Israeli woman on top of the world
A 43-year-old woman raised the Israeli flag at the summit of Mount Everest on May 23.
Danielle Wolfson, 43, is the first female Israeli to reach the top of the 29,032-foot peak and only the fourth Israeli to do so.
“I wasn’t born here, I came from Russia when I was 10, but I am so Israeli, in every artery. From my point of view, as a woman, just to reach the top and hoist a flag is an honor,” she said. “It’s not that I’m some sort of feminist, but for me it’s an honor that a woman can do that, to hoist a flag on summits where no Israeli has been.”
Wolfson, a lawyer from Ramat Gan, said that her “journey to the summit began in the ‘lowest’ state possible.
In 2011, she suffered a serious ski accident that left her with multiple broken bones. Doctors said it wasn’t clear if she would walk again. She began running, swimming and biking, and several years ago started going on climbing trips around the world.
She trained with a triathlon group for months before attempting her Everest climb in the Himalayas on the border of Nepal and Tibet.
In January, she climbed Ojos del Salado, the highest volcano in the world. In March, she summited Mount Elbrus in her native Russia, the highest peak in Europe at 18,510 feet. Wherever she goes, she hoists an Israeli flag.
“I am happy and proud to be the first Israeli woman to reach the summit,” she posted on Facebook following her 45-day expedition with the Seven Summits Club.
“I told myself, ‘I will show everyone. I will climb Everest’,” she told Channel 13. As she was confined to bed for months, thoughts of climbing the highest mountain in the world kept her going, she said.
After completing the climb, Wolfson said she will soon begin her journey back to Israel, and issued a message of hope to those back home, amid increasing tensions between Jewish and Arab populations.
“If we only learn to accept those different to us and love each other, we can together achieve miraculous achievements, almost like climbing to the summit of Everest,” she said.
From Sydney, Cheryl Bart told Australia’s J-Wire: “On behalf of my daughter and myself, we send a warm mazeltov to Danielle.” In 2008, Bart reached the summit with her daughter, Vikki, who was 23 at the time — the only mother-daughter team to have done so.
