Amit (Freund), Zvi

Zvi, the youngest son of Tzila and Shabtai, was born on May 18, 1952 in Ramat Gan. He attended the “Aliyot” elementary school and after a year went on to study at the Gordon School in Givatayim. He studied for two years at the “Kalai” High School and another year at the “High School” in Tel Aviv. Afterward, he successfully passed external matriculation exams. Zvi knew Simcha childhood days in his parents’ home. Father and Mother gave him all the best, his brother Joseph and his sister Esther played with him and spoiled him. A good and diligent student was Zvi, and also active in the students’ company. He was often elected as a member of the class committee, and in high school he was a representative of his class on the student council. From an early age, he stood out as a boy with great leadership and self-confidence. From childhood, he had artistic tendencies in many areas: he participated in theater performances conducted by the members of the drama club in his school, and he reached out to write poems and short stories, which he carried with him wherever he went. About four months before his enlistment in the IDF, Zvi volunteered to serve as a” free service “and was sent to Kibbutz Mefalsim. He was a tall, handsome young man. Zvi was drafted into the IDF in mid-January 1971 and volunteered for the Nahal Brigade. After completing basic training, he joined the Nahal Ketura battalion and completed a series of military training, and was transferred to Kfar Ruppin a few months later, when the late President Zalman Shazar visited the Nahal members who were there. For several months he dealt with the needy youth in the town of Beit Shean, did his work faithfully and even deprived his eyes of sleep, for the benefit of the young people of the town. At the end of 1972 he was appointed as the center of the Scouts in Ashkelon. Zvi spent a great deal of effort and energy to do for the movement’s youth. They called him Amit, admired him and loved him. “From the very first moment he came, he ‘infected’ us all with his faith, his actions … an evening of nostalgia, a return to the War of Independence, plans, dreams, actions … We started to live!” His apprentices said about him. One girl mentioned Zvi’s love for freedom, his great appreciation for Abie Nathan’s peace project; one of the boys mentioned Amit’s originality, his willingness to pay any price for what he considered to be just and worthwhile. At the end of his compulsory service in the IDF, Zvi was transferred to one of the canal’s strongholds, and his young children were separated from him, as was the knowledge that he would have to serve far away from his parents’ home. When the Yom Kippur War broke out, Zvi was in Sinai near the Suez Canal, and fought valiantly, courageously and resourcefully on the first day of the fighting, a few hours after the surprise attack of the Egyptians, he was wounded in serious wounds, but was not transferred to the home front for treatment because of the fierce fire on the stronghold. On the 12th of Tishrei 5734 (October 8, 1973), Zvi fell and when his body was found by IDF forces, he was brought to eternal rest in the military cemetery in Kiryat Shaul. Survived by his parents, brother and sister. After his fall, he was promoted to corporal.