Chitiz swims Manhattan in memory of slain son

On the morning of Sunday, 27 July, South African olah Debbie Chitiz swam the 20 Bridges Swim in Manhattan, New York, in memory of her son, Yaron, who was 23 when he was killed in Gaza in December 2023.

Chitiz is a marathon swimmer and has been swimming for 23 years, but since her son was killed in Gaza, all of her swims are done in his memory. “Whenever I did long swims, he always made an effort to be there for me at the end to give me a hug when I got out of the water,” she said.

Chitiz completed the 45.9km swim together with Anat Eshar, not only in memory of her son, but for all fallen Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

Yaron, who grew up in Ra’anana, was a deputy company commander who served in the Shaked Battalion of the Givati Brigade after enlisting.

Chitiz started swimming in July 2003 to help her work through a divorce and in 2012, she began swimming in open water. She’s now considered a marathon swimmer, and has done many 10km swims. She has crossed the Kinneret on her own twice, and once with Eshar, as training for her swim in Manhattan.

“This swim has been on my bucket list for five years,” said Chitiz, “It’s a costly swim. Mostly people from the United States do it. We came from Israel to do it. We had to get here in time to acclimatise and train a bit. This is a tough open water swim. We start at Pier A and end there, crossing three rivers: the East River; the Harlem River; and the Hudson River.

“I like to start each day in the water. The water heals and helps me overcome any challenges I have,” she said, “Swimming helps me get through life. I have now been doing it for 23 years. I train five to six times a week in the sea and pool. We did lots of mileage every week to prepare ourselves for this swim. Training was difficult because of our war and sirens.”

One of the most important things about the swim for Chitiz is the fact that she didn’t do it alone. This is in keeping with the slogan of her son’s favourite football team.

“Yaroni was a Liverpool supporter, and its motto is, ‘You will never walk alone,’” she said. “Since he was killed, I go with the slogan, ‘You will never swim alone.’ My open swimming group swims at Tel Baruch beach. They have rallied around me and supported me all through this time, and that’s where I got the idea that you will never swim alone.”

In keeping with this slogan, she and Eshar trained together, and Chitiz has a cap with the slogan printed on it. “We have had swims in Yaron’s honour. I will never swim alone in the water; I always have someone with me,” she said, “Also, Yaroni is always with me.”

In the case of this particular swim, the rules are that it can either be done solo with a boat alongside it or in a tandem swim, in which each participant has a kayak and a support boat. A skipper from the New York Open Swim Association was on the boat accompanying Chitiz as well as Chitiz’s sister. She also had a flag printed specially for the swim with the words, “You will never swim alone” displayed both on a kayak and the boat, showing that Yaron was always with them.

She said they had to halt their training at its peak during the recent war with Iran, but it didn’t stop them from doing this swim.

“We didn’t choose the date, you have to apply to do it, submit a CV, and the New York Open Water Association chooses those who are going to do the swim,” she said. “They give you optional dates, and you choose from that. We preferred the warmer water, which is why we went on 27 July.

“Because I am Shabbat observant, I asked not to swim on Shabbat. So, we swam on Sunday. The water temperature was 23 degrees centigrade, which was colder than we’re normally used to. We managed it fine.”