NAME: Segal David Binyamin

LEHI ALIAS: Boaz

DATE OF BIRTH: June 7, 1929

DATE OF DEATH: December 2009

David Binyamin was born on 7.6.1929, in Neve Shalom, Jaffa. His father, Rabbi Shefatya Segal, made aliyah in 1917 from Russia, settled in Jerusalem and married his mother in 1922. The father was dispatched to Jaffa by Chief Rabbi A. I. Kook and was a rabbi and senior lecturer in Yeshivat Shaarei Torah in Neve Shalom. His mother was Hannah Elka Segal, a native of Jerusalem’s Old City. On his mother’s side, David was an eleventh-generation resident of the Land of Israel, a descendant of Avraham Azulai, who was banished from Spain, made his way to Fez, Morocco, and then made aliyah and settled in the city of Hebron.

David studied in the haredi schools and then in the Moriah Gymnasium in Tel Aviv. He had to stop his studies due to the Saison, and so he attended night school. He also studied in Rabbi Amiel’s yeshiva in Tel Aviv. He was a member of Brit Hashmona’im and Beitar. He joined Lehi in 1944.  He was active in the youth division, in training and recruiting, in dissemination of propaganda, in putting up posters and in storing both propaganda and weapons. He also instructed others in how to use light firearms.

On “Black Sabbath,” he was arrested by the British and sent to detention in Rafiah, where he stayed for four months. In late 1947, a Lehi cache was seized by the Hagana, and David was sent to Jerusalem, where he stayed until after the Bernadotte assassination.

David was seized by the Israeli Military Police and held in the Lehi camp in Talbiyeh. He was then transferred to Camp Schneller in Jerusalem, and after two days there, to Jaffa. After a deal was struck with the Military Police, he was released in Tel Aviv. He fought at Der Yassin, Malha, Ein Kerem, and in the operation breaking into the walls of the Old City on 15.5.1948 at Notre Dame.

After the State was established, David joined the IDF and was sent to Latrun. He volunteered and was sent to the commando course. He was involved in many significant and dangerous operations, including beyond the borders of the newborn State. This included leading the 11th Brigade, for 48 hours, to seize the ceasefire lines of 1949, from Har-Tov to Beit Shemesh to Beit Guvrin. David fought in every one of Israel’s wars, until he was discharged not long before the First Lebanon War.

He married Hava Rieber, an IZL member. They have three children and numerous grandchildren.

David’s civilian career was in accounting and bookkeeping.

He was courageous and fully dedicated to the work of the underground. In addition, he was a skilled choral singer, a student of the great hazzan and composer Shlomo Ravitz. He was a member of many choirs, including the Kol Israel Choir of Jerusalem, at the Symphony Orchestra, in the Rinat Choir and others. Today as well, he is part of the Ben Baruch Choir, conducted by Nissan Toren, and he is a member of the Yovel Ensemble. David participated in concerts and prayer services abroad: in the United States, South America, the Soviet Union, Spain, Germany, Poland and Canada.