Eliyahu Barber was born in Tel Aviv, near the old Maccabi basketball court, to parents who made aliya from Ukraine and Germany. He attended the Bilu Religious School in Tel Aviv, and when he was 15, a Lehi member approached him and recruited him to the underground.

After being sworn in, he was trained in the use of weapons, without his parents’ knowledge, he would hang posters of Hama’as newspaper around Allenby Street and the old Central Station in Tel Aviv. In addition, he conducted surveillance of the British CDI on Jaffa Street in Tel Aviv and was even taken to the orchards in Hasharon area to practice the use of weapons. His parents did not know about these activities, and when he was late to return home, they took great care of him.

Eliyahu worked in the Lehi for about two years. After the independence of Israel, he enlisted at age 17 to the IDF, and during the War of Independence he fought in the Sharon area, and then he met his wife, Rachel née Grushkevich (May she live long), from Netanya, and the two lived together then until his death.

Eliyahu was a brave man and a patriot who loved his country. He fought in many of Israel’s wars, including the Yom Kippur War. He played sports, traveled around the country in four-day marches.

He worked in Netanya in the diamond industry, had two daughters, two sons, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.