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the raspy voice of Rav Drukman reciting
the prayer of ribon kol haOlamim, “Sovereign
of the Worlds,” that many recite on Friday
night. Listening to Rav Drukman’s tefillah,
Minister Strock closed her eyes devoutly.
She said: “That’s how Rav Drukman’s
ְ
kiddush sounds. Every time he said “ך ֶל ֶמ,”
“King,” it made us feel that the King was
there with us around the Shabbat table.
And that’s not the Yom Kippur prayer; it’s
the Friday night kiddush we say every week.
To me, that was the basis of everything –
Rav Drukman’s closeness to G-d, his aware-
ness that G-d is here with us all the time. It
obligates us, empowers us, and uplifts us.
“And when Rav Drukman would open a
book to teach a lesson – many books, a
pile of books – he would read a verse from
each book, two sentences, a short passage,
almost nothing. But he read every word Rabbi Drukman and Rabbi Doron Perez at a Mizrachi event for outgoing shlichim in 2018.
with reverence, love and admiration, as if
he had found a special pearl and was exam- I was assigned to call Rav Drukman and and he finally said: “!ןָיּוצ ְמ,” “Excellent!” Just
ining it from all directions. This is not love ask him to come to the demonstration. I as he would always say “!ןָיּוצ ְמ”... He put all
of Torah – this is falling in love with Torah! remember calling, and that Rav Drukman his effort into this word. And it was the last
This is what it was like with him; he was wouldn’t answer the phone. I called again word I heard from him.”
in love with every word of Torah. Just as he and again – I’m very stubborn – but still Minister Strock reminded me of the con-
was in love with every person who came to he didn’t answer. Finally, he answered and versations I had with Rav Drukman when
him. In love. And it was impossible not to said: ‘Orit, I’m not able to speak,’ and hung I was very young and would ask him for
feel this love. He simply loved each one of up the phone. advice about all kinds of things. When I
us in his soul, and we felt this love. And he “I said to myself: ‘OK, so Rav Drukman is spoke with Rav Drukman, he always let
had the same love for the Land of Israel. sitting by the phone. All I have to do is call me speak and would sit there, listening, lis-
When he would say al haMichyah, the after again and explain what an important issue tening and listening. He would guide me in
blessing – oh, how he would say it! “ּונ ֵל ֲע ַה ְו we’re dealing with, and then he’ll speak the right direction, but he made sure that it
ּ ה ָכֹות ְל,” “bring us up to [the Land],” “ּונ ֵח ְּ מ ַׂש ְו with me.’ I dialed again, and he answered always came from me and from within me.
ּ
ּ ה ָנָיְנ ִב ְב,” “let us rejoice in its rebuilding,” again and said, ‘Orit, I’m not able to speak. And when I would come to a conclusion, he
“הָּי ִר ְּ פ ִמ ל ַכאֹנ ְו,” “let us eat from its fruit,” Rav Neria passed away,’ and hung up. would always say “!ןָיּוצ ְמ.” For me, too, that
“ ּ הָבּו ּ ט ִמ עַּ ב ְשִנ ְו,” “let us be satiated with its was the last word I heard from him.
ׂ
goodness.” With every phrase you felt that “Unable to speak! Without speaking, he
he was falling in love with the Land of Israel spoke so much. All of a sudden I understood I am truly grateful to G-d for giving me
all over again. what it meant that Rav Neria had passed the privilege to know a person who was so
away. Rav Drukman was unable to speak! alive, who brought so much light, like Rav
“From all this love, from all these deep feel- Because that’s how Rav Drukman was. He Chaim Meir Drukman.
ings, came his incredible mesirut nefesh, and lived life fully and intensely; he absorbed
his hospitality. Everything he accomplished everything, nothing passed him by.  Originally published in Hebrew in B’Sheva.
stemmed from this – from a life full of love,
faith, of immense gratitude. He constantly “I merited one last word of strength,”
lived in gratitude, doing more and more for she concluded. “In his final days, when I
G-d, because he was constantly thankful to realized the condition he was in, I came to
have lived in this generation. visit him every day. I arrived on the night of
Chanukah before the Rav passed away, and
“When Shimon Peres was prime minister, to my delight he recognized me and said
it seemed like every two weeks he gave hello. Then I talked with him a little and
another city to Yasser Arafat. He started prayed next to him. But then I had to return
in the north: Jenin and Tulkarm, then to the Knesset; what could I do? So I said:
Yedidya Meir
Ramallah. We knew that Bethlehem was “HaRav, I need to go back to the Knesset, I is a journalist and radio broadcaster.
next. We decided to organize a demonstra- will come again tomorrow.” Then I saw Rav He is a weekly columnist for B'Sheva.
tion to protest giving away Bethlehem, and Drukman struggling very hard to speak,

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