Rachel Doron, the signaller for the Gush Etzion town of Masu’ot Itzhak during Israel’s War of Independence, former POW, and the woman who sent the historic message, ‘The Queen has fallen,’ to indicate that Gush Etzion had been overrun, passed away peacefully this Shabbat (Sabbath) just a few days before her 97th birthday.
Doron remained in Gush Etzion even in its most difficult days and sent her son with other women to Jerusalem. Together with her husband Jacob (Yoni) they were taken captive in Jordan. Jacob would deliver letters to her in the shoes that he made during captivity.
Her daughter Edna married Emil Leuchter and they came to Alon Shvut in the 1980s. Every year the Leuchter family holds the, ‘End of Days,’ festival in memory of the late Emil, a tradition that began in the old town of Masu’ot Itzhak.
Rachel was active throughout her years in her town, was responsible for the community’s plays, and was a close friend of Moshe Moskowitz (Moshko), one of the pioneers of Jewish growth in the region.
The head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, Shlomo Ne’eman, paid tribute to her: “Precisely in these days that we mark the 80th anniversary of the establishment of Gush Etzion, which ends with the March of the Thirty-Five (in memory of a resupply convoy ambushed and destroyed on its way to Gush Etzion) on Lag B’Omer, we are informed that the woman whose historic words were imprinted in Israeli heritage has passed away.”
“The amazing story of Rachel Doron is remembered as a blessing. It is the story of the settlement in Gush Etzion. She was the one who reported, ‘The Queen has fallen,’ went through the Jordanian captivity, and saw her descendants live, work, and create in Gush Etzion.
“Our queen has fallen. I send my condolences to the family, which continues its pioneering work. May her memory be blessed.”