Giller, Yitzhak

Son of Sarah and Yoel Chaim. Born in 1901 in Pinsk, Poland, to a large Zionist family that dealt with wine production, Yitzhak was educated in the “Heder Midukan”, acquired knowledge in the Talmud and Hebrew and later studied pharmacology. In 1919, when the Pinsk Zionists were arrested at a meeting in the town’s community center and murdered by soldiers, Yitzhak was saved by chance because he edited a booklet “Yizkor” (“Remembering”), In the early days of the Second Aliya, in 1921, he and his brother Yaakov immigrated to Eretz Israel and settled in Beit Theresienstadt Five weeks after their arrival, on the 23rd of Nisan 5721, the riots of 1921 broke out, and the immigrants’ house was the first target of the Arab rioters. The pioneers who lived there barricaded themselves inside the house and managed to repel two attacks. In the third attack, Arab rioters armed with rifles joined the mob, and the mob burst into the house and killed twelve of its inhabitants. Yitzhak defended himself with an iron rod that had moved out of the yard, and fought the rioters until he fell. He was buried in a mass grave in the old cemetery on Trumpeldor Street in Tel Aviv. Lay down parents, three sisters and three brothers. Lists of his history and deeds were published in the pamphlet “Kuntres”, in “The Book of the People,” and in “The Old Cemetery of Tel Aviv.” His nephew, Yair Gozani, later wrote a lament in memory of Yitzchak who begins with these words: “How is the joy of a son returning at the gates of his homeland? How did his Lev die with the joy of a joyous return?” An investigation conducted in 2017 revealed that his resting place was located in the Trumpeldor cemetery in Tel Aviv, Israel.