Noah Margalit presents Rica Goldin with the volunteer of the year award of ESRA Tel Aviv

Rica Goldin – dear Rica, who has a heart of gold, is compassionate, thoughtful and so often humorous. She loves crossword puzzles and reading, and writes poetry and stories extremely well.

Rica was born in Jerusalem, but when she was 11 months old, her family moved to Belfast and then to London and finally, when she was 6 years old, they immigrated to South Africa.

In Cape Town, from an early age, she loved to act at Hebrew concerts, synagogue affairs and barmitzvahs. During her childhood she belonged to the various Zionist organizations.

After completing 12 years of schooling she thought she’d like to become an actress, then altered her mind to become a writer or a teacher. It was even suggested that she study medicine. But after her matriculation she went to Johannesburg to stay with her widowed father where all her dreams had to be postponed because she had to earn a living.

She used to attend Histadrut meetings – her interest in Zionism was still strong – so at the suggestion of a gentlemen in charge of Jewish education, she took a 3-year course in Hebrew at a Hebrew seminar. After a year and a half she qualified as a Hebrew teacher and taught Hebrew at Herber House – a Jewish institute.

At this time – 1948 – the War of Independence broke out so Rica decided to travel to Israel. She took a crash course in army training and then, with other young Zionists, boarded one of those awful Dakota aeroplanes – a horrific and never to be forgotten flight.

On arrival in Israel she went to a personnel army camp, before being transferred to an absorption camp for further training. But her task was to teach Hebrew to English speaking soldiers, unfortunately a task which didn’t materialize, and so after only eight months she was discharged.

I have been told wonderful stories, both hilarious and informative of that period of her life. It is always a joy to hear them again, no matter how many times, when at someone’s request, they are repeated.

After a while Rica met her husband Zalman Goldin, a civil engineer, the son of one of the early Zionist families who settled in Rishon le Zion.

They have two children, Aria and Chava, both of whom live in the Tel Aviv area. Rica has lived for many years in Bialik Street in one of the city’s preserved buildings.

Rica is now 87 years old and is still an active volunteer, both (for many years) for the Tel Aviv municipality as an English teacher, as well as for ESRA and for the magazine. Her assignment now is the delivery of the ESRA magazines – about 36 at a time, which she delivers by walking to each address on her daily walks.

Thus, with the great appreciation of the Tel Aviv ESRA branch, she has been awarded the Volunteer of the Year Award – the first to be given in Tel Aviv – a recommendation which she truly earned.

A great and special person who can never refuse a request to volunteer.