An American Jew's Israeli Connections: Our Few Goldfus-Goldfoot Members in Israel's October 8, 2023 Attack

 Nadene Goldfoot

    Stanley Goldfoot, two daughters and wife Rebecca "Rollo" Finger."  I bet they had a hearty laugh over the union of the surnames.  They're probably on the beach at Tel Aviv.  Stanley kept his figure.  I met him for the 1st time in 1981 at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.  I asked him on the phone how I'd know him, and he said, "Don't worry, I'll know you."  Yikes!  He was the Chief of Intelligence of the once vital Stern Group, and had been in prison for being a member.  It was the strongest group before 1948's creation of Israel.  He probably has descendants living in Israel.  

Dan Goldfus is a commander in the IDF, born 1976.  He's the son of Chaim Goldfus, another Lithuanian who came from South Africa. I don't want to expose his position, but I'm so proud of him but we have never met.  I can see he's right-handed.  I'm left handed and so was my brother  and cousin Nate Goldfoot.  

Our surname was originally Goldfus in Lithuania and some kept this original last name. In England it was anglicized to Goldfoot.    

Stanley Goldfoot lived in Jerusalem and was my 2nd-3rd cousin of South Africa. A lot of Lithuanian Jews had gone there instead of the USA.  He was the same age as my mother.   He had also changed his name when in England or Dublin, Ireland like my grandfather, Nathan Abraham Goldfoot. He had married Rebecca "Rollo" Finger and had two daughters, Zahava (Gold) and Yaira. They and their families may be there.  Stanley was the writer of the very well known "Letter To The World."  

Yehudit Goldfus had 2 girls and a boy, was the daughter of Aryeh Goldfus b: 1913 who had moved to Israel and Aryeh had been the son of Chaim Goldfus b: 1885.  We had a lot of Goldfus people in South Africa and many went to Israel.  

We have a Chaim Goldfus who is a PhD of Archaeology living in Israel born 1951 with 3 children.  Two are listed as living in Israel.

Another Chaim Goldfus was in the insurance business.  I was with Stanley and saw Chaim's office, and asked Stanley about him.  They hadn't met yet.  Families had been pulled apart because of emigrations, immigrations, wars, etc, and had lost family members that way.  I'm into genealogy and make a point of collecting family members.  It's something many of us women have been interested in. DNA is the glue binding us, and is so revealing.  Many Jews use it to find out about lost family members, for after the Holocaust they knew nothing about their heritage. 

Kibbutzim became easy targets for the Hamas terrorists.  Most are orthodox kibbutzim in Judea and Samaria,  but there are some inside the perameters of Israel proper as well.  My husband and I visited Kibbutz Degania Alef when we first arrived sometime between 1980 and 1981 as one of us had a family member there.   It's in northern Israel, in danger from Hezbolla terrorism, founded in 1910. This is not orthodox, and is the  earliest socialist Zionist farming commune in the Land of Israel.  Danny's cousin once removed had started Boy's Town in Jerusalem. We had the distinction to be able to stay overnight there before that wing opened.  I remember that we arrived at Degania Alef by bus, but the bus drove past the stop so everyone on the bus yelled to the driver to stop and back up.  I loved that, coming from the Pacific NW, to see a whole busload know what you needed and helped.  No one was shy on that bus.