Finkelstein, Eliahu (Hezekiah)

Son of Anna and Avraham, was born on the 19th of Tevet 5712 (9/1/1912) in Lodz, Poland. He immigrated to Israel with his parents on November 2, 1926, and studied at the Hebrew Gymnasium in Jerusalem. He excelled in his studies and was also known as a good athlete. In 1930, after graduating from high school, he studied mathematics for one year at the Hebrew University. As early as 1929, when he was a student at the Gymnasium, he joined the Haganah and thanks to his sense of responsibility and talent, he played a significant role in it. In 1931 he traveled to France and graduated cum laude from Grenoble as a hydraulic engineer. When he returned to Israel he worked in various factories and served as the engineer of the water supply plant for Jerusalem and the Jerusalem municipality. With the outbreak of the War of Independence following the UN General Assembly resolution, he was assigned an important security post in Jerusalem, and shortly thereafter he was appointed engineering officer of the Jerusalem Brigade. On March 24, 1948, he went on a tour of the northern communities in order to plan fortifications on Mount Scopus and Atarot, and the Arabs set up an ambush for the small convoy near Shuafat. He was buried in Sanhedria in Jerusalem, and on 26 September 1951 he was transferred to the military cemetery at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.