Chagai Luber called his mobile provider to disconnect his son Yehonatan's number, nearly three years after he fell in Gaza. The first rep was clinical; the second, an Arab woman named Fatima, responded with warmth that moved thousands online.
Nearly three years after the fall of Staff Sergeant (res.) Yehonatan Luber hy"d in combat in southern Gaza, his father Chagai Luber took one of the hardest steps a bereaved parent can take: he called to disconnect his son's mobile number.
In a Facebook post that moved thousands, Luber described the call to his mobile provider's customer service. "After nearly three years in which we struggled to cancel Yehonatan's phone number, I called Telecom Golan's customer service, trembling," he wrote.
The first call, to a rep named Shachar, ended with Luber hanging up. "I tell him in a choked voice that it belonged to my son who was killed in the war, and he says in a businesslike tone: I suggest you do a temporary disconnection," Luber recounted. "I'm stunned, and I say, 'But my son was killed permanently,' and he says: Yes, but it's free for three months and then a ridiculous sum. I couldn't take it anymore and I hung up."
The second call was entirely different. This time, a rep named Fatima answered. "I stammer: My son was killed in the war, and she says in a warm voice: I'm sorry, I share in your sorrow. And she cancels the line without adding a word," he wrote.
Fatima didn't stop there. She asked when it had happened, and when she heard it had been nearly three years, she understood the family had been paying for the line all that time. "She speaks with her manager, and comes back and says: Don't worry, it will only take a minute," Luber wrote of her sensitivity.
The post ended with simple but profound words: "I thank her and ask her name again and thank her again for the service and say I'm sorry. And she says: May you have joy. And we disconnect. And we are disconnected. And the line is dead."
Yehonatan Luber hy"d, a fighter in the Ram Brigade, fell during an encounter with terrorists in southern Gaza at the age of 24. He left behind his parents, Chagai and Techiya, eight siblings, and his widow Aviya and two orphaned sons, Nachman and Amatzya, who was born after his father's death.
About a year ago, his widow Aviya became engaged to Yehoshua Gilbitz, and the bereaved father wrote then: "Mazal tov, Yehonatan, your wife is engaged! And it's true that your beloved wife won't be alone anymore. And it's true that your two children will have a father not only in heaven but on earth."
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