Rina Geftman


Rina Geftman was a luminous presence in the Jerusalem community from the time of her arrival in Jerusalem in 1966.

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Renata Geftman was born in 1914 to a wealthy and rather assimilated Russian Jewish family in Sebastopol in Crimea at the beginning of the First World War. Two years after the 1917 Russian Revolution, the family emigrated, passing through Turkey, Austria, Germany and eventually settling in France in 1924. Renata became Renée. Attending church for the first time in 1930, at the age of sixteen, Renée was immediately drawn to the person of Jesus. Prepared for baptism by a priest, Jean-Pierre Altermann, himself of Jewish origin, she was baptized in 1932 at the age of 17 at the Sainte Baume (in the presence of Hélène Jung, later Sister Marie-Madeleine op, herself a Jew who would come to Jerusalem in 1970). Her family learnt of her conversion only some years later. During the war, the Geftmans took refuge in the Free Zone in the south of France, fugitives during the Shoah.

Rina only arrived in Jerusalem in 1966, encouraged to make the move by Father Bruno Hussar. In fact, they arrived together, Rina coming to Israel to live here and Bruno returning from the Second Vatican Council where he had made his contribution to the promotion of what had become the document titled Nostrae Aetate. The ship that brought them to the Israeli shore was named Moledet (homeland). Rina, steeped in prayer, reading the Bible and solidarity with the Jewish people became a pillar of the community at Isaiah House, the Dominican center and home of the kehilla in Jerusalem. She was to join Bruno in his initial steps to found the village of Neve Shalom, where he hoped Jews, Christians and Muslims would live together in dialogue and understanding.

Then followed, in a more profound and silent way, without noise and publicity, her prayerful and studious testimony in founding the “Mambre Center” on the Prophets Street where Rina lived and received all those who were captivated and attracted by the mystery of Jerusalem. Her witness was joy-filled and hope-filled as she welcomed all who knocked on her door.

An autobiographical interview with Rina appeared in French in 1985 and it tells of her life and her thought:

RINA GEFTMAN, Guetteurs d’aurore (Paris, Cerf, 1985)

Later a collection of her essays on different biblical themes was also published by the same publishing house:

RINA GEFTMAN, L’offrande du soir (Paris, Cerf, 1994)

As Rina grew older she moved to an apartment alongside the Little Sisters of Jesus in West Jerusalem where she continued to welcome many who sought her out. In the kehilla her warmth and optimism were always much appreciated. Her last days were spent with the Community of the Beatitudes.

Rina passed away in October 2001 and was buried in the cemetery of the Sisters of Sio in Ein Karem. May her memory be blessed.

 

Rina Geftman after arriving in Israel
Rina Geftman after arriving in Israel

 

 

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Rina Geftman talking with Yohanan Elihai

 

 

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Rina Geftman with Sister Marie-Madeleine Jung OP

 

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