Written by Yonatan Ofir
Translated by Rivkah Ben-Yisrael
Edited by Juliana Brown
The group of children from Kibbutz Mefalsim sat on the blue carpet in the hotel in Herzliya. Across from them, on the gray sofa, sat 85-year-old Hannah Gofrit, who smiled at them. When Hannah heard that children from the Gaza Envelope were forced to hide from terrorists, she decided that she would help by meeting with them, sharing her personal experience, and proving to them that the future can still be wonderful.
“One day, I had everything, and the next, it suddenly disappeared,” she told the children. “The house I grew up in, the games, the books, and the members of my extended family - it all disappeared. Suddenly, there was no home.”
“That’s what happened to us,” the children answered, and Hannah replied, “That’s why I came to talk to you.”
About 75 years ago, the cursed Nazis came to the small town where four-year-old Hannah lived in Poland. Hannah and her mother escaped and hid with a Polish family- Righteous Among the Nations. They lived in the house for about two years and helped with the household chores. Whenever the family had guests, Hannah and her mother hid in the closet until the danger passed. Hannah was very afraid of the darkness of the closet and of being discovered, and she used her imagination to help her cope.
“I imagined that I was a butterfly flying back to my childhood town. I was not little Hanuchka inside the closet but a free, happy butterfly. Thanks to that, I regained the hope that one day life would be good again.”
The children of Kibbutz Mefalsim looked at her with eyes full of wonder and shared their stories with her, too. Their parents were also present, and they thanked Hannah for strengthening them through her words.
Hannah was blessed with four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Her story of survival was published in a children’s book called “I Wanted to Fly Like a Butterfly,” which was translated into 17 different languages! As part of the “Memory in the Living Room” project, Hannah met the singer Eliana Tidhar. Hannah’s life story was set to music and became a song performed by Eliana. Eliana also joined the meeting and sang the moving song “Butterfly.”
“When I look into the eyes of Holocaust survivors, I feel like I’m looking at superheroes, and when I look into all of your eyes, I feel the same way,” she told the children.
Hannah- the timeless heroine- who teaches us what hope is.
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