Speaking in a conference in Moscow last week, Sofa Landver, Israel’s Minister of Aliyah and Integration, revealed some surprising details about her immigration to Israel. According to the news website ynet, Landver told the 2000-strong crowd: “When we made Aliyah we left Russia with nothing and had to start over. I even swallowed a diamond and couldn’t find it later”.
Landver is visiting Russia as the government’s official representative in a series of events to celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary. She spoke of her family’s hardships when coming to Israel at Limmud FSU’s 11th conference, the largest-ever festival for Russian-speaking Jews in the former Soviet Union.
Landver also revealed that her late father, Hirsch Kohin, was considered a hero in the Red Army after killing 26 Nazi soldiers and capturing seven more during WWII. Kohin passed away in 1978.
