Yisrael Feigelman

Yisrael Feigelman passed away on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, last Tuesday, April 9, 2013.
My father was a true hero. A hero against his will, a hero who did not seek to be one – a hero of circumstance.
What do you call someone who, at the age of 8 or 9, saw his family, his parents and his siblings murdered by the Nazis? How do you define a 9-year-old orphan who fled for his life amid German bullets, joined a group of adult Jews wandering in the forests, and abandoned the frightened children in the middle of the night? How would you define a 10-year-old child who lived on one potato every two days, joined the partisans, and survived the harsh winters in Russia and the hardships until the end of that war? His life story could provide material for Hollywood movies – the problem would be credibility – no one would believe that it was possible to survive such events.
How would you describe someone who immigrated to Israel with nothing, bearing the scars of the Holocaust, and went on to raise a family, fight in Israel's wars as a soldier, earn a living by any means possible, and rebuild his lineage?
A true hero.
May his memory be blessed.