Belkind, Meir

Son of Penina and Shimshon from the Belkind and Freiman families, one of the founders of Rishon Letzion and Gedera. He was born on 13.3.1903 in Rishon Letzion. His brother Na’aman and Eitan were active in the Nili underground in World War I. The eldest brother was caught and hung on the gallows in Damascus in 1918. Meir’s childhood was spent in the moshava and his education was received in the first Hebrew kindergarten and schools in Israel. In 1936, with the worsening of the security situation in the country, Meir refused to evacuate the farm despite the demands of the Yishuv institutions. On the third day of Elul, a news item was received from the farm claiming that an attack was planned on its employees, and Meir went there immediately. He remained vigilant all night, and on the following day, on August 21, 1936, about 300 meters from the farm, they encountered a stone and fire roadblock, which had been razed on both sides of the road. The truck driver was killed on the spot. Meir managed to shoot two bullets from his hunting rifle, but was hit by a bullet in his heart and was also killed. The rest of the passengers were also injured. At the sound of the shots, three guards came out of the farm. One of them was killed instantly and his comrades retreated and asked for help from Kfar Sava. The attackers, who believed that all of them had been killed, left the area and three passengers were rescued. A military force from Kfar Saba rescued the wounded. Meir was sitting at the wheel, his rifle still pointing in his hand. He was brought to rest in the Rishon Lezion cemetery in the Belkind family grave near the grave of his brother Naaman. He left a wife and a five-month-old baby, father and brother.