Nathan was born on October 19,1924 to Mordechai Menachem Mendel, a Gur Hassid and Leah. He was their first Bnei-Brak born child. His parents had made aliya from Poland in 1924, and were founders of the religious moshava Bnei-Brak, near the site of the ancient Jewish settlement. Nathan was educated in Orthodox schools and a member of the nationalist religious youth movement ‘Brit Hachashmonaim’. When foreign soldiers began flooding Eretz Yisrael during WWII, Jewish girls began going out with them. Nathan, with several other religious youngsters, organized a group  called  ‘Bnei-Pinchas’ (named after Biblical Pinchas who resented daughters of Moab marrying Jews), whose purpose was to prevent mixed marriages. When Lehi representatives appeared on the scene they recruited several of the group to the underground. Nathan participated wholeheartedly in Lehi operations: first at Department Six (Intelligence) and then recruiting physicians, finding hiding places for wanted men, finding bases for fighters to set out from for combat missions. One of his recruits was his sister, Malka Hefner, who participated in the attack on the Haifa Railway Workshops, was severely wounded and got arrested. He was also an acceptance committee member, for new recruits. His 14-year-old younger brother Ya’acov, was also arrested. The British refused to release him unless Nathan turned himself in. Nathan did not give in and Ya’acov was released only when the British withdrew from Eretz Yisrael. His parents greatly assisted the underground. In 1950 Nathan married Tsipora Friedman, who passed away on November 1985. They had five children, twenty-six grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren.

Nathan served in the IDF’s 10th Brigade. After his discharge he turned to law and was qualified as a rabbinical attorney, as which he worked  for many years, until requested by the Belfast Jewish Community to become their Rabbi. He accepted and during the years 1983-1988, served as Rabbi for the Jews of Northern Ireland, working to strengthen Jewish awareness among members of the community. Even after his return to Israel (due to his wife’s passing), he continued to serve as their Rabbi, by decision of the General Assembly of the Belfast Jewish Community. Nathan passed away on September 12,2000, and was laid to rest in the Segula cemetery.