Between Montevideo and Ra'anana

Haim Julio Ring was born in Montevideo, capital of Uruguay, on 18 July 1944, the eldest son of Nehemiah and Hena, Jewish immigrants from Poland who had fled the Nazis and arrived in Uruguay just a few years apart, shortly before the outbreak of World War II. He grew up in a lower-class family, his father was a carpenter and later a taxi driver and his mother a housewife. Later on they had two more sons - Abraham and Shaul. Part of his childhood he spent living with his grandmother who ran a general store, while the rest of his family moved out of Montevideo to a small and remote town, after his father experienced financial difficulties. Haim stood out from an early age in school, sports and social activities, excelling as a student and was regarded a very talented football player. His father was active in the Zionist-Revisionist movement Betar in Poland during the 1930’s - and Haim accordingly joined Betar in Montevideo, climbing all the way to the top where he became the leader of the movement. When he was 19, in 1963, his father realized his dream and immigrated with his family to Israel. Before that Haim had studied for one year in the Faculty of Medicine of Montevideo.

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After coming to Israel, the family received a modest apartment in Ashkelon by the Jewish Agency and Haim was drafted to the army, straight into the Air Force Pilot Course, where he was one of the few new immigrants among many native Israelis "sabras". After a year in training his participation stopped and Haim was transferred to the Operations HQ at the Hatzor Air Force military base, where he took part in the historic landing of the Iraqi MIG -21 whose pilot had defected to Israel in 1966. After his military service he lived in Neve Tzedek in south Tel Aviv and worked for the Herut movement at the Likud headquarters, where he personally met the movements’ leader Menachem Begin and got to know him. Towards the end of the sixties Haim wanted to continue his medical studies and applied to the Faculty of Medicine of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, but after it became clear that there was no vacancy for him, he decided to return to Uruguay and continue his medical studies over there. 

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In 1966 he returned to Uruguay, where he was received by his uncle Marcus Gerber, chief editor of the newspaper of the Jewish community "Aurora", and other members of the family. During his medical studies Haim was very active in the defense and security organizations of the Jewish community of Uruguay and was given a job at the local Israeli Embassy, where he accompanied visits of many Israeli top officials, including David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Rabin. During this period he was head of the underground defense force of the Jewish community, which provided protection for synagogues and local Jewish institutions against possible terrorist attacks and gathered intelligence about suspected Nazi war criminals who fled to South America. During one of these recruitment activities Haim met a young girl named Irene Treibich, the second daughter of Gregorio Treibich, a renowned mathematics Professor in Montevideo. The two fell in love and married in 1973 in Montevideo and two months later – after Haim finished his  studies - moved to Israel. In Israel Haim continued his role in the field of security and intelligence, as he joined the Mossad and served there for 18 years.

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Haim and Irene arrived in Israel in 1973, a few months before the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War. During the war, Haim was in his internship as a physician and participated in receiving and treating the masses of casualties and injured soldiers who were hospitalized after being extracted from the war front. Haim and Irene settled in the city of Ra'anana, where Haim joined the Lowenstein Rehabilitation Hospital in 1975, which had become the central work place of Haim and the basis of his extensive professional career. Irene enrolled in Mathematics at the University of Tel Aviv and began a long career of teaching mathematics in schools of Ra'anana. Today she teaches the top students at the local MOR high school. Haim and Irene have three children - Edan, Shani and Matan, and as of this writing, they also have three grandchildren - Neomi and Yair (children of Edan & Ardith), and Nevoh (son of Shani & Hagay). Haim's eldest granddaughter, Neomi, was born a year and a half before his death and he had the chance to know her and spend time with her. Along with his extensive international work in the professional field, in his personal habitat Haim always appreciated the small pleasures of life – good food and a fine glass of Liquor, Latin or Spanish music  in the background and watching football games with his sons. And so we will remember him always.

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Irene, Edan, Shani and Matan Ring

September 2016