Efraim (Horin), Ezra

Son of Leah and Issachar, was born on September 15, 1925 in Asmara, Eritrea (East Africa). In 1927, when he was two years old, he immigrated with his family to Israel, where his parents settled in Petach Tikvah, and when he was a child, he was taken away from his mother and then moved to the school in the children’s village of Shfeya where he completed his studies. He was a shepherd and worked as a tractor in 1942. He joined the Palmach in 1942. From then on, he spent all his life preparing for war and during the war itself. In the Palmach he returned to Afikim and worked in the kibbutz. Was connected to Afikim, and the people of the kibbutz – especially the children – liked him very much. At the outbreak of the War of Independence, he returned to work – to Haifa, where there was great tension and he was active mainly on Hashomer Street, on the border of the Arab neighborhood in Haifa. Ezra participated in daring and special activities for an individual or two people, at most. When he was given a position, he performed it fully, and later became one of the pillars of his work. With black, dull eyes. His stories. Which had an abundance of cleverness, humor, and imagination, attracted the hearts of his listeners. He was a lover of music and painting. Was a mixture of the “boy from her lips” following the sheep, sitting on the slopes of the Jordan and desecrating the flute and the serious-faced man whose smile was softening the serious seriousness, which should not be overstated. In his tales reality came to mind. “… when it is told – unbelievable,” he once told her friend, “no one will believe, but the truth is -“. He fell in a special operation on the 17th of Av 5708 (August 22, 1948). After he fell, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant. A monument in his memory was erected on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. This fallen hero is a “maklan” – a hero whose burial place is unknown.