Righteous Among the Nations Honoree Dies in Israel at 91

Yaroslava Levitska, recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for her actions during the Holocaust, has died in Israel at the age of 91. In 1941, at just six years old, Levitska began assisting her grandfather, Alexander Levitsky, and her mother, Katarzyna, in helping Jewish residents of Zolochiv, Poland (now Ukraine), evade Nazi persecution. The city, annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939, had a Jewish population of approximately 7,000, who faced severe abuse and restrictions under German occupation.

Levitska acted as a courier, delivering food and medicine to Jewish friends, including a young boy named Yurak Shenkar (later Yoram Miron), who was then about six years old. She would enter the ghetto, disguised as a student, carrying supplies in her school bag. Her grandfather also moved Shenkar between hiding places outside the ghetto, with Levitska continuing to bring him food and play with him, posing as his sister. The family also provided aid to another 24 Jews hiding in a bunker, traveling two kilometers weekly to deliver provisions for ten months until the area's liberation by the Red Army in July 1944.

In addition to Yaroslava's efforts, her mother Katarzyna adopted a ten-year-old Jewish boy, Ryszard Feiring, and cared for him until the area's liberation. Yad Vashem noted the immense danger faced by the Levitsky family, emphasizing their actions were driven by deep compassion and without expectation of reward.

Levitska immigrated to Israel in 1989, invited by Avraham Shapira, one of the survivors she had helped. That same year, following testimonies from Shapira and another survivor, Israel Fenster, Yad Vashem officially recognized Yaroslava Levitska and her family as Righteous Among the Nations. She became an Israeli citizen in 1995 and settled in Haifa.

Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav praised Levitska's bravery, stating, "Her actions remind us all that heroism is not measured by age or strength, but by the willingness to stand by others even at the cost of personal danger." Levitska lived in a nursing home in recent years, receiving visits from students and groups honoring her. She passed away this week and was buried in Tel Regev cemetery. Yad Vashem stated she was the only Righteous Among the Nations honoree to have lived in Israel.