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Miriam Bedein was keeper of the secret wine cellar at the Hillel House in Ann Arbor (U of Michigan '48) and now a resident of Philadelphia.
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By Miriam Bedein
April 30, 2008
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This past week , as we are preparing to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, Yossi Harel (ne Hamburger), the captain of the ship Exodus, passed away.
Sixty years ago, when I was student director of the Hillel Foundation at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Yossi Harel, came to Hillel ostensibly as a speaker, but with an agenda of his own.
Hillel House at Michigan was once the home of a very prosperous bootlegger. My office was in a room with a "secret wall" that could be opened with a proper key. My task every Friday was to open this wall, go down the basement , and bring up wine for Shabbat that was stored in huge casks left over from the bootlegging days. A few months before Mr. Harel appeared, I was told not to go down the basement anymore. The Rabbi would get the wine.
During these few months, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise also came to speak at Hillel. A towering figure, he appeared on the doorstep and when my assistant and I opened the door, he scooped us up and led us into the living room which was crowded with leading members of the community.
We at Hillel had hosted many speakers, but none with the importance of these two individuals and considered ourselves most fortunate. We did not think any further about their appearance.
It was only many years later that I was given the reason for their visit:
Each cask of amontillado and each cask of wine, became a cache of arms, waiting to be shipped via the St. Lawrence Seaway to Israel, to be used in the War of Independence that led to the establishment of the State of Israel.
I distinctly remember Yossi Harel going in and out of that cellar, carrying out what we thought to be casks of wine for the Sabbath.
Little did we know the taste of that wine.
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