Fulfilling Father’s Dying Wish, Young Woman Leaves Arab

With the words of her father’s last wish “Promise me that you will leave the Arab, that you will marry only a Jew,” Liora abandoned her plans to marry an Arab. Yet to honor her father’s first yahrtzeit, Liora went a step further in her return to the Jewish faith.

Liora was only 14 when she lost her mother. From the moment her mother fell ill, the family went into a tailspin, trying to help her fight the dreaded disease while, at the same time, lead a normal life. After two very difficult years, the mother succumbed.

But Liora, an only child, didn’t just lose a mother. She also lost a father, who drowned his grief in alcohol. Before long, she was was moved to the home of her father’s sister, who raised her with her own children. But things didn’t work out as planned. Liora came under the influence of bad friends and dropped out of school. She took odd jobs that brought in enough income to live independently.

It was during this period that she met an Arab who picked up on her need for attention and a warm home, and found ways to fill it. A year later, the two decided to marry at the Sharia court, but not before Liora was to convert to Islam.

Meanwhile, her father’s condition had worsened. The death of his wife broke him, as he suffered a heart attack and deteriorating health. When he learned that his daughter was in a relationship with an Arab and planning to convert to Islam and marry him, his heart broke again.

He called his daughter and tearfully pleaded for her to come home. “I am sick and weak, and know that my death is not far off,” he said. “Promise me that you will leave the Arab, that you will marry only a Jew.”

Liora was crushed by the enormity of the pain she’d caused her father and, in a voice choked with emotion, promised to sever her ties with the Arab. Relatives put her in touch with Yad L’Achim, which dispatched professionals to help her muster the strength to leave the Arab and start her life anew.

Less than six months later, Liora’s father died of a heart attack.

Last week, on the first yahrtzeit of his death, Liora decided, with the encouragement of the Yad L’Achim, to do something special for her father’s soul, l’ilui nishmaso, and go through the “return to Judaism” process.

A modest, emotional ceremony was held at a Rabbinical court in the south, where she lives. The dayanim, having verified her sincere desire to return to the Jewish people, unanimously approved her request. After the paperwork is completed at the Interior Ministry, she will be able to marry as a fully-fledged Jew, k’das Moshe v’Yisrael.

“Now I feel that I have fulfilled my late father’s wish,” Liora told the dayanim on receiving the signed “return to Judaism” document. “Not only have I left the Arab, but I have returned to the people of Israel, in the hope that I will soon build a faithful home and merit children who will carry my parents’ names.”