It was in the early 1970s, when private telephone lines were difficult to acquire in Israel, that friends from Chicago came to visit. They had been invited to dinner the following evening by old friends of theirs from Detroit who had recently come on aliyah, and who graciously insisted that we also come to dinner since they would love to meet other new olim. Our hostess was Marilyn Grant.
We arrived at their Herzliya apartment as strangers and ended the evening as close friends. Marilyn's warmth and generous spirit had attracted us, as it had many, many others to the family of Marilyn and Murray Grant.
Marilyn was not only an accomplished hostess; she and her late husband Murray were a strong and courageous couple whose significant contributions to Israel and to Israelis earned them the respect and admiration of those who knew them. They visited Russia and made contact with Russians who were active in planning aliyah when this was a dangerous mission. They adopted a Russian family who had made aliyah to Israel, and they provided emotional, social and financial support and love that lasted throughout their lifetime.
Marilyn was a familiar figure in Afula, both to the activists and educators of the community and also to the Ethiopian immigrants who settled there. She was instrumental in helping them set up their own synagogue and obtain two Torah scrolls.
In their later years the focus of Marilyn and Murray's energy and dedication was the Jordan River Village, a place of beauty, fun and hope in the Lower Galilee that serves sick children and their families, be they Jewish, Christian or Moslem.
We in ESRA are proud of Marilyn and Murray Grant, who were ESRA members and who believed in and epitomized the values of our organization. May their memory be a blessing to us all.