KADDISHEL
A Life Reborn
Atlit. The escapees were ambushed by British police at a dry creek bed near Atlit, but a Jewish officer in the British police force secret - ly helped Yagur members rescue them, according to A. Rakabi in the Yagur Book. Miriam Shachar recalled the same incident: “We went to meet them near the Carmel mountain and led them quick- ly and quietly to Yagur, where we exchanged clothes with them and told them to throw away their identification cards and declare themselves ‘Jews from Eretz Yisrael.’” That day, hundreds of ille- gal immigrants took their first steps as free people in the Promised Land, thanks to the fast work of Yagur members. Yagur had a significant influence on the new nation, and many leaders were associated with it. Among its many visitors was Eliya- hu Golomb, who immigrated to Palestine in 1909 from Volkovys- ky, Byelorussia. He organized agricultural training programs in Kibbutz Degania Alef from its inception, and when World War I broke out, he urged Jews to create an independent Jewish defense force rather than enlist in the Turkish army. By 1918, he had found- ed the Jewish Legion. Then Golomb helped organize the Haganah underground. Between 1922 and 1924, he was in Europe arranging for arms shipments for the Haganah and mobilizing the fledgling pioneer youth movement. Believing firmly that the British should be ousted from Eretz Yisrael, he helped initiate the use of field units (Fosh) during Arab riots in Palestine. Later, he helped found the Palmach. Yitzchak Tabenkin, whose first wife lived at Yagur, was a promi - nent labor movement leader in Israel and one of the principal think- ers and main voices of the kibbutz movement. Born in 1887 in Byelorussia, he attended a traditional cheder and then received a secular education. Tabenkin helped bring the Poalei Zion move- ment to Poland and, later, establish agricultural settlements close- ly associated with the Dror movement in Eretz Yisrael. He immi- grated there in 1911 and, like Golomb, worked in agriculture. He joined HaShomer HaTzair and in 1921 helped found Kibbutz Ein
338
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online