Chadash, Yitzchok

Born in Jerusalem at the end of the 19th century. During the First World War (1914-1918), Yitzchok was forced to flee to Aleppo, Syria, where he married and had a son. During the War of Independence, Yitzchok lived in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. For six months, the Quarter was under siege. Many of the residents of the quarter, including Yitzchok, concentrated on difficult conditions in an underground complex of the four Sephardic synagogues. On May 28, 1948, the headquarters of the Quarter decided to surrender. Yitzhak was taken along with about three hundred and forty additional prisoners to the Umm al-Jamal camp in Jordan. Yitzchok Chadash died in the POW camp at Umm al-Jamal on the 16th of Cheshvan, November 18, 1948. He died in his sleep. The inhabitants of the camp received planks and prepared a coffin in which he was buried. After the liberation, when the wounded and sick returned, Yitzchok’s coffin was also returned to Israel via the Red Cross. He was laid to rest in the cemetery on Mount Herzl. Many thousands came to his funeral.