As the American chapter of the book on Jonathan Pollard is coming to a close, a new, more hopeful sequel is about to be written

Photos: Flash90, AP Images, Reuters

When Jonathan Jay Pollard picked up the phone in his home last Friday afternoon to the voice of a US parole officer informing him that the government was lifting all of his parole restrictions, this joyous — and unexpected — news of his freedom was not his only cause for gratitude.

“When Jonathan called me to let me know, he said he was thankful that they called him early enough on Friday, and that everything was done over the phone,” said his longtime confidant, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, who was the first to hear the good news after the Pollards and their lawyers. “Since he didn’t have to come down to their office late that afternoon, he was able to avoid any possible chillul Shabbos.”

The glad tidings also arrived in enough time that Pollard’s wife, Esther, could perform one more crucial melachah before the onset of Shabbos.

“Esther had the zechus of cutting the GPS tracking device off Jonathan’s wrist, under authorization, of course, from Jonathan’s parole officer,” Rabbi Lerner told Mishpacha.

That symbolic act was a fitting conclusion to a 35-year ordeal, which began in 1985 with the arrest of Pollard, then a 31-year old US naval intelligence officer, and his subsequent 1987 sentence to life in prison for conspiracy to deliver classified information to the State of Israel. The normal sentence for spying for a friendly country was two to seven years.

During his long incarceration, Pollard turned into a pawn in US-Israel relations, as successive US administrations often dangled Pollard’s freedom as a “prize” for Israeli concessions at US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Pollard developed many serious health conditions during his years in prison — some of them spent in solitary confinement — which still require treatment to this day. Pollard was released from prison in November 2015, but his parole conditions the past five years turned into a different form of imprisonment. The parole board slapped draconian conditions on him, including the requirement to wear the wrist monitor that tracked his whereabouts; a strict 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew; and a travel ban that essentially confined him to a small radius around the cramped studio apartment in which he and Esther resided in upper Manhattan.

That five-year parole period ended this past Friday. Following the parole board’s decision to terminate parole and lift all restrictions, Pollard is now free to travel anywhere. He plans to take full advantage of the Israeli citizenship he was granted in 1995 and make aliyah, although that will have to wait a bit, as Esther is currently undergoing medical treatment at a New York hospital and must arrange identical treatment protocols in Israel.

“He has to take into account the medical considerations of his wife,” Rabbi Lerner said. “He can’t just go to Israel and say, here I am.”

Israeli officials, including Health Minister Yuli Edelstein and Hadassah CEO Zev Rothstein, have offered to facilitate that transition. Prime Minister Netanyahu, who often went to bat for Pollard with US presidents, also expressed his gratitude and support, in subdued fashion, via Twitter, as part of an understanding that Israel is not going to politicize Pollard’s release.

In the meantime, the Pollards will need every iota of that support and prayers for Esther Yocheved bas Raizel Bracha and Yehonatan ben Malka as they transition into their new lives.