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[Page 275]
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Translated by Jerrold Landau
Yitzchak Lipman the son of Leah, the grandson of Reb E. Y. Shafer. He was born on September 12, 1928, and fell in the battle near Tira, May 13, 1948.
Aharon Sherman the son of Moshe and Rachel nee Katzman. He was born in Rishon LeZion on September 4, 1927. He was educated in the school in Rishon LeZion. He joined the signal and communications unit of the Haganah at the age of fourteen. From 1942, he served as a guard in the police unit of the settlements centered in Afula. With the outbreak of the War of Independence, he was called to Unit 52 of the Givati Brigade, and participated in the conquest of Sarafand, and in the battles of Tel Arish, Gan Yavne, and Kfar Uriah. He also took part in the security of the road to Jerusalem. He fell on 3 Sivan 5708 [1948] when he penetrated with a squad to Nitzanim, which was in the hands of the Egyptians. He was injured by Egyptian bullets from a distance of a few meters. He was removed from there by his comrades as they retreated. He was buried in Rishon LeZion.
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Aryeh Shostakovsky
He was the son of Aharon and Pesia. He was born in David-Horodok on Kislev 5664 (December 10, 1904)[1]. He made aliya in the year 5685 (1925). He obtained a high school education and was active in the Haganah. He fell in Wadi Rushmiyya, Haifa when a bomb exploded on 14 Tammuz 5698 (July 13, 1938).
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Pesia Lev
She[2] was the daughter of Zalman and Shoshana. She was born in Kfar Saba on Tammuz 5689 (June 17, 1929). She received public and high school education, continued her education and qualified as a nurse. She took care of babies. She was active in the Haganah. She fell in Sha'ar Hagai on a caravan from Jerusalem on 25 Kislev 5708 (December 7, 1948)[3].
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She was the wife of Zalman, and the daughter of Yaakov and Pesha Ziporin. She was born in David- Horodok and made aliya to the Land in 1921. She was active in the Zionist movement, and a member of Kibbutz Merhavia. She became ill with a broken heart after her daughter Pesia fell, and she died on 17 Adar 5712 (March 14, 1952).
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Zeev Lachovsky
He was the son of Shalom and Batya, nee Rakow. He was born in Rubel on September 11, 1922, and was educated in David-Horodok. He was in Russia and Germany during the war years. He spent two years in Cyprus, and made aliya in 1947. He served in the Israel Defense Forces and fell in the battle of Sajara on 8 Tammuz 5708 (June 1948)[4].
In various places during the War of Independence, he concluded a sniper's course, and served as a squad leader in a battle unit. He participated in the defense of Tel Aviv and its boundaries, as well as the attacks on Yazur, Tel Arish, and Salma. Then he moved to the gateways of the Negev and participated in the defense of Negba. He fell during a heavy attack on June 21, 1941, and was buried on the spot.
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Zeev Virobnik
He was born in Tel Aviv to his father Zelig and his mother Leah Edel Dushnik. He was the first grandchild of his grandfather Aryeh Dushnik. He concluded his studies in a business school and worked as a government official. He was responsible, and faithfully conducted all tasks assigned to him. He was tall, and full of dedication and energy. Anyone in his presence felt that they were in the presence of an Israeli youth on whom they could depend.
During the disturbances of 1936, he participated in the defence of Tel Aviv and the Jews of Jaffa. He would return to his work after tense nights of guard duty, without uttering a word about what had taken place, as if nothing had happened. He was sent to a sniper's course, and he went to various places in his tour of duty when it concluded.
He was sent to Kibbutz Negba during the War of Independence along with sixty other lads in order to reinforce the locals in their defence of the passageways to the south. The Egyptians opened a heavy bombardment on June 2, 1948, with the aim of capturing the point. Zeev volunteered to stand on the water tower as a scout, to sound an alarm about approaching danger. Thanks to him, everyone knew the place of danger and was able to take precautions. The reaping of death by the enemy did not bother Zeev. He remained in his place, quiet and strong, until he was hit in his strong heart with a volley of bullets, and he fell victim.
May his memory be a blessing.
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The farther we are from the War of Independence, and as we bring to our memories the images of our sons and daughters who fell, with images peering at us from their literary legacy and their letters – we are enveloped with trembling of splendor over the human glory that they exemplified.
These images shall serve us in the future as a precious commodity for the education of future generations, as a form of a new chapter in our book of books…
The images of the daughters are particularly noble. Their numbers were fewer than the sons. Therefore, their value was at a higher level.
