MOTHER

Remembering My Beloved Mother on What Would Have Been Her 99th Birthday: A Reflection on Her Life and Legacy. Though she passed away 12 years ago, the memory of her boundless tenderness, warmth, and generosity still resonates with me. Her simplicity and grace were like a gentle stream that enriched the lives of all those around her. In her seventh-grade project on family roots, my daughter Hila wrote about my mother's birth in 1921 to Russian immigrants living in the Neve Tzedek neighborhood of Tel Aviv. Her father, Joseph Melamed, enlisted in the Hebrew regiment on the day of her birth, and he served alongside Yitzhak Rabin, Berel Katznelson, and Yitzchak Ben Zvi. As a child, my mother attended the same kindergarten as Rabin, and she even dressed up as Queen Esther for Purim while he donned the costume of King Ahasuerus.

As she matured, she joined the British army as an ambulance driver, pursued her education at a nursing school, and dedicated many years to working at the children's department in Tel Hashomer Hospital.

After years of working as a nurse at Tel Hashomer Hospital, she felt a need for a change and embarked on a month-long journey to America. When she returned to Israel at 37, her close friends suggested she find a groom, but it wasn't a priority for her at the time. One of her cousins from Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot, Moshe Melamed, decided to take matters into his own hands and introduced her to his friend Moshe Kaplan. They hit it off and eventually married, settling in Kibbutz Lohamei HaGetaot.

The tapestry of my mother's life weaves together wonderful and challenging stories, bearing witness to a captivating and unorthodox journey. Her friends, some familiar and others not, evolved into figures found in history books or commemorated as the names of streets across the country. I am grateful to call myself your daughter and cherish each moment with you as my mom. I miss you dearly.

85th birthday at our home in Hod Hasharon with her granddaughters and her close friend, the late Sonia Peres.