RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER

After years of hoping,
Danil Sobolnitsky
visits Israel.

K*01 t was Shabbat in Jerusalem. The
yeshiva boys were studying quietly in
the basement of a synagogue when 92-
year-old Danil Sobolnitsky walked in and
started crying.
"Ninety years, ninety years!" he wailed in
Yiddish.
The boys looked up.
"Ninety years I have waited to come to
Eretz Yisrael, and all I have are six
days."
Mr. Sobolnitsky, a Russian immi-
grant to America, journeyed to Israel for the first
time in May after dozens of local donations made
the trip possible. He traveled with Reuven Mill-
man, 35, of Oak Park.
Although nearly 60 years separate them, Mr.
Millman had wanted to take his former neigh-
bor to Israel since they met not long ago at Lin-
colnbriar Apartments off Greenfield Road.
"He was the zayde I never had," Mr. Millman
says. "How could I not take him? This was a mitz-
vah that had to be."
Mr. Sobolnitsky was born in 1903 near Kiev.
His father, a shoemaker, practiced Judaism de-
voutly and passed on the commitment to his son.

LONGING page 16

Above: Reuven Millman with Danil Sobolnitsky in Jerusalem.

14

Left: Even late in life, Mr. Sobolnitsky feels grateful for the
chance.

