In 1958, about a year after the Six Day War, Elnathan Horowitz, 14, came to our village.
He came from Kibbutz Hulata in the Hula Valley and brought with him a box of fruit from the kibbutz. He had a high mane of hair and large square black glasses. I knew him right away and received him warmly. He asked to see the hut where he lived with his parents in the year he was born in 1971, the year he and Bnei Yaakov were born.
His father, Rabbi Moshe and Leah Horowitz immigrated to Israel with us in 1969.
On the 3rd of Adar I 5711 I gave birth to my second son, Yaakov.
Rabbi Moshe and Leah Horowitz were married for nearly eight years without children. Leah underwent fertility treatments and was in the beginning of her pregnancy with Elnatan when I gave birth to Yaakov.
In the summer of 1951, the eldest son of Rabbi Moshe and Leah was born and his name was called "Elnatan" in Israel.
A year later, the Horowitz family returned to America due to a medical problem Elnatan had. In America they had three more sons and a daughter. Elnathan was a very talented, very sensitive, curious and broad-minded child. As a child, he sent me a stone with an explanation of its geological history.
I was in correspondence with Rabbi Moshe and Leah. Rabbi Moshe ran a school in Miami, Florida, later moved to run institutions in Washington and the family moved to Washington. Elnatan was sent by them to study at the "Ner Israel" yeshiva in Baltimore. The atmosphere did not suit him and he moved to the "Ner Israel" branch in Toronto, Canada.
At the Yeshiva Elnatan, a reader of a scientific book was caught not being in the spirit of the yeshiva. The book was confiscated and burned.
Elnatan was injured. He left the yeshiva and the house and the chapter on the yoke of Torah and mitzvos. He returned to Miami, the city where he grew up, and joined the "hippies" - youth who, as an establishment rebel, led a laid-back and promiscuous lifestyle. The rift was terrible.
I wrote to Rabbi Moshe and Leah do not keep him away there is only one way; To love and fight. Indeed they did, and he remained in touch with his parents and with the home.
After the Six Day War, Elnathan told Rabbi Moshe that he was interested in traveling to the Far East, which has always fascinated anti-establishment youth. Rabbi Moshe told him why: "Go to the Far East, go to the Land of Israel." The great uplift of the Six Day War "caught" Elnathan and he accepted his father's offer and went to Israel to his aunt, Shoshana Carmeli nee Clears, sister of his mother Leah, in Kibbutz Hulata.
As stated above, Elnatan came to us in the village of Haroeh.
Sit down and write a letter to your parents explaining to them that they must immigrate to Israel and I will write to them as well
At the end of his visit to us, Elnathan told me that his father has great powers and his place in the country. I said to him: "Elnatan, you are right, write a letter to your parents again and explain to them that they must immigrate to Israel and I will write to them as well."
Indeed, we both wrote letters to Rabbi Moshe and Leah. I wrote to them: "If you want to save Elnatan and unite the family, leave everything and come to Israel."
At the Shiva about Elnatan and Dina the 4th, Rabbi Moshe Livni, Yaakov Novik, said that while the letters from Elnatan and me reached them, he signed a contract for the management of institutions in New York that was a great promotion for him, both educationally and economically. The New York contract for a year to move management in Washington in an orderly fashion, but the contract was signed.
Rabbi Moshe and Leah decided to leave everything and immigrate to Israel.
I traveled with Elnathan to greet them at the airport upon their arrival in the country. The meeting with Elnatan, their kibbutznik son from her illness, was very difficult for them. They moved to the absorption center in Kiryat Yuval in Jerusalem.
In 1937 - 1931 we went to Philadelphia where Samson Novik was accepted for his doctoral studies. Yaakov studied at the Merkaz Harav yeshiva and Yitzhak studied chemistry at the Hebrew University. The other children traveled with us to America.
The Horowitz family invited Yaakov to sit in the absorption center. Elnatan was at their home that Saturday. A heated debate developed over the Shabbat table over Judaism. After a few days, Elnatan called Yaakov to the yeshiva and asked him to arrange a meeting with the yeshiva head, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda HaCohen Kook, ztl.
Rabbi Moshe told Yaakov that Elnatan was in Jerusalem in those days and met with various rabbis and talked to them about questions that concerned him in matters of faith, one of the rabbis was Rabbi Golobenzitz, who asked Elnatan about his family. When it became clear to him that he was the son of Rabbi Moshe Horowitz, who was R.M.
Rabbi Golobenzitz studied in Kfar Haroeh in 1971 in the class of Rabbi Moshe Horowitz. Since he did not get along in the yeshiva, the heads of the yeshiva decided to "throw" him out of the yeshiva, Rabbi Moshe asked to leave him in the yeshiva at his own risk and they responded. Rabbi Golobenzitz continued from Kfar Haroeh to the Hebron Yeshiva and grew up to be an important scholar.
Rabbi Golobenzitz said to Elnatan: "I do not have enough answers to your questions, you need a person bigger than me," and suggested that he meet with Rabbi Zvi Yehuda. Following this, Elnatan called Yaakov, who arranged the meeting with the rabbi.
Elnatan became attached to Rabbi Zvi Yehuda and at the end of the process he repented, married Dina, started a glorious family and grew up to be a wise student and an important Torah scholar.
He and his wife were murdered on Kiddush Hashem on Saturday night at their home in Kiryat Arba. After his death his students published a number of wonderful books on topical matters of faith; The book "Look at the Tzur Hotzvam" on the book of Genesis, based on this week's Parshiot of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda with in-depth explanations by the Rabbi, and other books and articles, some based on tapes of his lessons.
Elantan had the ability to explain and abstract fundamental and profound things in matters of faith.
Hannah Novik