By Maayan Hoffman, Jerusalem, JNS
The wife of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, Esther will be buried at Har HaMenuchot Cemetery in Jerusalem. She was 68.
Esther Pollard, 68, the wife of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, died on Monday at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, the hospital confirmed. She had been battling COVID-19 and was suffering from sepsis.
The funeral will take place at Har HaMenuchot Cemetery in Jerusalem. The funeral procession will begin at 4 p.m.
A statement by the Committee for Jonathan Pollard said that Esther, who had breast cancer, caught the virus two weeks ago and was being treated at home at the recommendation of her doctors. Her health deteriorated over the weekend and she was brought in for intensive care at Hadassah over Shabbat.
“I never imagined in my worst nightmare that this could happen to Esther,” Jonathan Pollard told Israel National News. “After decades of her fighting for my release, I felt so powerless to help her.”
Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the chairman of Eretz Hakodesh at the World Zionist Congress, who had served as the Pollards’ rabbi, told JNS that “the heart of us all is broken at the bitter news.”
He said that Esther had “literally” dedicated her life to her husband—health, career and personal development.
“I can say with certainty that Jonathan is alive today only thanks to the love and support Esther has given him,” Lerner said. “Jonathan is free today thanks to the relentless efforts that Esther has devoted to him… She did this out of an unusual mission and faith in God.”
Lerner called on the people of Israel to come and support Pollard in this difficult time.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said of her death that “I was saddened to hear of the passing of Esther Pollard, a woman whose devotion to, and love for, Jonathan Pollard became a symbol of strength, determination and faith.”
Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked said that Esther’s devotion to her husband “aroused admiration and gave him mental strength. I am happy that she was able to settle with him in Israel, the land that she loved so much.”
“Some people change the world,” said Knesset member Nir Orbach. “Esther Pollard was one of them. She succeeded in her persistent struggle to help release her husband – a hero of Israel in his own right.”
Many others, including Knesset members Yuli Edelstein, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, also expressed their condolences.
The Pollards were married in 1993 while Jonathan was serving what was supposed to be a life sentence for selling classified information to Israel. He was paroled in 1995, following which he was required to remain in New York City.
The Pollards arrived in Israel a year ago after former President Donald Trump ensured the commutation of his life sentence to the 30 years he had served.
A documentary about Jonathan Pollard’s arrest that will be broadcast on Wednesday on Israel’s Kan news public television has brought his name back into the headlines in Israel.
