He continued:
At first I was hesitant, but then I consented to join.
It was no simple matter. Mr. Daskal utilized his connections, and within a few months, he had organized a plan.
He called me to tell me, “Mr. Kopmer, I finished my work. I have approval from Greece, and approval from the army to get commando troops to accompany us. I also have authorization from the military rabbinate. I was able to arrange that the chief military rabbi, Rabbi Gad Piron, will participate in the operation. Also, I took care of the funding...”
I don’t know how much Mr. Daskal paid, but it must have been a very hefty sum, because the expenses for the operation were enormous.
The Noga, the ship on which we traveled, had three levels. We were joined by ten members of the military chevrah kaddisha, and other military personnel. We set out on a voyage of more than a week.
It Wasn’t So Simple
The operation was quite complicated to execute. The island of Syrna cannot be reached by a large ship; it’s necessary to drop anchor some distance away and then sail to the island with little boats.
To our surprise, the same Greek gentile who had lived on the island when the Rafiach had sunk and had saved us from hunger, was still alive and living there. Words cannot describe his surprise and excitement at meeting us. He welcomed us warmly and hosted us in his home.
He told us that twenty years earlier, there had been a huge storm at sea, and the water had swept a big chunk of the beach out to sea, and therefore he was afraid that the deceased had suffered that same fate. Our hearts sank when we heard this.
Miraculous Find
The captain of the ship, Gad Lasker, remembered that the deceased had been taken up on a hill and buried. Based on his memory of the location, he was quite sure they were still there. We began to dig and dig, but found no trace of bones.
We didn’t give up. After two days of digging, we were able to find the graves, and we felt very fortunate that we were able to accomplish our objective.
With reverence, the members of the chevrah kaddisha placed the remains of each person into burial coffins according to halachah. We then transported them to the ship, and from there, to Eretz Yisrael.
The deceased were buried in the cemetery in Haifa, accompanied by a large levayah. Mr. Daskal eulogized them in front of thousands of people, Mr. Kopmer concluded his moving story.
