NAME: Rubinstein, Tzvi

DATE OF BIRTH: January 15, 1021

Tzvi was born in 15.1.1921 in Bialystok, Poland, to Hayim and Rivka. His older brother was Shmuel, while his other brothers Aryeh, Eliyahu and Yosef were born in the Land of Israel. The family was religious. The father was a yeshiva student, a student of the Chafetz Chayim, yet Zionist. The family made aliyah when he was just six months old, by way of the Port of Jaffa, and the family lived in a rented apartment for half a year. In the 1921 riots, the Arabs burnt their house to the ground, forcing them to move to Kfar Uriya, to the 150-dunam plot of land that the mother’s father had purchased some time earlier.

The father enjoyed agriculture but had no experience with it, so he formed a partnership with Muhammad Miflak from the nearby Bedouin settlement of Beka. They grew grain and raised sheep, cattle and poultry. The business was quite successful. In 1927, the father sent Tzvi to study in Yeshivat Etz Hayim in Jerusalem, where he studied for two years. He then returned to the village to attend the local school.

When the riots of 1929 erupted, Miflak warned Hayim; he offered all eight families of the village protection in his home. They took him up on this offer, and Miflak protected them, but the rioters still attacked the now-empty village, burning, demolishing and slaughtering all the livestock. One of the residents went to Rehovot and reported this to the police. In the early morning hours, British and Jewish policemen arrived along with a Derom Yehuda bus and relocated everyone to Rehovot. Along the way, they drove through the destroyed village; the family took the father’s Talmud, which had somehow survived intact.

The family started anew, for the third time, in Pardes Hannah. They received a house, a yard and a piece of land, where they still live to this day.

During the 1936 riots, when Tzvi was fifteen, he responded to the call of the Hagana and joined it. He was trained with pistols, rifles and grenades. Together with his comrades, he would conduct raids and ambushes on Arab villages.

By the end of World War II, Tzvi found himself at odds about the path of the Hagana, so he joined Lehi. He participated in the bombing of a British military vehicle during the imposing of the nightly curfew on the roads. In 1948, he was part of the bombing of Kafr Kanor.

In the IDF, he served in the 12th Brigade of the Palmach, and he was one of those who hoisted the inked flag at Um Rashrash (which became Eilat).

Tzvi remained a farmer throughout his life.

His wife Arella passed away. They have a son, Avraham.