93-year-old WWII hero visits Rambam Mesivta

Sydney Rabinovich, a 93-year-old veteran of World War II and a fighter in Israel’s War of Independence, was the keynote speaker at Rambam Mesivta’s annual Yom Ha’atzmaut assembly.

Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, Rambam’s Rosh Mesivta, introduced Mr. Rabinovich as a true hero who helped in the establishment of Medinat Yisrael by volunteering to fight there immediately after he finished his Army service in the United States miliary.

“We take everything for granted,” Rabbi Friedman explained. “If you want to go to Israel, we call up a travel agent and book a flight. Mr. Rabinovich did not have that luxury. There was no El Al, there was no State, and he didn’t have to go. Yet, Mr. Rabinovich chose to go, took a boat and stood ready to sacrifice his life for Klal Yisroel.”

The talmidim rose in respect when Mr. Rabinovich was introduced and sat mesmerized during his presentation. He spoke about the difficulties of the battle, the paucity of weapons available to the Jews, the overwhelming enemy forces they faced, and the miracles that took place.

Upon the conclusion of his remarks he stopped and offered, “Wait, I have one more story to tell.”

He then recounted how he was assigned to infantry, air force or navym “depending upon the needs of the day.” While in the navy, the few boats that the Israelis had were confronted by a destroyer and a battleship named the King Farouk. He said there was no way to fight the overwhelming forces given their military advantage. The Israeli forces had to swerve and constantly be on the move to avoid the Egyptian shells being fired at them.

“One night we were given the order to withdraw and soon woke up to hear that the King Farouk had sunk.” The withdrawal of the Israeli boats was a decoy to give the Egyptian ships a false sense of security.

‘’What happened was, Israel had developed an underwater torpedo that could be carried by frogmen, so our guys took the torpedo, jumped into the water and swam towards the Egyptians and fired — that was the end of the King Farouk.”