Shabi Maor
Shabi Maor was born in Kovno, Lithuania in 1939. His parents, Yehezkel and Ella Pularevitch, called him after Shlomo Ben Yosef who was the first martyr to be executed by the British in Israel, then Palestine; his second name, Yaakov, was after Yaakov Raz, one of the heroes of the Etzel. It is worth noting that as he was growing up, he heard many languages, including Yiddish and Hebrew, but his first spoken words were in Hebrew. In 1941, his father was sentenced to ten years in jail and he, his mother and grandmother were exiled to Siberia because of his father's Zionist activities. Although it was freezing in Siberia and there was hardly any food, his mother educated him and managed to support them.
Shabi was a devoted child and often refused "delicacies" that his mother offered him, preferring reading material. Once, when he was 9, he went to the market with his mother; his mother saw a man selling apples and wanted to buy one for her son (the apple cost 5 rubles). He refused, saying: "if you have decided to spend so much money on me, it would be better if you bought me a book!" He loved reading and his teacher told his mother that he picked things up so quickly that he was allowed to bring a book to school so that he would not get bored. His mother educated him in the spirit of Judaism and made sure he knew why his father was imprisoned. He finished elementary school there and was an excellent student but his teachers prevented him from getting any awards or prizes because his father was "a traitor to the Socialist motherland". He was very musical and had such a sweet singing voice that they predicted him a future as a singer. After he finished elementary school, he had to travel 200 kilometers to the nearest high school, however by this time Shabi was 15 and would soon be eligible for an identity card. If he stayed with his parents he would get the card of an exile like them and would have to spend the rest of his life in the godforsaken village where his parents were imprisoned. He made a heroic decision to travel alone to Lithuania in the Soviet bloc, study at one of the schools there and then be eligible for a regular identity card in his new home. The plan worked and he then returned to his parents and graduated from high school there. He was supposed to be awarded a gold medal for academic excellence but, shortly before the due date, the ceremony was cancelled because he was "the son of a traitor" and he did not receive the medal.
He decided to study medicine at Krasnoyak University which was several thousand kilometers from where he lived. Despite the heavy competition he passed the entrance examination and was accepted into the Faculty of Medicine. In 1956, while still a high school student, his parents first requested permission to make aliyah to Israel having secured all the appropriate documentation. Their application was rejected because, being imprisoned in the village in Siberia, they did not have identity cards so the application did not even reach the authorities. However, Shabi had always wanted to live in Israel and urged his parents to apply every year for permission to make aliyah. He did not belong to the Communist Youth Movement although it was compulsory; his teachers urged him to join otherwise he could not have taken the matriculation examinations but he continued applying to go on aliyah. Eventually, in 1957, his father was allowed to leave Siberia and return to Soviet Lithuania and his mother followed a few months later. Shabi remained behind to complete his medical studies.
At that time the repatriation of Poles who were living in Soviet territory, but had lived in Poland before the war, came to an end. Moreover, if a Soviet citizen married a Pole, s/he and the whole family were eligible for the same repatriation rights to Poland as the spouse; now that they were in Poland they were granted permission to make aliyah. Once Shabi heard this he left the university and rushed back to Kovno hoping to continue his studies there. In spite of the fact that his studies were in Russian he had to take an exam in Lithuanian, a language he had never heard nor spoken, within three months. He passed the exam and also underwent a "proxy marriage" with a Polish woman who had repatriation rights – the whole family barely managed to hand in the repatriation papers in time. The struggle continued for almost two years and, unfortunately, met with repeated opposition from the Russian authorities. The authorities quickly closed the files they were dealing with and archived the unfinished ones. Shabi separated from his Polish "wife" and he and his parents resumed their struggle to make aliyah within the framework of "reunion of families". He completed his medical studies and worked in Palanga in Soviet Lithuania. However, in closed circles he learnt Hebrew songs (especially Betar songs). Fortunately, in 1964, the Prime Minister of Denmark (Dr. Krag) visited Israel and a family friend, MK Menahem Begin, asked him to lobby the Russian government (where he was going after Israel) to give the family a permit to make aliyah. A few months later the Danish ambassador informed Mr. Begin that the permit had been granted.
In 1964, after Shabi-Yaakov had completed his service as a lieutenant in the Russian army, he and his family received the permit to make aliyah. However, the Russian authorities tried to block his departure: they gave his parents and grandmother the permit to leave but claimed that "since he was a student of the Soviet regime who had put so much effort into his studies" he should stay behind "of his own free will". But Shabi refused to consent to this malicious proposal and would not sign any documents. He claimed: I will not abandon my parents in their old age and I will stay wherever they are. Shabi was victorious! The whole family reached Israel in 1965 and there was no end to his joy. He went to Ulpan Etzion in Jerusalem and started working at Bikkur Holim hospital. When he finished the ulpan he started working at Kaplan hospital in Rehovot as an internist.
In 1966 he enlisted in the career army, finished Officers Training School and continued his army service with a regiment in the south. When he heard that the Syrian front was heating up he volunteered to go there. Later when he heard that there was a shortage of doctors in the Navy, he volunteered to serve there and was appointed doctor of the submarine flotilla. He was sent to England, took courses in deep sea diving and became an expert in the field. During the Six Day War he served on the navy boat Noga. Afterwards, when he was sent to England for further studies, and a second time when he flew to join the crew of the Dakar, he would send heartwarming letters to his parents, his girlfriend and even to his friends in Russia, particularly the Jewish ones, whom he had not forgotten.
On the submarine he would become involved in discussions and talks on any subject, particularly politics. He also enjoyed talking about literature, science and, of course, medicine. Between conversations he would sit and read heavy scientific tomes or the latest medical journals. Sadly, when the Dakar was on its way to its home port between Gibraltar and Haifa, contact was lost and never regained. That was on the 25th January, 1968.
The Military Rabbinate decided that the date of death for all the men aboard the Dakar, who died in the line of duty, would be 29th Tevet, 5728 (30th January, 1968).Since Shabi-Yaakov was a missing crew member of the Dakar, his memorial stone was placed within the memorial to the crew of the Dakar at the military cemetery on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem.
In his condolence letter to Shabi's family, the Commander of the Navy wrote, among other things: your beloved Yaakov was not a member of the crew of the submarine; as a doctor who believed in his mission he was prepared to sail on a vessel that he had never seen before. From the first moment, he was loved by all for his sensitivity, modesty and affability."
The Etzel Memorial Committee has donated a prize to be presented annually on Shabi's-Yaakov's birthday in his memory for a literary work or newspaper article on topics connected to the exploration of the sea and its depths. In Eran Shorer's book Shisha Yamim Badakar, several pages, including a picture, were devoted to Dr. Yaakov Maor. On the 22nd of June, 1968, his companion, Lisa Hasson, gave birth to a baby boy who was named after his father.
The Dakar was found on Friday, the 13th of Nissan, 5759 (28th of May, 1999) in the Mediterranean.
Location: 33 41 north 29 43 east at a depth of 2,900 meters.
Estimated sinking time: early morning on the 25th January, 1968
Translated from : Fallen soldiers of Petah-Tikva
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