Without doubt, Shulamit stands in the ranks of those images.
She was the daughter of two well-pedigreed families of the town: from her father's side, the Durchin family, well known as people of deeds, and from her mother's side from the families of Shlomo Zingerman and Rabbi Dovidl of Horodok. She exemplified both sides together with her good soul, her deeds, her nobility, her understanding of people, and angelic splendor. Heaven and earth joined together in her. She had the character of an exceptional girl. We include here a few excerpts of her letters, and also an excerpt from the booklet that the Kibbutz published in memory of its members who fell during the War of Independence. Both of these present the image of Shulamit to us in her full human glory.
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“Who is Preferable?”
Along the way from Siberia to the Land of Israel, there were, as is known, intermediate stations in the refugee camps in Germany.
Finally, the awaited day came, and the family was about to leave the camps and to make aliya to the Land, seemingly with “returnee” documents.
The girl did not agree to make aliya together with her parents. The reason was: “I am young and healthy, and I cannot make aliya on Aliya Bet. There are so many disabled people who do not have the strength to sneak across borders, and the like. Would it not be better if one of them received the certificate… and I will make aliya as many do… In the meantime, I will continue to take care of the youth in the camps.”
“Who Will Build?”
In a letter to a friend who remained in Germany, she wrote the following from the port city, after she met with about a hundred youths who were ready to make aliya to the Land.
“All the youth who are traveling with me only want to continue with their studies. I discussed with them, and all of them are traveling only for the purpose of study and study.”
“Who will build the Land?”
She asked, and she ended her letter, “I have already begun to think otherwise regarding my future…”
Fortunate Among the Fortunates
That is how she saw herself when the arrived in the kibbutz (Netzarim).
She had to conduct a difficult battle against the general consensus that pervaded among her circle of acquaintances in the city
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regarding the kibbutz. She had before her a “good” and sure path. From there, from Russia, she had brought a high school certificate confirming her good marks. Here in Jerusalem, the gates of the university were open wide before her. She entered in the middle of the year and passed the second course (physics – mathematics) with excellence. She also had a guaranteed stipend. However, “I was born to be a kibbutznik” she excused herself to her relatives regarding the direction she took in her life. “Only here have I begun to live,” and the previous months were “months of decadence” and “it is left for me to regret the past greatly.” For “to feel depression on the soil of the homeland – that is a sin like no other…”
One of the members of the kibbutz (Yissachar) writes in the booklet in memory of the fallen:
“Shulamit is not a common personality in our days. It was as if she belonged to an older era of pioneering Zionism…”
The girl absorbed her first sprouts of Zionist national idealism within the walls of the Tarbut School in the town (Stolin). Furthermore, the spirit of the Land of Israel pervaded in the home of her parents who were dedicated Zionists, and the spoken language in her home was Hebrew.
When the Soviet regime began, and the Hebrew school turned into a school in which the language of instruction was Yiddish and Russian, and the entire national spirit had been expunged from it with a cruel hand, Shulamit fought, as was her way, against the strange spirit, and did not give in…
The six years of exile in Siberia showed her how the Russian youth were raised and educated to love their land and regime. This further forged her spirit to merge completely with the Land and its soil. Therefore “it is a sin to feel depression here on the soil of the homeland” was a sort of echo of the poem of the poet:
“Behold, I desire and kiss your stonesAnd the taste of your clods of earth is sweeter than honey to me.”
From the Siege
An excerpt from a letter:
“Tzvi (A friend who was about to graduate from the Technion, and later fell as a sapper in Sodom) indeed we knew that it would be our lot to participate in the War of Independence…”
“For me it was so good how I succeeded in escaping from the city. For at times, a heap of endless happiness fills my heart with the thought that I am here and am able to do what I am doing with my own hands.”
“We have paid with precious victims (three members of the kibbutz fell from the incessant attacks of the neighbors, Yavne from the north and Ashdod from the south), and my hands have already been sullied with blood, with a great deal of blood of lads who had said a moment before: ‘Shula you are iron’ and then they ceased living… But we succeeded in overcoming. Our kibbutz stands strong. And I see my nation – a precious nation, desiring to be redeemed and prepared for redemption. I am beginning to be proud like my nation. Youth such as this will not succeeded in educating even one nation…”
From the echoes here, with these words, memories from there, from the spirit of the Komsomol[5] Russian youth – which Tzvi, to whom the letter, was addressed, also knew very well – the youth have been educated to dedicate everything for the homeland and the regime, even…
And in a letter to a brother: “It is true, Yossi, that we must be fortunate, for it is our lot to participate in the holy war, the War of Independence. I am satisfied with you, that you are in the ranks of the fighters. It is too bad, though, that we are in different corners.”
