Jonathan Pollard dedicates the sefer Torah pledged in prison

Photos: Nitzi Ilan, Shomron Regional Council

It’s been a little more than 100 days since Jonathan Pollard realized his lifelong dream of “coming home” to the Land of Israel. It seemed unimaginable during the darkness of the 30 years he spent in prison on spying charges and the next five years confined on parole.

One of the dreams he and his wife Esther shared during those years was a goal they set of writing a sefer Torah and dedicating it to Kever Yosef. Just as Yosef Hatzaddik’s dreams came true, so did theirs.

Mishpacha’s editor at large Binyamin Rose was one of the invited guests, and he reveals, for the first time, the personal connection he established and has cultivated with Jonathan Pollard over the past five years

Kever Yosef, in the heart of Shechem, is situated in “Area A” under full Palestinian control. It’s open to Jewish visitors just 16 days a year.

The night last week when Jonathan and Esther Pollard donated a sefer Torah — written while Jonathan was in prison — to the burial place of Yosef Hatzaddik was not one of those 16, which necessitated getting special permission from security authorities.

The hachnassas sefer Torah coincided with the start of Ramadan, the month when devout Muslims fast all day, adding a crackling tension to the air.

The 45-mile ride from Jerusalem to Shechem in a bulletproof bus was arduous, lasting two and a half hours, twice as long as usual. Arab vehicles aggressively cut off cars with Israeli license plates at the Tapuach Junction south of Shechem, bogging us down in standstill traffic. Visibility was reduced through the bus’s specially protected windows, but as we passed through Arab villages, we could see the streets were bustling. Stores were packed with shoppers stocking up for break-the-fast meals, and animal carcasses hung from hooks outside butcher shops to tempt the meat eaters.

Our group of about 50 people and the Pollards were treated to a lavish dairy buffet at the Kabir Winery on the pastoral yishuv of Elon Moreh, population 2,000. The Torah, in parshas Lech Lecha, relates that Elon Moreh was one of Avraham Avinu’s first stops when he entered the Land, when the “Canaanites were still in the Land.” Not much has changed in 4,000 years, as Jews are still in the minority in this part of the Shomron.

Jonathan and Esther Pollard traveled there privately. The crowd was intimate; nevertheless, the Pollards looked a bit awed when they arrived at the gathering.

Once they settled down, I ambled over to the head table and tapped Jonathan on the arm. He greeted me, “Binyamin!” and I made the brachah of mechayeh meisim.

I made a l’chayim, and Jonathan looked at me and said: “We got here.”

I replied: “I always knew you would.”