Ben-Yehuda, Matityahu (Matthew)

Son of Miriam and Avner, was born on December 1, 1934 in Tirat Shalom, a moshav of workers from the Yemenite community near Ness Ziona. His father Avner was one of the founders of the settlement and its mainstays. When he attended elementary school in Ness Ziona. His father was the commander of the area on behalf of the Haganah, and when, together with his older brother Yehuda, they accompanied their father in fulfilling his duties. They stood in the observation post and connected the positions. On the 17th of Sivan 5708 (4.7.1948) Matityahu went out with his father and older brother Yehuda to the hill in Kobeiba to inspect a mortar shell that did not explode during the battle of containment against the Egyptians. The shell exploded during an attempted liquidation by the father and killed all three. Matityahu was buried in a common grave with his father and brothers in the cemetery in Nes Tziona. He left behind a mother, two sisters, and a brother. Matityahu’s sister said in her obituary: “When Yehuda and his brothers Matityahu were seen together in our moshav, the local people blessed them that God would not separate them, and the blessing became a curse.”