After she told her brother about the status that she has in her group, that even their armed ones call her by her name “Shulamit” as a sister who wishes to make herself more prominent than her brother, and not without feelings of self pride – she adds at the end with precious humor: “Bow your head as you are reading, that my ‘bluffs’ pass over your precious head.”
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And in another letter: “What took place this week – the week before Passover – was very serious. However, there is a G-d in Heaven! The villains discharged 5-10 thousand bullets from all types of weapons that we are familiar with, even anti-tank weapons, shells, and smoke bombs (such villains!) All this continued from 7:00 a.m. until 3:00 a.m. However, our group is wonderful. I am now in love with our soldiers. I am beginning to be proud of my nation!” (After the disappointment imparted to her by the civic and university surroundings, with which she was involved before her aliya to the Land).
“We hope that all of this will soon end with a righteous and true victory, and we will meet healthy and whole.”
However, fate had it differently. On June 6, one week after the final letter, thirty people fell in the final decisive battle from the murderous volley of fire that the Egyptians rained down when they broke into the weapons area. Half of the victims were members of the kibbutz. Shulamit was among them, as she was working in providing aid to the wounded members.
That kibbutz member who memorialized her above writes: “Shulamit encouraged us all during those difficult days. Her optimism did not abate until the final moment.”
“She knew no weariness during the final ten days of siege. She was an unfailing wellspring of energy. Her main character trait was love of her fellow, a love that was especially displayed in guiding the youth. She first became involved in that role in the camps, and later with us.” The friend concludes, “From this place, the institution for youth that will be founded on the land of Nitzanim in memory of its protector – is the most important actualization of the soul of Shulamit. It will be an appropriate monument to perpetuate her pioneering life.” One from among many! There were such people.
Tzvi Durchin
“We offer the money upon which we will resist for you, State of Israel.” (Natan Alterman)
I had the merit of knowing him from up close. We lived together in a single room in Haifa, and studied at the Technion. During the four months of our mutual life, until the War of Independence, I was impressed on many occasions with his personality and character.
The main trait of his personality was steadfastness and dedication. Those two traits accompanied Tzvi during all the periods of his life.
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When the family was deported from Pinsk and came to Siberia – Tzvi separated from them and went to Leningrad, where he endured the entire period of terrible siege when the sword consumed outside and the hunger inside. He studied the building trade there at the engineering technical school. That profession guaranteed a bright future in Russia, especially to someone who was also a member of Komsomol. However, Tzvi was not enticed by the irritating lights of Russia. He escaped from there at the first opportunity and made aliya to the Land, to bind his fate with the fate of the nation that was renewing its life in the homeland.
He was accepted to the third course at the Technion. He would have graduated as a building engineer within one year. In the interim, he had to sustain himself. His family was still wallowing in the camps in Germany, and the conditions of a student in Haifa were not simple. Tzvi studied and worked. He worked as a building worker, he worked at the port, he worked and studied, studied and worked. Despite his full days and nights, he also found time to help a floundering friend solve his problems, to finish the faculty work, etc.
Like all of us, Tzvi was not given the opportunity to study in peace. War was on the horizon. Around, there were preparations for a fateful event. Students of the Technion were taken to positions and training. They were sent to guard duty in various locales cut of from the city. However, they wished to discharge Tzvi. The large-scale draft had not yet taken place. Everything
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that was done, was done voluntarily. Tzvi did not have the obligation to volunteer. Since he had to sustain himself, he was freed from the partial draft. Nevertheless, Tzvi volunteered and participated in everything. He was once asked about this, and he responded:
‘I have done more than enough for a land that is foreign to us. I have dug ditches, suffered, gone hungry. What did I not do there? Now, what is demanded of us – is the smallest of the small amount in comparison to our duty to our Land.’
The battles that preceded the declaration of the state began. The Technion was closed. The students were sent to various units. We were separated. I went to one of the units in the north, and Tzvi was given a responsible role in the engineering brigade. Tzvi excelled in his dedication to his role as a sniper. As the head of a squad of the engineering brigade, he participated in various actions. His life, the life of a 26-year-old student who was faithful and dedicated to the nation and the Land, was cut off as he was disarming a mine during one of the actions to liberate Sodom.
May his memory be a blessing.
Tzvi was the son of Etel Olpiner of Horodok and Yisrael Nachum Durchin of Rubel.
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Translator's footnotes
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