptian President Nasser decided to nationalize the Suez Canal. The “Suez Crisis” (another name for this episode) drew France and England into the conflict with Egypt too.
Israeli soldiers prepare to enter Sinai/Gaza during the ’56 war
In a swift, sweeping operation of 100 hours, the entire Sinai peninsula (including “Sharm e-Sheikh”) fell into Israeli hands, at a cost of 231 soldiers killed. The defeat of the Egyptian forces included a battle at sea, where an Egyptian destroyer along with its 250 crew members were captured in proximity to the Port of Haifa. The Egyptian warship, called “Ibraham El Awal”. was towed back to Haifa where it was repaired, and later entered the Israel Navy as the “I.N.S. Haifa”.
As seen from these letters, this amazing feat was publicized throughout Israel, as Israelis and tourists alike hopped aboard the captured Egyptian ship for a free ride.
The captured Egyptian destroyer, “Ibraham El Awal” renamed the “INS Haifa” –
“the first time a destroyer had ever been captured in modern times.”
In January 1957, Israel withdrew from the Sinai in the face of US pressure asserted by US President Eisenhower and Secretary of State Dulles. Many Israelis protested the withdrawal.
Israel recaptured the Sinai in the 1967 Six-Day War, but Prime Minister Menachem Begin surrendered it to Egypt as a result of the 1979 Camp David Accords.
A destroyed Egyptian T-34 tank lays lifeless in the Sinai desert.
Israel captures Egyptian destroyer and its crew
100,000 Israelis protest withdrawal from Gaza & Sinai 1957
The Sinai Campaign: Israel’s 1956 war with Egypt
David’s possible changes and links
The original memo sent by David to Lenny with the links showing all the opposition to Israel’s occupation of Sinai from US and the reaction of Israelis to this pressure from the US