Ben-Ze’ev) Altman, Rafael

Rafael, son of Malka and Ze’ev Altman (son of Ze’ev), was born on February 15, 1914, in the city of Golubov, Poland, to his father who was a Chasid, a talmid chacham and head of the local community, and to his mother who planted in him love of Eretz Yisrael. Rafael immigrated to Israel on March 1, 1938 and he joined the Abraham Group in Kfar Pines, worked in orchards and assumed many positions in the society. When the group moved to Kfar Etzion, he devoted himself to preparing the land for the orchards and served as the representative of the afforestation department of the Jewish National Fund in Gush Katif. When the siege began, his wife moved to Jerusalem and he never saw her, or his son, again.
When the last attack on the Gush began, Rafael served as commander of one of the outposts in the southern section of Kfar Etzion. The Arab Legion continued its heavy attack. The people began to suffer from thirst and Rafael crawled to bring water. He was injured on the way from the enemy’s bullet. He managed to crawl back to the shelter under the German monastery where he was killed when the enemy’s soldiers blew up the building with its wounded and defenders. He fell on 4 Iyar, 13.5.1948 and on 17.11.1949, he was transferred to the military cemetery at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.