In June of 1948 I arrived in the State of Israel with my husband Joe Heckelman. Based on his navy experience in World War II, he had volunteered in New York City to serve with the radar unit in Israel. I likewise volunteered for service in Zahal and was sent to a course to prepare me – and other English-speaking wives of volunteers – as an air force code-and-cipher clerk.
I served for six months at the Ekron Air Force base (Tel Nof) in that capacity, and when I was transferred to IAF Headquarters in Tel Aviv where I served for the remainder of the time until the Syrian Armistice in the summer of 1949, we lived in Jaffa.
Since we were newlyweds – married 28th December 1947 – the impact of that year on our marriage and future commitment to the Jewish people and the State of Israel was immense.
After the war we returned to the States. There, my husband subsequently studied for the rabbinate at the Jewish Theological Seminary and served a congregation in Waterbury, Connecticut for ten years. He also taught a popular course in Jewish History at the University of Hartford. We made aliyah in 1976, settling in Safed, where my husband founded a Conservative (Masorti) congregation, and served for twenty-one years. He is also the author of the book, “American Volunteers and Israel’s War of Independence.“
I have been active in Jewish education through all those years, with adults, teenagers, new immigrants as well as training teachers.
Source: Written by Tzipi Heckelman for the American Veterans of Israel Newsletter, 18th January 1998.