48 January 10 • 2019
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soul

of blessed memory

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MARSHA WOLF, 76, of
Tampa, Fla., formerly of
Farmington Hills, died
Jan. 3, 2019.
She is survived by her
son, Steve Wolf; daugh-
ter, Shelli Meyerson;
grandchildren, Alex, Garrett, Carli
and Drew; brothers and sisters-in-law,
Edwin and Loretta Adelman, Sheldon
and Ann Adelman; brother-in-law
and sisters-in-law, Billy and Georgann
Wolf, Marilyn Wolf and Verna Wolf;
loving nieces, nephews and friends.
Mrs. Wolf was the beloved wife of
the late Harvey Wolf; the dear sister-
in-law of the late Arthur Wolf; the
devoted daughter of the late Sarah and
the late Irving Adelman; the loving
daughter-in-law of the late Eva and the
late Max Wolf.
Interment was at Machpelah
Cemetery. Contributions may be
made to a charity of one’
s choice.
Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

Moshe Arens, Three-Time Defense Minister, Dies

JNS.ORG
F

ormer Israeli defense minister
and mentor of Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
passed away on Monday, Jan. 7, at the
age of 93.
He is considered to be one of
Benjamin Netanyahu’
s most for-
mative mentors, taking him to the
Washington embassy in 1982 and
appointing him deputy minister of
the Foreign Ministry in 1988, the first
high-level public service positions the
young Netanyahu held.
Arens’
s family managed to escape
the Holocaust by moving from
Lithuania to the United States in 1939.
A leader in the Beitar youth move-
ment of Ze’
ev Jabotinsky, Arens served
in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
during World War II but made aliyah
in 1948 and joined the Irgun paramil-
itary organization, against the wishes
of his parents.
A founding member of the right-
wing Herut political party, along
with Menachem Begin, Arens then
returned to the United States, study-
ing aeronautical engineering at MIT
and Caltech and marrying his wife

Muriel.
The couple returned to Israel, and
Arens taught at the Technion. In
1962, he was appointed deputy head
of Israel Aircraft Industries, helping
to develop the Israeli Kfir fighter jet
and the Israeli Arava cargo plane, two
projects which ultimately earned him
the 1971 Israel Defense Prize.
Arens was elected to the Knesset as
a member of the Likud Party in 1973,
serving until 1992 and then again
from 1999 to 2003.
Arens, critical of Israel’
s peace treaty
with Egypt, refused a defense minister-
ship under Begin, instead became the
Israeli Ambassador to the United States.
He became Israel’
s Defense Minister
in 1983, replacing Ariel Sharon, and
served in that position three times over
the course of his political career.

Arens is considered to be one of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’
s
most formative mentors, taking him
to the Washington embassy in 1982
and appointing him deputy minister of
the Foreign Ministry in 1988, the first
high-level public-service positions the
young Netanyahu held.
In a statement by Netanyahu, the

prime minister called Arens “my
teacher and master,
” and praised him
as someone who “did wonders to
strengthen Israel as our ambassador in
Washington, as foreign minister, chair-
man of the Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee, and as defense minister
time and again. … There was no greater
patriot than him. Misha, I loved you as
a son loves a father.
”
President Reuven Rivlin called Arens
“one of the most important ministers of
defense the State of Israel ever had. He
was not a commander or a general, but
a devoted man of learning who labored
day and night for the safety of Israel and
its citizens.
”
Across the political aisle, former
Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog called
Arens “an example of a clean and sin-
cere leader and public servant who
always spoke his mind and contributed
tremendously to Israel’
s security and
standing among the nations of the
world.
”
“Even when we disagreed, we
respected each other,” he said.
Arens passed away at his home in
Savyon, and leaves behind his wife, four
children and nine grandchildren. ■