Freiman, Dr. Avraham-Chaim (Alfred)

Avraham-Chaim, the son of Rachel (Regina) and Jacob (the rabbi of the community of Holiszow) Freiman, was born on the 1st of Tevet (December 3, 1898) in the city of Holiszow, Moravia, Czechoslovakia, a descendant of a distinguished family of rabbis and scholars. He moved to Israel in 1933 and settled in Jerusalem with his wife, Nelly, the daughter of Rabbi Ya’akov-Tzvi Mecklenburg, author of “The Scriptures and the Kabbalah” on the Torah) and his daughter (his son was later born in Jerusalem). For a while he taught at the Rabbinical Seminary in Rome, but did not want to settle abroad. He returned to Israel and worked as a legal advisor to Migdal insurance company, while continuing his work in scientific research. In 1943 he was appointed as a guide in Jewish law at the Hebrew University and in 1946 he was promoted to lecturer. Avraham-Chaim went to Mount Scopus for scientific work in a convoy of scientists and medicine, on 4 Nisan, April 13, 1948. The road to Mount Scopus passed through the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and upon the outbreak of the war the movement was allowed to mount convoys secured by the British army. In the morning, the convoy left, after the British promised that the road was open and safe. The convoy encountered an Arab ambush in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and hundreds of Arabs hurled heavy gunfire at it. Some of the vehicles managed to get out and come back, but two buses, an ambulance and a escort vehicle were ambushed. Avraham-Chaim was among the victims of the convoy. He was brought to eternal rest in a mass grave in Sanhedria cemetery.