BGU | MY PATH, Haim Doron, MD

To demonstrate just how dire this shortage was, let me share with readers my first meeting with Dr. Itzhak Shatal, a religiously observant physician from Holland, who was Clalit’s district medical administrator in the Negev when I arrived there. Shatal claimed with a wink that he was “the first physician and the first mohel (religious circumciser) in the Negev since our forefather Abraham of yore”; and indeed, Shatal performed our eldest son’s brit (circumcision), too. As a district medical director, he had to combine clinical work with administrative functions even on the most basic level. But most of the workload placed on his shoulders was receiving and treating patients. Therefore, when I arrived for a work interview with him at the beginning of my years in the Negev, in lieu of interviewing me, he said: “They already informed me of your coming. Good you’re here. Perhaps you can begin now to examine patients?” I came for an interview – to ask, to listen, to see what was involved and so forth; but the shortage of doctors was so acute that Shatal mobilized me immediately on-the-spot. Another figure I remember well was Dr. Irwin Cohen. 11 Cohen was a cardiologist in Tel Aviv, but gave up his career and his private practice to come to the Negev to treat patients. He was older than we but would travel by jeep from rural settlement to rural settlement to treat patients, staying overnight in an isolated development town in the boondocks, Yerucham, in order to be within calling range to take care of Ben-Gurion at kibbutz Sde Boker - if need be. Once he also had an accident with the jeep that left him with a limp for years. Together with all the difficulties, we were overjoyed to live in Beer Sheva and be part of the community developing in the city and the Negev as a whole. A short time after our arrival, I initiated the establishment of an open forum to delve into and discuss fundamental problems facing Israeli society. We invited various figures, such as Prof. Yishiyahu Lebowitz 12 and Prof. Aharon Katzir. 13 Prof. Katzir was among the scientific leadership of the Weizmann Institute and also a lecturer of the first order. Unfortunately, years later he was murdered in the Lod (now Ben Gurion) Airport Massacre that killed 26 persons and was perpetrated by a three-man Japanese Red Army terrorist squad operating on behalf of a Palestinian terrorist organization. I remember one rainy winter night, the first mayor of Beer Sheva, David Tuviyahu invited me 14 to the Beit Yatziv community center together with educator Sara Bahat and Gershon Ostrovsky. 15 Ostrovsky had a vision to establish a unique cultural center in Beer Sheva. The sense that we were part and parcel of Beer Sheva’s flowering filled us with joy and satisfaction. They labeled us veteran Beer Shevans, although we were new immigrants: Veteran statuses were set, not merely by chronological years. They were measured by knowledge of Hebrew, both as one’s vernacular and professional vocabulary, one’s mastery of reading and writing, and so forth. 11 Dr. Irwin Cohen was born in Germany, studied medicine in Germany and immigrated to Israel in 1938. In 1951, he volunteered to serve as a doctor in the Negev and was David Ben-Gurion’s physician in kibbutz Sde Boker -- living part-time in Beer Sheva, part-time in the kibbutz. Levi, The Land of Israel’s Doctors , p. 273 12 Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz (1903-1994) was born in Riga (Latvia). He was a scientist and thinker, who studied science and philosophy in Berlin and Basel and immigrated to Israel in 1935. He served as editor of the Hebrew Encyclopedia and was a professor of biochemistry, organic chemistry, and neurophysiology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He published a host of books and articles in which he set forth his philosophical, religious, and political doctrine. 13 Prof. Aharon Katzir (1913-1972) was born in Lodz (Poland) and immigrated to Israel in 1925. He was a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science, a Fellow of the Israeli National Academy of Science, and Israel Prize laureate. He was murdered in a massive terrorist attack in 1972, staged in the Arrivals terminal of Israel’s international airport. 14 David Tuviyahu (1898-1975) was born in Galicia (Poland), studied law and political science at the University of Lvov in Poland (now the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine), and immigrated to Israel in 1920. He was the first mayor of Beer Sheva after establishment of the State of Israel. At Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s request, at the end of 1948 he settled in Beer Sheva to stand at the head of the council that served as a custodial government for the city, parallel to serving as director for operations in the south for the Labor Federation’s construction company Solel Boneh. In February 1950, he was appointed to head the Beer Sheva municipality. With his retirement from the mayorship of Beer Sheva in 1961, he promoted establishment of “the Institute for Higher Learning in the Negev” which, in time, became Ben Gurion University of the Negev. He was awarded Beer Sheva’s Key to the City in 1964 and in 1973 was honored as an Honorary Fellow by BGU. 15 Gershon Ostrovsky, born in Ukraine, immigrated to Israel in 1923. He was a member of the Gdud HaAvodah socialist Zionist labor brigade and from 1949 a member of kibbutz Ein Harod. He served as director of the public works department in Beer Sheva and was founder (1953) of Beer Sheva’s Beit Yatziv hospitality, education and culture center. He was awarded Beer Sheva’s Key to the City in 1978.

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