Arussi, Meir

Son of Haim and Sarah. He was born in 1924 in Alexandria, Egypt. His father served as a soldier in the Jewish Legion during the First World War and due to various circumstances he was forced to return to Egypt. Meir, who was educated in a Zionist spirit and was a member of the Young Maccabee, graduated high school in Alexandria during World War II. Afterward, he served in the English port police at the site, and upon the establishment of the State of Israel, he and his brother began pressuring the father to return to Israel. Indeed, at the end of the War of Independence, the family immigrated to Israel, abandoning its property in Egypt, and the six members of the family passed all the agonies of absorption in the first years of the state. Meir enlisted in the Border Guard, where he made his first steps in Israel. In this framework he successfully completed a course in combat sergeants. Meir also took part in many operations against the terrorists of those days – the infiltrators. At the end of his service at the Border Police, he was drafted again, this time to the Israel Police, and served as a symbol of operations in the Ramat Gan police force. Even when he left his job in the field of public security, he continued to serve the public – in the municipality of Daughter of-Yam, his hometown. In 1965 he married Yehudit, who bore him a daughter and a son. He made sure that his parents lived nearby, so that he could take care of them when needed. Just as he was devoted to his family, Meir’s Lev was also open to help his surroundings. “He helped everyone with words of encouragement, with a Lev smile …” Meir also took care of his education and managed to study law for two years at Tel Aviv University, Spring. During those years Meir spent many periods of reserve service. Participated in the Sinai Campaign, the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War. The unit that served in it, the ‘motorized’, was a source of pride and great love. Even when he reached the age of service in the Haganah, he volunteered to continue working within the framework of his company, which reached the rank of Major General. “Arusi was the ‘father’ of the ‘motorized’,” says his commander. “Everyone knew him. He was the one who organized everything that required an organization, prepared the “motorized” for its operations and took upon itself roles beyond the requirements of his position. In the five or six years that he served as a carpenter, he had excellent relations with the staff who liked him and trusted him, and in the period when we did not have a deputy commander, Meir was the one who fulfilled all his duties with devotion, loyalty and responsibility. ” During his last reserve duty – and by that time he was already 52 – fate turned to Meir. He fell in the line of duty on 28 July 1976. He was brought to eternal rest in the military section of the cemetery in Holon. He left behind a wife, two children, parents, two brothers and two sisters. The family donated a Sefer Torah to the Meir Baal Haness Synagogue, which served as a member of the Board.