Friedman, Yona

Son of Luba and Menahem, was born on February 23, 1925 in the city of Atsag, Transylvania, in Romania. Grew up in a Haredi home for a father who was a textile merchant who was the gabbai of the synagogue where he prayed. When Yonah was a young boy, his father died. He was forced to stop his studies in his hometown when the anti-Semitic laws were passed, one of which was requiring all students to write on Saturdays. Jonah, who was observant, could not write on the Sabbath, so he left his hometown before he was expelled by the school administration and went to study in the city of Baia Mara, where his uncle lived, where he did not observe all the anti-Semitic laws. From there he moved to continue his studies at the Jewish high school in Timisoara. Yona joined the Habonim youth movement and was considered one of the most gifted and beloved instructors. He succeeded in bringing his apprentices closer to nature and preparing them for pioneering life in the Land of Israel. His friends knew how to tell him that he had a wonderful sense of humor and one of the best chessmen in his hometown. In 1944 Yona immigrated to Eretz Israel and began studying at the University of Jerusalem, where his studies continued until the day he joined the IDF. On the night of the 9th of Av 5708 (August 15, 1948), when he was hit by a sniper bullet in the Talbiyeh neighborhood, he was critically wounded, and later died in the hospital and was buried in the Sheikh Bader cemetery. On August 17, 1950, at the family’s request, he was put to rest in the military cemetery at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem