Yitzhak was born on May 3,1918 in Lodz Poland to his parents Shlomo and Shifra Rubinstein, who perished in the Holocaust with three of their children. He joined Beitar aged 12, absorbing love for the Land of Israel. At 16 he was an instructor and excelled in athletics and boxing. When Jabotinsky came to lecture in Lodz, he served as one of his bodyguards. In 1938 he made Aliya with the Illegal “Af-Al-Pi”, aboard the Greek ship ‘Darga’. On arrival, he joined Beitar and served in Ekron and Beer-Ya’acov, where he was recruited to Etzel. When the split occured he joined Yair’s men. He served in instruction, operations, and the underground press. He moved to Netanya 1941, and learned diamond polishing. Beginning of 1942, following Yair’s assassination, he was arrested by the British Police due to an informant. He was taken for interrogation and held a month at the Tul-Karem Station, then transferred to Akko Prison and Mizra Prison Camp. He was put in the Lehi Block, whose members were planning an escape. They were transferred to Latrun where Yitzchak and his comrades took the shed nearest the fence. Shortly after, they opened a small trench in the ground and began tunnelling to escape. The process was lengthy; members kept the utmost secrecy. Yitzchak was one of twenty Lehi members who escaped on November 1,1943 through the 75 metre tunnel. He resumed activities: weapon instruction, confiscating weapons from British military-camps, and worked at the underground press. In 1944 he met Dvora Rosner and enlisted her to Lehi. They married 1945. With establishment of the State he joined the IDF – Eighth Battalion’s 82nd Brigade, and participated in all the Battalion’s battles during the War of Independence. After his release, he underwent an Officers’ course in the Reserves. He worked in the Municipality of Tel-Aviv thirty-seven years till retirement. He served as a judge at the Bat-Yam Municipal Court, volunteered at A.K.I.M., Enosh, and Beit-Yair and was a member of Herut-Likud’s executive committee since 1949. Yitzhak and Dvora have a son, a daughter, and six grandchildren.
Dvora passed away in 1997.