An Israeli National Treasure Turns 90

Today, one of Israel’s national treasures turns ninety.

Gidon Lev was born on March 3rd, 1935 in Karlovy Vary in former Czechoslovakia. His family fled to Prague in 1938 after the Munich Agreement ceded the Sudeten to Hitler. In 1941, Gidon and his family were sent to Theresienstadt.  In Canada, Gidon became involved with HaShomer Hatzair and came to Israel in 1959, first to Kibbutz Hazorea, then later to Kibbutz Zikim. He has written much about his experiences, first in The True Adventures of Gidon Lev and then in Let’s Make Things Better (the Hebrew edition will be available this April.) Gidon has also amassed well over half a million followers on social media, where he talks about his story and has become a Holocaust educator par excellence.

Gidon’s greatest contribution to Israel has been his six grown children, sixteen grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren (with a third on the way!) Last week on Kibbutz MishMar HaEmek, the family gathered on a sunny spring day in the bustan and celebrated their Aba, Saba, and Saba Raba as he began his 91st year of living.

There, in the orchard, the smiling faces of the family that Gidon built with his late wife Susan included neuroscientists, stem cell researchers, onion farmers, architects, and professional clowns. There were writers, poets, dancers, cousins, and dear friends from Beersheva, Jerusalem, and Haifa. Some grandkids descend from kibbutz founders and former members of the Palmach. Some grandkids descend from grandparents who came to Israel from Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, and Brooklyn, New York.

Everybody in the bustan expressed themselves in their own way, toting salads, cakes, and homemade cards. Kids did cartwheels, and the birds sang. Yes, our politics differ, sometimes very much so, and yes, everybody knows someone who suffered or was murdered on or after October 7th. And yes, every one of us needed a reason to smile and celebrate. So that is what we did.

Gidon Lev, the family patriarch, the blue-eyed rascal who never quite grew up, gives us all a reason to smile, celebrate, and hang onto hope.