Zelda Ravid of London
In the heat of the moment, on the declaration of the State of Israel, my husband, Hymie, and I went to the Zionist Federation to offer our services. Hymie was a dentist and I was a nurse.
Hymie had served in the S.A.M.C. in both Egypt and Italy. I had trained at the Johannesburg General Hospital as an S.R.N. When Lionel Meltzer telephoned to say that he was arranging a medical team for Israel and that he had no nurse on his list, I had already reconsidered, as I had two young children (aged 4 and 1) to think of. However, I felt that I could not refuse, so I left my children with my mother and husband. My mother, Esther Naomi Pincus, had lived in Jerusalem between the ages 7 and 12 years, and was an ardent Zionist. Hymie was not called: because of the many dentists from Europe, there was no call for additional dentists at that time.
Our team had to stop over at Tunis to take a flight to Rome and from there to Haifa landing on the 25th of June. I was stationed at the Djani military hospital in Jaffa. It had previously been a private Arab hospital.
At first, I lived in a pre-fab room on the Hospital grounds, but later we nurses were moved to an Arab house in Jaffa proper. I was saddened by the evidence of the previous residents’ sudden departure e.g. the dregs of the last tea left cold, abandoned children’s toys and torn letters. We were kept very busy as the Jerusalem road had just been opened and casualties from the siege were sent to our hospital. There were many amputees. I was well trained for this work. The only change since I had qualified was the use of antibiotics, but I soon learned the dosages. I think it was very heartening for staff and patients that we had come from South Africa to help.
Then I was put on night theatre work. Dr. Moses, a survivor from Poland, operated throughout the nights and he had no anaesthetist. I had to pour chloroform over a primitive mask. During my training, I had spent a few months in the operating theatre but knew nothing about giving anaesthetics.
Hymie finally arrived on the 6th of October and operated a mobile dental clinic for the Northern Command over a period of many months.
In retrospect, I think that having come to Israel to help at such a crucial time was encouraging to the people threatened by invasion, and that I had left my children to do so, strengthened their feelings of hope for the future